Friday Links: the Museum of Broken Relationships and the Tiger Balm Garden
Photographer: Robert Howlett | Isambard Kingdom Brunel, builder of the Great Eastern | ca. 1857-1858 | George Eastman House, eastmanhouse.org
Some stories we’ve been reading this week:
- Attribution is more complicated than we thought. An art dealer in Korea confessed to selling forgeries of Lee Ufan’s paintings, but the artist refuses to say they’re forgeries.
- Meanwhile, in Canada, painter Peter Doig is being sued for saying that a painting is not his.
- And in the UK, a new TV show seeks to slow down museum-goers by planting fake paintings and rewarding the visitors who correctly identify them.
- That concept wouldn’t quite work in L.A.’s new Museum of Broken Relationships, whose exhibits include a spare key never given to its intended recipient, a mirror that didn’t go with an ex’s decorating scheme, and a pair of silicone breast implants a woman got at her boyfriend’s urging.
- Robert Ryman has been making white paintings for more than half a century. Here’s a guide on how to look at them.
- And if that leaves you craving color, we highly recommend browsing through the photos of the Tiger Balm Garden. It’s truly bonkers.
- The story behind John Singleton Copley’s “Watson and the Shark” is as fascinating as the painting itself.
- Get a tour through the history of fashion through 20 handmade dolls. Not into dolls or fashion? No matter, the story behind them is interesting in itself!