In my continuing quest to keep on top of all things in the visual arts, starting this month, I will post an end of month review of art news that I found particularly interesting. So, without further ado, here are ten of July’s top stories.

ART CRIME:

Dutch Arts Official On The Lam After Embezzling Millions: “The former head of finance for the Dutch  Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (BKVB), is the subject of an international police hunt after the discovery that he had siphoned around €15.5m from the organisation’s accounts.” Read The Art Newspaper. article.

Gallery in Wikipedia Legal Threat: “The National Portrait Gallery is threatening legal action after 3,300 images from its website were uploaded to online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. A contributor to the popular site, Derrick Coetzee, breached English copyright laws by posting images from the gallery’s collection, the NPG said”. Read BBC article.

ARTISTS:

Damien Hirst Designs Lance Armstrong’s Tour Bike: “Lance Armstrong may make at least $4 million for charity by selling the Damien Hirst-decorated bike he’ll use to complete the Tour de France at the weekend, as well as works given by Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha and other artists.”  Read Bloomberg article.

Michelangelo self-portrait discovered in restored Vatican fresco: “The restoration of frescoes by Michelangelo in the Vatican has revealed what is believed to be a self-portrait of the artist. The face is in a wall mural in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel or Cappella Paolina, according to Maurizio De Luca, the Vatican’s chief restorer.” Read Times Online article.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Obama Art Book: – “If you just can’t get enough Obama art — you’re in luck. This fall, Abrams Image will publish Art for Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change, a book chronicling art inspired by the 44th president.” Read more at ART INFO.

Nelson Mandela Condemns Lithographs Of Robben Island: “Five prints of Robben Island prison by Nelson Mandela go on sale in London’s Belgravia Gallery – but their creator claims the signatures are not his.” Read Guardian article.

‘Almost Indescribable’ Collection Given To Virginia Museum: “A major family collection of German Expressionist art “so rare that it is almost indescribable” has found a permanent home at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The gift-purchase of the Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection brings to the museum more than 200 pieces of art from the most creative years of German Expressionism. “Read Richmond Times article.

PASSINGS:

Tyeb Mehta: July 2, 2009 – “Tyeb Mehta, one of the most celebrated of India’s Modernist painters, whose work broke auction records even as he maintained a frugal and reclusive life, died Wednesday in Mumbai, his home city. He was 84.”  Read NY Times article.

Dash Snow: July 13, 2009 – “Artist Dash Snow died of an overdose on July 13 at the Lafayette House in the East Village…Snow was, a jokester, a jailbird, a thief, a freak, a successful art-brut savage, a doting father, a retired writer of graffiti and the latest incarnation of that timeless New York species, the downtown Baudelaire.” Read NY Times article.

Julius Shulman: July 15, 2009 – “Julius Shulman, a renowned architecture photographer who depicted modern houses as the ultimate expressions of modern living and helped idealize the California lifestyle in the postwar years.” Read NY Times article.