https://www.artdamagedbook.com/events daily 0.75 2018-10-10 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/events/2018/10/17/live-talk-general-assembly monthly 0.5 2018-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1539202113316-27ZCSIZDWAEK8TQK19Z7/thumb_Art_Damaged.jpg Events - Live Talk @ General Assembly https://www.artdamagedbook.com/events/2018/9/19/red-lion-pub monthly 0.5 2018-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1536270602283-QCPONJQCYZXIGRQWQG5D/RedLionLogo-300x1111.jpg Events - Live Talk @ Red Lion Pub https://www.artdamagedbook.com/events/quimbys monthly 0.5 2018-07-16 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/events/bookcellar monthly 0.5 2018-06-10 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/home-1 daily 1.0 2022-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537368061173-NY6QSSQA6HGORDVEY6P7/549156_102699982_big.jpg Home https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog daily 0.75 2018-09-19 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statues-of-the-holy-family-parishioner-in monthly 0.5 2018-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895704-TRY876SI55I2V5XHS4BB/tumblr_pesjphNj5Z1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895699-6HL443KP7W7PH3QHLPOH/tumblr_pesjphNj5Z1ru7mjjo2_r1_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/vaughn-randall-untitled-mischief-in-september monthly 0.5 2018-09-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895703-H01NB4OH10YHYW2DFZUI/tumblr_pemux4opGX1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895697-OS7P23DWZD9WLL3LKQJR/tumblr_pemux4opGX1ru7mjjo2_1280.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/sean-matthews-fair-and-square-mother-and-child monthly 0.5 2018-09-01 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/unidentified-sculpture-destroyed-in-the-1993-car monthly 0.5 2018-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895789-M21TQ4A4EHPABTVDTRS8/tumblr_pe2kd9qE531ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Unidentified sculpture destroyed in the 1993 car bombing of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery More on that incident HERE.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/albrecht-d%C3%BCrer-the-lamentation-of-christ monthly 0.5 2018-07-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895721-IZF58KHSWMBRVNKFVBPH/tumblr_pbnpvmNfya1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Albrecht Dürer, “The Lamentation of Christ (detail)” (1500) / acid In April 1988, serial vandal Hans-Joachim Bohlmann poured sulfuric acid over three major works by Albrecht Dürer while visiting the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (“Paumgartner Altar”, “Lamentation of Christ,” and “Maria as Sorrowful Mother”).  Bohlmann was convicted in 1989 for harming property damage and given two years imprisonment, followed by placement in a district mental hospital. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/bill-lyons-aphrodite-di-kansas-city-toddler monthly 0.5 2018-06-27 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-san-jorge-paint-in-june-2018-a monthly 0.5 2018-06-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372896015-JZPQNUHGMS0Z0U2SHV9I/tumblr_paz8lb9bWn1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895758-E9AIH82DRAZ9A00G8MPL/tumblr_paz8lb9bWn1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895756-SOG6SMCZ23NTFW4C50ZN/tumblr_paz8lb9bWn1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/update-in-june-2018-a-new-york-judge-upheld-the monthly 0.5 2018-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372895755-EWA8TF6CF6CL8FHA8GE8/tumblr_pad36tDMPq1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog UPDATE: In June 2018, a New York judge upheld the $6.75M in damages awarded to graffiti artists in a ruling against developer Gerald Wolkoff, who had destroyed numerous murals at the 5Pointz site in Queens, NY.  The judge’s decision cited the VARA (Visual Artists Rights Act), finding that Wolkoff’s destruction of the 5Pointz murals was a violation of the artists’ rights. The decision is a landmark ruling for graffiti artists. In an accompanying appendix, the judge cited the opinions of art experts and art publications, noting that it had been “to Wolkoff’s delight [that the art at 5Pointz] was perhaps principally responsible for transforming his crime-infested neighborhood and dilapidated warehouse buildings into what became recognized as arguably the world’s premium and largest outdoor museum of quality aerosol art.”  —— A judge’s order will send to trial a suit by a group of graffiti artists against a real estate owner who destroyed their murals at the 5Pointz site in Queens, New York. After a four-year battle, Senior US District Judge Frederic Block’s order, filed March 31, 2017, grants the 5Pointz graffiti artists’ right to sue under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. Curated by a graffiti artist named Meres One (Jonathan Cohen) since 2002, the colorful murals were a reminder of a grittier past in a gentrified neighborhood bustling with new high-rise construction. They attracted tourists by the busload and featured works by artists from as far away as Australia and Japan. Graffiti artists had been plastering the walls with their works since 1993. When Wolkoff resolved to destroy the buildings to make way for a new residential development, artists brought suit to stop him in order to preserve their artworks, asserting a claim under VARA as well as “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” conversion, and property damage. Their case was thrown out, and, without warning one night during November 2013, the owners whitewashed the murals, erasing, as the artists’ spokeswoman told the New York Times, the work of at least 1,500 artists. The abrupt erasure allowed the artists no time to document or preserve their work. “The court’s order denying dismissal of our client’s claims is a groundbreaking decision for aerosol artists around the country,” said Eric Down of Eisenberg & Down, the firm that is representing the artists. “The message is that if you destroy art protected by federal law, you will be held responsible for your actions…We are confident that at trial both the artists and their work will be determined to be of recognized stature.” As Amy Adler, law professor at New York University, observed in a phone interview, “Key in this matter is whether the works are of recognized stature, but the statute doesn’t define recognized stature and there’s not a lot of precedent since it’s not a heavily litigated area like fair use. And it’s not necessarily determined by the criteria that the art world would apply.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/lorenzo-costa-the-holy-family-1490-1510 monthly 0.5 2018-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372897263-9F7F68UGESPMRFJGMOV2/tumblr_pa4m5vANTj1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Lorenzo Costa, “The Holy Family” (1490-1510) / unknown instrument In September 1969, an unidentified party inflicted large scratches onto the surfaces of five paintings on view at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. Among those damaged works was Costa’s 15th-century oil painting, which was later restored and placed back on public display. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ilya-repin-ivan-the-terrible-and-his-son-ivan monthly 0.5 2018-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372897844-YQZRFKTGTE7G28NEXU6B/tumblr_p9imlqjR3y1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372898216-3SLDGK90SD3PBA7TL30A/tumblr_p9imlqjR3y1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/174304298405 monthly 0.5 2018-05-27 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rothko-chapel-white-paint-in-may-2018-houstons monthly 0.5 2018-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372898361-BK3S1S4PLCSKOL43Q1TL/tumblr_p95lx2xU2u1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Rothko Chapel / white paint In May 2018, Houston’s Rothko Chapel, a nondenominational venue created for prayer and meditation, was vandalized by unknown parties. White paint was spilled near the Chapel’s entrance and in the reflection pool surrounding the Barnett Newman sculpture, “The Broken Obelisk,” which is dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. Handbills were also strewn around the grounds and pool that read, “It’s okay to be white.” The Chapel closed temporarily as staff cleaned up the site. The paint was cleaned without the pool having to be drained; neither “The Broken Obelisk” nor the building sustained permanent damage. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/john-singer-sargent-ra-portrait-of-henry-james monthly 0.5 2018-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372898869-ASKJXRA4VKEJ7CV7MBTU/tumblr_p8ucurL2QI1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog John Singer Sargent RA, “Portrait of Henry James O.M.” / meat cleaver In May 1914, this painting was attacked while on view at England’s Royal Academy. As reported by The Daily Telegraph: “About half-past one, when the attendance was thinning for lunch, the crash of glass was heard, and an elderly white-haired woman was seen to be hacking at the Sargent portrait with a butcher’s cleaver.” The assailant was later identified as Mary Wood (an alias of Mary Aldham), a suffragette; as she slashed the portrait, Wood was heard to repeatedly shout, “Votes for Women!”  On site, her act was greeted by fellow visitors – who, many newspapers were keen to stress, were predominantly women – with cries of “Lynch her!” and “Turn her out!” The Daily Sketch reported that one visitor “pressed through the crowd, and aimed a blow at her. A man who put his arm in front of her to protect her was mobbed, and his glasses were knocked off and smashed.” According to The Daily Telegraph, this man, deemed a suffragette apologist, ‘was seized, amid cheers and groans, and his silk hat was sent flying.“ For her part, Wood later wrote, “I have tried to destroy a valuable picture because I wish to show the public that they have no security for their property nor for their art treasures until women are given the political freedom.”  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/george-romney-john-bensley-thornhill-1784 monthly 0.5 2018-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372900069-F6SPMCSPM7CZHKJWZPG4/tumblr_p8ub2rY5Zl1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372899247-GMLW8XSJKW1L3MNREQMI/tumblr_p8ub2rY5Zl1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/picasso-le-marin-the-sailor-1943-in-may monthly 0.5 2018-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372899246-CCPO7DQD70E45RTIGVNS/tumblr_p8rnxuvXeg1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Picasso “Le Marin (The Sailor)” (1943)  In May 2018, this painting was removed from a scheduled auction at Christie’s after it was “accidentally damaged” at the presale exhibition. “After consultation with the consignor today, the painting has been withdrawn from Christie’s May 15 sale to allow the restoration process to begin,” the auction house said. “We have taken immediate measures to remedy the matter in partnership with our client. No further information is available at this time.” While both the nature of the damage and the identity of the client were not revealed, sources identify the unnamed client as casino mogul Steve Wynn. This would not be Wynn’s first experience with a damaged Picasso: In 2006, Wynn, who suffers from a degenerative eye disease, accidentally put his elbow through the canvas of Picasso’s “La Reve” (1932), which he owned at the time. That canvas was eventually restored and sold.  UPDATE: Sources say the canvas was accidentally punctured during preparations by a paint roller attached to an extension pole, which fell over and struck the painting. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gian-lorenzo-bernini-santa-bibiana-1624 monthly 0.5 2018-05-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372899420-Y3EHHPIH2RHA1IVQ2UY3/tumblr_p8kzor36hL1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Gian Lorenzo Bernini “Santa Bibiana” (1624) / movers In February 2018, this marble sculpture was damaged when workers accidentally snapped off the ring finger of the figure’s right hand. The work had been lent to Rome’s Galleria Borghese for an exhibition running through February 20; in the process of returning the sculpture in the Church of Santa Bibiana, the digit was broken off. The reinstalled but damaged work remained on view until April, when visitors noticed the injury and reported it to officials. The missing finger was then reattached. The incident reinforced an ongoing debate in the Italian art world on whether works, particularly old or rare pieces, should be lent for exhibitions at all, given the risks. “We know that moving works of art is always a huge stress for them,” said Professor Giovan Battista Fidanza. When a work of art is damaged, even if later repaired, “the integrity of the work is lost forever,” he said. The broken finger “is a wound to the Baroque era.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/vanessa-prager-in-the-pink-exhibition-hands-in monthly 0.5 2018-05-11 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/1915-2015-armenian-architecture-and-genocide monthly 0.5 2018-05-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372899623-BGFDQDDVNPD9G3I2R0ZG/tumblr_p8h2emxCZA1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog “1915-2015: Armenian Architecture and Genocide” / knife In January 2016, the exhibition “1915-2015: Armenian Architecture and Genocide,” organized by the German-Armenian Society,  was damaged while on view in  Aachen, Germany. Officials say an unidentified party used a blade to damage the presentation, which compared visuals from Armenian culture and architecture in the Ottoman Empire before 1915 to their current state.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rachelle-lee-smith-multiple-works-marker-in monthly 0.5 2018-05-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372900611-UTORFUMGR7BHYLQUZTNT/tumblr_p8h1hoPKmh1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372901201-9YKTU8Y2LUKAG3Y1J86V/tumblr_p8h1hoPKmh1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372901687-6I7KKLUMT2NK9CTE8GIL/tumblr_p8h1hoPKmh1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372901951-ZYZ6UDB6XZ1LWNFGH1G6/tumblr_p8h1hoPKmh1ru7mjjo4_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372902282-WJTKUEKEOEU9R7I7UO1L/tumblr_p8h1hoPKmh1ru7mjjo5_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/john-constable-the-hay-wain-1821-sticker monthly 0.5 2018-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372902767-WH1H48GRK3GXCT38MEH0/tumblr_p8h0l13onG1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372903029-B22L4ET0MO4N53XQHCMO/tumblr_p8h0l13onG1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372903056-EBOTY650MK73CGDQ1GIZ/tumblr_p8h0l13onG1ru7mjjo3_400.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/multiple-works-by-multiple-artists-protestors-in monthly 0.5 2018-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372903311-DKJIA620FNPK61NMV5A1/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372903781-ZMY8V7VG5N3VO7OMELLY/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372904081-X31GLEOWSV0IUTHP7B3H/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo3_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372904934-NGNBPB9PRQ16I8XWC4EX/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo4_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372905167-3WLMVA2U37XBEP41US3V/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo5_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372905860-YP8P0NK561AZ83I54Y46/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo6_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372905970-QUX0V8S7KHEGDCO0USLY/tumblr_p8gve5MFel1ru7mjjo7_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pascale-martine-tayou-transform-2012 monthly 0.5 2018-05-09 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/maria-kulikovska-homo-bulla-hammer-wielded-by monthly 0.5 2018-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372906262-KPXD4LA1QPBI96PXJY47/tumblr_p8h4kr7Ann1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372906503-HWHYDJUZJDJJCS857N8P/tumblr_p8h4kr7Ann1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/multiple-works-by-luis-serrano-and-mauro-maugliani monthly 0.5 2018-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372906699-ULUDRQ18MLU3UN0675Q9/tumblr_p8gtuxdm141ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372906913-NNH5YEAUODSW0D886J8O/tumblr_p8gtuxdm141ru7mjjo2_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372907525-WB2FL240H7P4XB9D6TJE/tumblr_p8gtuxdm141ru7mjjo3_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372907622-SO0K1I06BPLL2PFCS8IZ/tumblr_p8gtuxdm141ru7mjjo5_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372908770-GTQKZ291VG5XTB0QTG1M/tumblr_p8gtuxdm141ru7mjjo4_400.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/david-chichkan-multiple-works-mob-in-february monthly 0.5 2018-05-09 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/larry-rivers-legs-1969-paint-in-june-2017 monthly 0.5 2018-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372908860-0EZMS6VSC7TDFQO4Y762/tumblr_p8gsxnxeT31ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Larry Rivers, “Legs” (1969) / paint In June 2017, this 16-ft fiberglass sculpture was vandalized while on view outside the home of gallerists Janet Lehr and Ruth Vered in the Village of Sag Harbor in the Hamptons. The piece had been the subject of some controversy in the weeks leading up to the incident, as local officials argued it violated zoning rules; only days after citations were issued, unidentified parties splashed the work with red paint.  While the damage was repairable, the citations for removal stood. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-jacob-blessing-manasseh-and-ephraim monthly 0.5 2018-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372909428-SJDBSKUH8HAW345MVY03/tumblr_p8fjpqUz6Z1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372909607-1XJ4E9C1KCAE5J5G6D43/tumblr_p8fjpqUz6Z1ru7mjjo2_400.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/on-august-20-2014-a-man-splashed-a-red-substance monthly 0.5 2018-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372910089-Z8QIGL42F6617C4D0PKF/tumblr_p8fja9qGuZ1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372910300-HIO6PDJCP8EDFE77VFEQ/tumblr_p8fja9qGuZ1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372910273-T9I2WT96KVS8IUYQ32LH/tumblr_p8fja9qGuZ1ru7mjjo3_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/update-in-may-2018-law-enforcement-announced monthly 0.5 2018-05-05 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/giotto-di-bondone-madonna-alla-costa-1300 monthly 0.5 2018-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372910414-RLKKVQZRPFPCGCNED8ES/tumblr_p88azf0XKQ1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Giotto di Bondone “Madonna alla Costa” (1300) / car bomb In May 1993, this oil painting was damaged while on view at the Diocesan Museum at the church of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence. The work sustained injury in the Mafia bombing on Via dei Georgofili, but was later restored - save for a tear in the top left corner, which was left intact to serve as a reminder of the violent act. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/photos-from-inside-florences-uffizi-gallery-after monthly 0.5 2018-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372910769-OJZI3WQ2JJ39KXI96D8C/tumblr_p889gdRnja1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372911069-NP1LFZZGGNH9S4ZZ0PQK/tumblr_p889gdRnja1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372912379-UOZ8NBJWH8D479EYINGI/tumblr_p889gdRnja1ru7mjjo3_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372912546-XLBGKT4OXT2T3NJNO7A8/tumblr_p889gdRnja1ru7mjjo4_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/headlines-reporting-on-the-may-1993-car-bombing-of monthly 0.5 2018-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372912824-TXV9G60EWM0A2ZE8M4NE/tumblr_p888fuYM6x1ru7mjjo1_400.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372913025-S1H0DUFZW172D8C7MZII/tumblr_p888fuYM6x1ru7mjjo2_250.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372913412-MGD6RX9JQ0EHJ2IX7C2Z/tumblr_p888fuYM6x1ru7mjjo3_250.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/francis-de-saint-vidal-ain-el-fouara-fountain monthly 0.5 2018-04-25 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jeff-koons-gazing-ball-perugino-madonna-and monthly 0.5 2018-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372913506-34XZJCOXDR9LXVFLI6RM/tumblr_p7r8huWpI61ru7mjjo1_500.png Blog  Jeff Koons, “Gazing Ball (Perugino Madonna and Child with Four Saints)” (2014-15) / museum visitor In April 2018, this work was damaged while on view at Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk, a 15th-century church that frequently hosts art installations.  “Gazing Ball…” is a meticulous remake of an altarpiece by the 16th-century Italian artist Pietro Perugino (”Madonna and Child with Four Saints”), offset by a blue glass ball. Hoping to take a closer look at the work, an attendee touched and accidentally dislodged the sphere, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter. A spokesperson said the individual concerned was “deeply shocked,” and confirmed that the sabotage hadn’t been intentional. “He wanted to touch the artwork like lots of other people. Then the ball shattered.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/chris-ofili-the-holy-virgin-mary-1996-paint monthly 0.5 2018-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372914007-QAQSCCLCO4KT5QAABZJX/tumblr_p7ne43nV6p1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Chris Ofili, “The Holy Virgin Mary” (1996) / paint In December 1999, this work was damaged while on view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Dennis Heiner, a 72-year-old Manhattan resident, feigned illness to distract a security guard before darting behind a plexiglass shield; he then squeezed white latex paint from a plastic lotion bottle and spread it across the figure’s face and body. Ofili’s work had caused controversy due to its content: a portrait of a black Madonna, adorned with pornographic cut-outs and accented by a clump of shellacked elephant dung. Heiner, a retired teacher and anti-abortion activist, said the painting was “blasphemous,” and claimed he’d attacked the work in order to “clean it.”  When asked of her husband’s actions, Helena Heiner said, “We kneel down on our knees and pray to the Blessed Virgin every day to help our family and help our country. We have been upset about this painting for a very long time.” Denouncing the work as “abusive,” she encouraged her husband to take action. “He was not afraid of getting arrested, absolutely not. He was trying to clean the painting,” she said. “The man who painted it showed very poor taste and very little respect for the representation of the Virgin Mary. If [Ofili] saw a picture of his mother depicted in that way, he’d take a knife to the person who made it. He would kill him.” Heiner was charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti, and possessing instruments of graffiti—all misdemeanors because the damage to the painting was valued at less than $1,500. The work was quickly restored and placed back on public view.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/peter-paul-rubens-portrait-of-archduke monthly 0.5 2018-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372914025-UJXPGOE3T2C43HNJCCY6/tumblr_p7ndnyQwm61ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog  Peter Paul Rubens’ “Portrait of Archduke Albrecht” (1583-1595) after it was damaged by acid while on view at the Museum of Art, Dusseldorf, in 1982.  Hans-Joachim Bohlmann, a North German living on a disability pension since undergoing a brain operation, tossed acid at the canvas because, as he later told police, he was troubled by the figure’s piercing eyes.  This was not Bohlmann’s first attack on an artwork: Following the death of his wife in 1977, he made a habit of vandalizing works of art, damaging a reported 23 separate paintings before being imprisoned. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/andres-serrano-various-works-crowbars-axes-in monthly 0.5 2018-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372914150-D6WQ3RS66JR89XL5QJJF/tumblr_p7n21e9Jwc1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372914742-2TQWC7ONAH5H8BXLQELZ/tumblr_p7n21e9Jwc1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/andres-serranos-piss-christ-1987-after-it-was monthly 0.5 2018-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372915725-4X0LFQRBZ1HUXFD5R6SJ/tumblr_p7cg6zEAG91ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ” (1987) after it was attacked in April 2011 while on view at the Collection Lambert in Avignon, France. As confirmed by surveillance footage,  three vandals aided by “a hammer and an object like a screwdriver or pickaxe,” according to museum officials, attacked the piece, shattering glass and puncturing the print. No arrests were made; the work remained on view as it was, “so the public can appreciate for themselves the violence of the acts.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/delacroixs-la-liberte-guidant-le-peuple-1830 monthly 0.5 2018-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372916405-Y1BG2XXRKMRU9QAD0GM0/tumblr_p7cfwmOb7f1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Delacroix’s “La Liberte Guidant Le Peuple” (1830) after it was damaged on February 7, 2013 while on view at the Louvre-Lens in northern France. A 28-year-old woman used a permanent marker to scrawl “AE911,” which apparently referred to the conspiracy theory group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. The woman was immediately apprehended; the painting was restored and placed back on view soon after.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/im-trying-to-find-instances-in-which monthly 0.5 2018-04-16 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/details-of-damage-done-to-michaelangelos-pieta monthly 0.5 2018-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372916417-A4VO9TUWTSLMAUQJF6X4/tumblr_p77brjsYsP1ru7mjjo1_400.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372916608-9KZNY669HYK5XBOU16AH/tumblr_p77brjsYsP1ru7mjjo2_400.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372917029-X8Y2ADVA099KQ4ON0Q5M/tumblr_p77brjsYsP1ru7mjjo4_500.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372917390-X7KI1GIH8TW2RUQSBQSS/tumblr_p77brjsYsP1ru7mjjo5_1280.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/172942358545 monthly 0.5 2018-04-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372917549-E4RZQF8HS7P3750T1H3V/tumblr_p77bhgWBhT1ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/roland-luchinger-action-sculpture-1980 monthly 0.5 2018-04-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372917622-9BCQJB0LJUYUCC7IHECO/tumblr_p6ourzPi9Z1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Roland Luchinger, “Action Sculpture” (1980) / thieves This outdoor sculpture was meant to turn “the aggression of the public” into a participatory artistic act: a sheet-iron column with four hammers attached to the base with rope, the work invited viewers to physically intervene, smashing the exterior layers around a interior steel cylinder. While a few initial visitors complied, the hammers were promptly stolen. No arrests were made. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/scar-left-after-richard-serras-tilted-arc-was monthly 0.5 2018-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372917934-PA0N4WIYQRUJ2GGTV1JT/tumblr_p6n1caCwTQ1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Scar left after Richard Serra’s “Tilted Arc” was removed from New York’s Federal Plaza on March 15, 1989 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/richard-serras-tilted-arc-being-dissected-and monthly 0.5 2018-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372918759-JQQFUNP5VKZT5FOBU713/tumblr_p6n1gwjAZH1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372919869-U3LIATMTXLJZL522H9D4/tumblr_p6n1gwjAZH1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372920158-FK20KEKVZZ7RGGKQF35D/tumblr_p6n1gwjAZH1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/above-interview-with-vladimir-umanets-who-was monthly 0.5 2018-04-05 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/w%C5%82adys%C5%82aw-podkowinski-the-frenzy-of-exultations monthly 0.5 2018-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372920181-RBXWXOTTLD0SITVU07OO/tumblr_p6kyxunkyK1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Władysław Podkowinski “The Frenzy of Exultations” (1894) / Władysław Podkowinski In April 1894, this canvas was damaged while on view at Warsaw’s Zacheta National Gallery of Art. On the 37th day of the work’s exhibition, Podkowinski himself entered the gallery, drew a knife, and slashed at the work, focusing his efforts on the female figure.  While the artist’s motives were never clarified, it’s been suggested that the woman portrayed in the work had been the subject of Podkowinski’s unfulfilled affections. He died a year later of Tuberculosis; the work was eventually restored and placed back on public view.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/yoko-ono-part-paintinga-circle-1994-marker monthly 0.5 2018-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372920421-7BDOUZYAY9L0EBXMIHOZ/tumblr_p6kywyMp4F1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Yoko Ono “Part Painting–A Circle” (1994) / marker In November 1997, this work was damaged while on view at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center. Uncapping a red magic marker, 22-year-old Jake Platt painted a line across Ono’s work, comprised of a series of 24 canvases with a horizontal line drawn across their surfaces. He marked five panels before being stopped by security. Platt, who considered himself a follower of the Fluxus movement and a big Ono fan, apparently believed that visitor intervention was encouraged. He later explained that he’d been inspired to add his own touch to “Part Painting” after interacting with another work by Ono called “Cleaning Piece” - a participatory installation where viewers could move around rocks and leave behind notes for future visitors. “No one said anything about me writing on the rocks, so I figured it would be OK to write on the painting,” Platt said. “So what I did was underline the black line with a red line, to sort of highlight it.” He also pointed out that next to "Part Painting,” there was a posted quote from Ono reading, “No one can tell you not to touch the art.”  The works were restored; charges against Platt were eventually dropped. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres-the-sistine-chapel monthly 0.5 2018-04-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372920705-BXIKWIXKDR2792O5TTU6/tumblr_p6kz7sKxcS1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres “The Sistine Chapel” / scissors In 1907, this painting was damaged while on view at the Louvre. An unemployed woman named Valentine Contrel attacked the work with a pair of scissors, repeatedly slashing through the canvas. While Contrel turned herself in at the museum, it took her several minutes to convince the police that she had actually committed the act. Finally, she had to drag the police to the painting to get them to listen. As she later explained, “It is a shame to see so much money invested in dead things like those at the Louvre collections when so many poor devils like myself starve because they cannot find work. I have just spoiled a picture at the Louvre in order to be arrested.” Here is Contrel’s full statement:  It is a shame to see so much money invested in dead things like those at the Louvre collections when so many poor devils like myself starve because they cannot find work. I have just spoiled a picture at the Louvre in order to be arrested. My name is Valentine Contrel, and I was born at Rouen in 1880. My parents died three years ago, leaving me penniless. I served as a governess in England, but English life did not suit me. I did dressmaking in Paris. I had to get up at four in the morning and work till midnight to earn 13 cents a day, and I could not pay my rent. I returned to my native town, but could earn my living no better there than in Paris. I came back to Paris and was determined to get “run in.” The papers lately mentioned that a man had slashed a Louvre picture. That is what I must do to avenge myself. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon I went into the Louvre. As there was a crowd in all the galleries, I waited until 4:30 when the visitors began to leave, and went to the unfrequented Ingres room, where I chose the Sistine Chapel picture because it was not under glass. I had no intention of making a demonstration against religion. With a small pair of scissors I first tried to cut the Pope’s eyes away, but the canvas was too thick, and I had to content myself with slashing the figure and several others. I had to stop several times for fear of attracting the notice of the visitors. A young woman was copying near me, but she was too intent upon her work to notice me. When I thought I had done enough damage to be arrested, I went away and came here to give myself in charge. As a matter of fact, this is not the first outrage of this kind that I have committed. Some months ago, in a room of the Jardin de Plantes museum, I smashed a glass case containing a fine butterfly, which I destroyed. I was arrested, but the police let me go out of pity for the wretched penury I was in. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/172533618120 monthly 0.5 2018-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372921491-TPRDLX1M7HKTBA1W376F/tumblr_p6kxwxXAJc1ru7mjjo1_r1_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jean-fran%C3%A7ois-de-troy-the-triumph-of-mordecai monthly 0.5 2018-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372921440-0G45J7W3BISN8V8KQGGR/tumblr_p6ii3ikIB21ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Jean François de Troy “The Triumph of Mordecai” (1736), various works by Nicolas Poussin / rain In July 2017, a group of works were damaged by rainwater while on view at the Louvre. Following a torrential rainstorm, water leaked into the mezzanine of the Denon wing, affecting the “Arts of Islam” and “From the Mediterranean Orient to Roman Times” rooms. Among the pieces affected were two works from Nicolas Poussin’s series “The Four Seasons” (1660–64) — those depicting fall and spring — and Jean François de Troy’s “The Triumph of Mordecai.” The works were quickly removed, restored, and placed back on public view.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/leonardo-da-vinci-the-virgin-and-child-with-st monthly 0.5 2018-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372921307-6UO1JMAPZG3G987T1LJ9/tumblr_p6gyz8KQKN1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372921614-JIMNH8MNZ60ER6ZBOQ1W/tumblr_p6gyz8KQKN1ru7mjjo2_500.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/artists-rendering-of-a-1914-attack-on monthly 0.5 2018-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372922531-IH0HAVYRRS38M12HWNYA/tumblr_p6gyd07Wn41ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Artist’s rendering of a 1914 attack on Velazquez’s “Rokeby Venus” by suffragette Mary Richardson. On March 10, Richardson entered the National Gallery in London with a meat cleaver hidden under her coat and attacked the painting, leaving several large tears in the canvas. She surrendered when apprehended by the guard on duty. Richardson claimed that her actions had been taken on behalf of fellow suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who had previously been arrested and was on hunger strike. “Yes, I am a suffragette. You can get another picture, but you cannot get a life, as they are killing Mrs Pankhurst. I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs. Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/barnett-newman-cathedra-1951-knife-in monthly 0.5 2018-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372923518-M3IXS0RZG22L683EX8NC/tumblr_p6gnc3sGIE1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog Barnett Newman “Cathedra” (1951) / knife In November 1997, this canvas was damaged while on view at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Gerard Jan van Bladeren, 41, slashed the work seven times with a small, Stanley-brand knife. Upon completing his act, he made no attempt to flee; when museum guards apprehended him, he simply leaned against a wall and calmly waited for police. This was not van Bladeren’s first attack on a Newman canvas. In 1986, he had walked into the same museum and repeatedly slashed “Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III” (1967). At that time, he was convicted and served five months in jail. After being arrested for his attack on “Cathedra,” van Bladeren was interviewed on Dutch radio, where he described himself as an artist who tears his own paintings for effect and hates abstract art: “I don’t hate all art; I just hate abstract art and realism.” He also said that he felt his slashing 11 years prior had added something to “Red, Yellow and Blue,” and that he was angry that the painting had been restored, thereby undoing his work. In fact, he said he’d returned to the Stedelijk in order to find the painting and strike again - but instead, he found “Cathedra.”  Museum director Rudi Fuchs described the museum’s on-site response: “We immediately closed that section of the gallery and began first aid. We laid the painting on a flat, wooden surface and taped the cuts together, so they can’t crack, curl or rip further. Luckily the attacker used a very sharp knife, and before the museum acquired the painting in 1975, it had been relined, so the cuts are relatively clean.” Though the restoration process was arduous, given the monochromatic surface, the piece was eventually repaired and returned to public view. The incident raised questions of how museums should present and protect works on display. “It’s a dilemma,” said Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, the chief conservator of the Menil Collection in Houston, who specializes in the restoration of postwar paintings. “These pictures are too big to be successfully seen under Plexiglas, because all you would see is the reflection of the Plexiglas.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/above-an-interview-with-barend-la-grange-the monthly 0.5 2018-03-31 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/brett-murray-the-spear-2010-paint-on-may-22 monthly 0.5 2018-03-31 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/lee-woo-hwan-outdoor-sculpture-2015-k-pop monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372923870-7C42T4MVIP01A43JGTQB/tumblr_p6f39ls9Y61ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372924003-2LKN0E1AQ0DUSDRCPM5D/tumblr_p6f39ls9Y61ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-woman-in-a-red-armchair-spray monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/multiple-paintings-by-andy-warhol-unnamed monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ben-edwards-various-works-marker-in-february monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372924336-2S6IY1M6HMM3KB45E059/tumblr_p6er9m6zSj1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372924396-NMCQTXEJOAHFRK757AOZ/tumblr_p6er9m6zSj1ru7mjjo2_1280.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372925046-65J716S6TXU1XN6UKC3O/tumblr_p6er9m6zSj1ru7mjjo3_1280.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/man-ray-boardwalk-1917-and-object-to-be monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372925164-SJ2XP0U33PLM4GJUVXIL/tumblr_p6equtPK2W1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372925280-U6TM3OV8IG2EFE92IQX0/tumblr_p6equtPK2W1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/meret-oppenheim-my-nurse-1936-scissors-in monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372925539-VW0JR1S7H4N2Y32WYKDE/tumblr_p6eq5fDzC81ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Meret Oppenheim “My Nurse” (1936) / scissors In January 1985, this Surrealist object, comprising two women’s shoes arranged and tied to look like a cooked chicken, was delivered for an upcoming exhibition. Mistaking the work’s strings for packaging materials, a museum employee cut and disposed of them. The error was soon realized, and the work was restored with new string in time for the opening. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/joseph-beuys-fettecke-fat-corner-1982 monthly 0.5 2018-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372926198-DZXHEZ7JNNYAU7IS3K8S/tumblr_p6epdd2CQa1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372927251-MFFBHKS0TGVLNZIJI8HE/tumblr_p6epdd2CQa1ru7mjjo2_500.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-christopher-columbus-paint-in-june monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372927750-ULDHXJUA2XJDY47Y7UOU/tumblr_p6co6xP3LA1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372928197-VNZ97WTD91QMJURM1IUV/tumblr_p6co6xP3LA1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/172374706435 monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/multiple-statues-of-st-junipero-serra-various monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372928176-VE7S1CQ0NYNE0Q3T80OE/tumblr_p6cnu3Rdyc1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372928124-EXX43YC4FTQEI2SHFG56/tumblr_p6cnu3Rdyc1ru7mjjo2_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372929212-WG92OZ25PWK7FY2JGNLF/tumblr_p6cnu3Rdyc1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372929258-GLSOIHD992GEML8X1PYJ/tumblr_p6cnu3Rdyc1ru7mjjo4_400.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/peter-paul-rubens-fall-of-the-damned-1619 monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372929502-JV9MRCIIOF4TZ9AQUW3Q/tumblr_p6cm5884Uj1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Peter Paul Rubens’ “Fall of the Damned” (1619) being removed after having been doused with acid while on view at Munich’s Alte Pinakothek in 1959. Upon his arrest, the assailant explained that he’d chosen to use acid because, in throwing it on a picture, it was as if one hadn’t destroyed the work himself: “The liquid relieves one from the work of destruction.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-japanese-craft-works-protesters-in monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372929773-NDSZP0HP0277ZIJREZE3/tumblr_p6cljeH6CC1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Various Japanese craft works / protesters  In September 1994, an exhibition of traditional Japanese arts and crafts was attacked while on view in a Seoul museum. Japan had recently proposed a $1billion fund for Korean cultural and vocational projects as atonement for acts committed during WWI—a plan rejected as insufficient in both parts of Korea. In retaliation, South Korean protestors gathered at the museum and attacked the displays, with chants denouncing the proposed fund as “a gateway for cultural invasion.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/richard-serra-berlin-junction-1988-spraypaint monthly 0.5 2018-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372930032-3XHO6S9Q193C9JJT0RYA/tumblr_p6cl42z4VX1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372930975-SI0HFMLDNR1SQELQNCAW/tumblr_p6cl42z4VX1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/graham-sutherland-the-risen-christ-1960 monthly 0.5 2018-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372931609-9NH7CZFFZLN7IJ87FKM9/tumblr_p6b8xx6J3i1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Graham Sutherland “The Risen Christ” (1960) / ballpoint pen In 1963, this painting was damaged while on view at the Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, UK. An unidentified 46-year-old woman visiting the church used a ballpoint pen to inscribe her signature on the piece, later telling authorities the work was “obscene” and filled her with loathing. The painting was soon restored and placed back on public view. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ludwig-gies-kruzifixus-crucified-christ-1921 monthly 0.5 2018-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372931789-3BZSGAO1MTECVPD3VOUF/tumblr_p6b8gu2D0N1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Ludwig Gies, “Kruzifixus (Crucified Christ)” 1921 / church parishioners, Nazis This Expressionistic wood sculpture, initially conceived as part of a proposed WWI war memorial, was offered to Germany’s Lubeck cathedral in 1921. Once installed on a trial run, however, the work immediately provoked controversy among both the parish and the press. On March 3, 1922, unidentified parties entered the cathedral and sawed off the sculpture’s head, which was later found floating in a nearby mill-pond.  The piece was eventually repaired and moved to the Stettin Museum - until it was confiscated by the Nazis in 1937, who then included “Kruzifixus” in its Munich exhibition of “Degenerate Art” (as shown in the above photo). At the conclusion of the exhibition, the work was destroyed beyond repair. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-the-night-watch-1642-bread-knife monthly 0.5 2018-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372931955-EV11A1095R8H08Q75I1E/tumblr_p6b6vkRH9d1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog  Rembrandt, “The Night Watch” 1642 / bread knife In September 1975, this painting was damaged while on view at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Wilhelmus de Rijk, a 38-year-old former teacher from the village of Bloemendaal, used a bread knife to carve a series of jagged cuts into the canvas. Even after a guard grabbed his arm, de Rijk continued moving across the painting, slashing with the knife and tearing away a portion of canvas. Rijk, who had obtained the knife from at a downtown restaurant where he’d eaten lunch before going to the museum, told police he’d been “sent by the Lord.”“I was ordered to do it,” he said. “I had to do it.” Authorities said he had a history of mental illness and was initially held on a charge of willful destruction. In the end, he was not taken to trial, but instead sent to an asylum, where he eventually committed suicide. This wasn’t the first or last time the painting was attacked: in separate incidents, it was sprayed with acid, slashed by knife, and had portions deliberately removed by Amsterdam officials. Learn more: http://art-damaged.tumblr.com/post/21583538174/rembrandt-the-night-watch-butter-knife-acid  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/vincent-van-gogh-le-berceuse-1888-stanley monthly 0.5 2018-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372932080-BZ7PHKPPURU91IFPJ0FA/tumblr_p6b68r5aSF1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Vincent Van Gogh, “Le Berceuse” (1888) / Stanley knife In April 1978, this painting was damaged while on view at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. An unidentified 31-year-old Dutch man used a Stanley knife to make three 30–40cm cuts in the center of the painting before being overpowered by guards and taken into custody. The man, a struggling artist, said his act had been one of protest against Amsterdam authorities - particularly the Beeldende Kunstenaars Regeling, who had denied him welfare payments that would have supported his artmaking.  Though severely damaged, the painting was eventually restored and returned to public view. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/paul-gauguin-two-tahitian-women-1899 monthly 0.5 2018-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372932745-2P0VODQ3NDJS7SZ295CJ/tumblr_p69pogI3xd1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372933238-Z5JGF5809MH4H8OUE1OG/tumblr_p69pogI3xd1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372933245-XKYDKU0RAZNR0G75WWML/tumblr_p69pogI3xd1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/henri-matisse-the-plumed-hat-1919-museumgoer monthly 0.5 2018-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372933511-VZN3UNXXYHS1I9QYBYPA/tumblr_p69paorS5K1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372933788-9EWO3D6KDBC1VB044ICG/tumblr_p69paorS5K1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/lars-vilks-nimis-1980-fire-in-november-2016 monthly 0.5 2018-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372934758-CI8FDUPWVV1OL7GVGNY7/tumblr_p65icc9LkM1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372935363-KH0GKBX1B66QCKE5WRZY/tumblr_p65icc9LkM1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372935371-M6SJ77PK10NP1KD8S446/tumblr_p65icc9LkM1ru7mjjo3_500.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372935616-5WZXAXJNDSHHWNTR8D6F/tumblr_p65icc9LkM1ru7mjjo4_500.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/peter-paul-rubens-adoration-of-the-magi-1634 monthly 0.5 2018-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372936414-LTVYAAN411EOTFNCOAQ5/tumblr_p65habiqln1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Peter Paul Rubens “Adoration of the Magi” 1634 / coin In June 1974, this work was damaged while on view at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England. Having broken into the space overnight, unidentified vandals used a coin to scratch the letters “IRA” (the initials of the Irish Republican Army) in 2-ft-high letters across the painting’s surface.  The damage was discovered the following day by a tourist. The police, meanwhile, were already en route, as chapel attendants had reported a burglary: it seems the vandals had also forced open a 15th-century oak coffer, in which tourists place offerings, and stolen some coins. While the scratches damaged the painting’s surface, they did not penetrate to the pigment; the work was eventually restored.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/salvador-dali-christ-on-the-cross-1965 monthly 0.5 2018-03-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372936687-75M19L4LNTKVASEVSZEY/tumblr_p5fgrbg8a71ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Salvador Dali  “Christ on the Cross” (1965) / Rikers Island prison In March 2003, this (by then already damaged) painting on paper was stolen and, it seems, destroyed, by prison guards after being on view at New York’s Rikers Island prison. In February 1965, Dali created the work - a surrealistic crucifixion scene painted on 4x5′ paper - as a gift to Rikers’ prisoners, inscribing the work: “For the inmates dinning room on Rikers Island. Dalí.”  The painting hung in the cafeteria as instructed for the next 16 years, accumulating new colors by way of red and brown splotches suspected to be ketchup and coffee stains.  At some point, the work was placed behind protective glass - but after a thrown coffee cup cracked that surface, the work was taken down to be reframed. At that point, administrators who had long overlooked the painting realized it was the work of a master and had it appraised: $250,000. At that point, the “executive decision” was made to remove the painting from the view of the prisoners; after a few years boxed up in an office, the work was re-hung in a lobby used by prison employees, secured in a new gold frame.  Then, on March 1 2003, four guards arrived for their evening shifts. According to their plan (which they’d attempted four nights earlier, but had called off due to heavy guard presence): the first, a guard name Benny Nuzzo, pulled a fire alarm, while a second dispatched his accomplices to strategic lookout points while he switched out the original Dali for a fake.  The fake, created by Nuzzo himself, was poor: visibly smaller than the original and wildly off in its replication, with even the forged food stains done in the wrong colors. To make matters worse, where the original had been reset in a gold frame, Nuzzo simply stapled the fake to the wall, unframed. The next day, other guards immediately noticed the change and alerted authorities. Since prison employees were the only ones with access to the work, and only certain employees were onhand that particular evening, the suspects were quickly rounded up and promptly turned on each other.  All four men were charged with second degree grand larceny, but strangely, only the three followers were sentenced to jail time. Nuzzo, the alleged ringleader of the whole operation, was acquitted in a jury trial - but not, he claims, before he destroyed the evidence in a fit of panic. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gerald-minkoff-video-blind-piece-1980 monthly 0.5 2018-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372936853-FVJ5DE6HQFZ14CB6RZ16/tumblr_p5e80ozgRo1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Gerald Minkoff “Video Blind Piece” (1980) / gardener This open-air work was destroyed while on view as part of the 1980 Swiss Sculpture Exhibition in Bienne, Switzerland. Consisting of 14 exhausted television tubes buried in the ground with screens facing upward, the work was installed on May 24 near a public path - but due to construction delays, the installation took place before the surrounding ground had been leveled and fully sown with grass. On June 19, when Minkoff returned to take documentation photographs of the finished piece, he was surprised to find the grounds in a finished state, but with no trace of his work. Exhibition organizers soon explained that the tubes had been mistakenly removed and destroyed by Oskar Fischer, the gardener responsible for the grounds. Once informed of his error, Fischer placed an ad in the paper: “Urgently wanted: 14 old television tubes (uniform format 59x29) to restore a sculpture of the sculpture exhibition not recognized as such and for this reason removed to the refuse dump.” Minkoff, however, refused, claiming he could neither redo his work nor “tolerate any duplicate,” since the piece had been installed by him “specially on the ground indicated to this effect” and was thus “original and unique.” He then asked the exhibition organizers for the payment of the insurance value (14,000 Swiss francs), the reimbursement of his travels, and an indemnity of 5,000 francs. In the following days, Fischer’s ad caught the attention of local newspapers, who ran pieces with headlines like, “Work of Art Looked Like Refuse: Away With It!” In one article, Fischer was quoted as saying, “I am no philistine. On the contrary, even provocative art appeals to me. It was all a mistake.” The articles raised awareness of the event, leading to numerous offers to donate television tubes. Minkoff soon wrote the exhibition organizers, saying he was “ready, not to reconstitute a duplicate (a question of ethics), but to execute an analogous piece, ‘Video Blind Piece no. 2,’” on the condition that half his previous requirements be paid and that the new installation be given broad press coverage. But in preparation, when organizers attempted to make Fischer legally responsible “for all consequences arising from the regrettable incident,” both prior and future, he refused, saying the mistake could have happened to any other contractor. Fischer and then Minkoff each hired lawyers, spending the following weeks contesting responsibility and the work’s financial value. No agreements were reached, and in the end, the work was not replaced. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/unnamed-public-work-by-evert-strobos-citizens-on monthly 0.5 2018-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372936911-GCL02WASZX8X7YVDFPAV/tumblr_p5cn3yklav1ru7mjjo1_500.gif Blog Unnamed public work by Evert Strobos / citizens On the evening of September 1 1983, nearly 100 local inhabitants of Apeldoorn (the Netherlands) attacked a public sculpture by Evert Strobos, which was in the process of being installed at the time. With the aid of ropes, the citizens unearthed 49 rectangular slabs, some of which had been spray painted with various slogans (e.g., Alles moet plat (”Everything must [go] flat”)). Interestingly, journalists and police were both on the scene as these collective acts of vandalism unfolded, the former taking photos while the latter looked on without interfering, not wanting to escalate the situation.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gerechtigkeitsbrunnen-fountain-of-justice monthly 0.5 2018-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372937350-4TH55E0BOPYS8LRWFMPZ/tumblr_p5cmbrq8MA1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372937713-L3MUWDF1P7ONBNK20QE6/tumblr_p5cmbrq8MA1ru7mjjo2_400.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/nazca-lines-truck-in-january-2018-a-truck monthly 0.5 2018-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372938708-YKFT0DMPX0WTZTV91JM2/tumblr_p56013oCPm1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372939087-6BYMAOLTPT5MTGB65MTU/tumblr_p56013oCPm1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-banksy-stencils-building-workers-in monthly 0.5 2018-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372939191-B818KFIUCFAD1JXLC8KS/tumblr_p55zp6FYuV1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog various Banksy stencils / building workers In March 2017, numerous wall works by Banksy were inadvertently destroyed while on view at the Geejam Hotel in Jamaica. According to reports, Banksy had stayed at the hotel in 2006, leaving 11 stenciled pieces throughout the property as a gift to the owners. Ten years later, building workers overseeing repairs to the hotel mistook the works for graffiti and painted over many of the pieces. The hotel owners were “mortified,”; while a company was called in to survey the damage, and are understood to have suggested a paint-stripping service at a cost of around £120,000, the pieces were deemed damaged beyond repair. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/katharina-fritsch-lourdes-madonna-1987 monthly 0.5 2017-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372940236-0EID3CR5UAR3MK3OS02A/tumblr_owsgqtA7571ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog Katharina Fritsch, “Lourdes Madonna,” 1987 / various In 1987, this piece - a commission by the city of Munster - was repeatedly damaged while on public display, resulting in multiple versions having to be made. The first version, set in plastic, was stolen and ended up at a police station; the second, molded in cement, had its nose broken off and was regularly sprayed with graffiti. There were no arrests made; the piece was eventually taken down. “People got very emotional,” Fritsch remembered. “In the daytime, people brought candles and flowers and stood there singing and taking photographs. Then in the night, drunken people hit her or sprayed her. I never expected anything like it.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/michael-asher-m%C3%BCnster-caravan-2007-thieves monthly 0.5 2017-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372940505-U68UH2YW0I3J04MYE4IL/tumblr_owsgfvf7WZ1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Michael Asher, Münster (Caravan), 2007 / thieves In 2007, this mobile sculpture was stolen while on view as part of the outdoor exhibition Skulptur Projekte Münster. The piece - a caravan strategically parked in various places around the city over the course of the exhibition - was stolen, only to be discovered shortly thereafter in a small town about 20 minutes outside of Münster. At the time, Skulptur Projekte publicly mused whether the robbery had been an act of ‘vandalism as critique,’ citing recent controversy over the toxic level of formaldehyde in many similar vehicles. Investigators, meanwhile, treated the incident as a case of “normal burglary,” suggesting the perpetrators hadn’t necessarily realized the caravan was also a piece of art. No arrests were made; the piece was put back on display. (Read more here) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ei-arakawa-harsh-citation-harsh-pastoral-harsh monthly 0.5 2017-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372940558-DX5PADJK770P7LK0R7ZC/tumblr_owsfdoF8Xr1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372941094-VVD1TCGQVQO72IK0L5AS/tumblr_owsfdoF8Xr1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/koki-tanaka-provisional-studies-workshop-7-how monthly 0.5 2017-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372941320-R303J9Z8RLALMNWERTO0/tumblr_owsf4bDaH81ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Koki Tanaka, Provisional Studies: Workshop #7 How to Live Together and Sharing the Unknown, 2017 / burglars In July 2017, this multi-media installation was damaged while on view at Skulptur Projekte Münster. Late in the night of July 31, an unidentified group of burglars broke into the local university building where the piece was being shown and stole a large amount of the piece’s technical equipment. The piece was temporarily put on hold while new equipment was collected. The incident was being investigated as a “typical burglary,” as opposed to an intended act of “vandalism.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/nicole-eisenman-sketch-for-a-fountain-2017 monthly 0.5 2017-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372942289-M4ERVZL7EWXME2514PJW/tumblr_owses31pE91ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372942862-ABGLSGJ0O77DGJYMJ036/tumblr_owses31pE91ru7mjjo2_400.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372942951-K2BHB2NCSOA40FTFSOGR/tumblr_owses31pE91ru7mjjo3_r1_1280.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/yves-klein-pigment-bleu-sec-dry-blue-pigment monthly 0.5 2017-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372943014-AL2MOMJPC8EULAT8ZQSX/tumblr_ov8oomGbRp1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Yves Klein “Pigment bleu sec (Dry Blue Pigment)” / footprints In August 2017, this floor-bound sculpture - a shallow wood basin spread with sand and the artist’s signature matte pigment - was damaged while on view at The Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar) in Brussels. A museum visitor, approaching a different work, inadvertently stepped on the piece, leaving white footprints and a trail of blue dust on the museum floor.  “Even though we have several safety measures (warning signs, a partial barrier and a guard), the man was too fascinated [with the other work] to notice all of that,” a museum spokeswoman said. Fortunately for all involved, the work uses new pigment and sand every time it is displayed; museum staff were able to restore the work in-situ and reopened the exhibition shortly thereafter. ‘It’s not the same as damage to a “unique piece”,’ the spokeswoman explained. (Note: A similar incident occurred in April 2017, when a journalist accidentally walked on another Klein work at the Musée d'Art moderne et d'Art contemporain (MAMAC) during a press opening for the show “About Nice: 1947-77″) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/yayoi-kusama-all-the-eternal-love-i-have-for-the monthly 0.5 2017-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372944050-KBMNTLSTL13AVI41P5UL/tumblr_ov8o6vfTji1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Yayoi Kusama  ‘All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins’ / selfie In February 2017, a glass sculpture - one of many installed in an enclosed, mirror-lined space - was damaged while on view at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. While attempting to take a selfie, a museum visitor fell into the gleaming patch of pumpkin sculptures, stepping on and shattering one of them. The gallery was temporarily closed to the public as a replacement pumpkin was promptly procured and installed.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/sarcophagus-toddler-in-august-2017-an monthly 0.5 2017-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372943905-8DF2J27YDP24IIB0X3RI/tumblr_ov8nrhlg771ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Sarcophagus / toddler In August 2017, an 800-year-old coffin was damaged while on view at the Prittlewell Priory Museum in Southend, Essex, England. While visiting the museum, a couple placed their child over an exhibit barrier and inside the ancient sandstone structure in the hopes of snapping a morbid photo. As a result, part of the sarcophagus—which was already in three pieces—fell to the floor, and an additional piece broke away. The family fled the scene without reporting the damage but were caught on the museum’s security camera. Museum officials are currently assessing the damage. Said the museum’s conservator: “You can put all the risk assessments in place but you really don’t expect people to try to get into the artifacts.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/simon-burch-various-works-selfie-taker-in-july monthly 0.5 2017-07-16 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/christopher-wool-untitled-2004-knife-in-may monthly 0.5 2017-05-05 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/emanuel-gottlieb-leutze-washington-crossing-the monthly 0.5 2017-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372944282-K8RHT9RXFNPNZ61XE5HS/tumblr_oorndoT0rw1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (1851) / taped paper In January 2003, this painting was defaced while on view at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. According to reports, Robert Gray, 41—formerly with the agency that provides security to the Metropolitan and the Cloisters, and who authorities said is emotionally disturbed - glued a picture of the twin towers to the bottom of the famous Revolutionary War scene. Gray told police he was fixated on the painting’s American flag, which to him symbolized Satan. Gray had a rambling letter he wanted delivered to the United Nations in which he called himself a “light blob induced artist.”"He feels, in essence, that terrorists are controlling him through encrypted messages,” a law enforcement source said. “He did say he used Elmer’s glue because it’s water-soluble and he didn’t want to ruin the painting.” Gray was charged with criminal mischeif; true to his intentions, the painting did not suffer any meaningful physical damage.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/unidentified-painting-blue-marker-in-april-2017 monthly 0.5 2017-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372944383-PVG2XWGPUJ12Q2IQAROV/tumblr_oorn3lHqOp1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Unidentified painting / blue marker In April 2017, a man used a blue graffiti pen to scrawl epithets on a student’s painting (the work’s title, author and content haven’t yet been released), then on view at the Metropolitan Museum’s education center. Ryan Watson, 33, allegedly used a blue pen to scrawl the phrases “Nazi artwork” and “Not slaves” on a student art piece. When a guard intervened to stop him, he allegedly yelled “go back to your country.” The artwork was created by a New York City teenager, and is one of 600 works currently included in the “Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: New York City Regional Exhibition,” on view March 24–May 29, 2017.  Watson was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and possession of a graffiti instrument. Met officials said they’d be reaching out to the student and would “make every effort to restore the work of art.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/a-judges-order-will-send-to-trial-a-suit-by-a monthly 0.5 2017-04-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372944888-EGFMX1WPKTICPSUFJMEF/tumblr_oo01j6riBI1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog A judge’s order will send to trial a suit by a group of graffiti artists against a real estate owner who destroyed their murals at the 5Pointz site in Queens, New York.  After a four-year battle, Senior US District Judge Frederic Block’s order, filed March 31, 2017, grants the 5Pointz graffiti artists’ right to sue under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. Curated by a graffiti artist named Meres One (Jonathan Cohen) since 2002, the colorful murals were a reminder of a grittier past in a gentrified neighborhood bustling with new high-rise construction. They attracted tourists by the busload and featured works by artists from as far away as Australia and Japan. Graffiti artists had been plastering the walls with their works since 1993. When Wolkoff resolved to destroy the buildings to make way for a new residential development, artists brought suit to stop him in order to preserve their artworks, asserting a claim under VARA as well as “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” conversion, and property damage. Their case was thrown out, and, without warning one night during November 2013, the owners whitewashed the murals, erasing, as the artists’ spokeswoman told the New York Times, the work of at least 1,500 artists. The abrupt erasure allowed the artists no time to document or preserve their work. “The court’s order denying dismissal of our client’s claims is a groundbreaking decision for aerosol artists around the country,” said Eric Down of Eisenberg & Down, the firm that is representing the artists. “The message is that if you destroy art protected by federal law, you will be held responsible for your actions…We are confident that at trial both the artists and their work will be determined to be of recognized stature.” As Amy Adler, law professor at New York University, observed in a phone interview, “Key in this matter is whether the works are of recognized stature, but the statute doesn’t define recognized stature and there’s not a lot of precedent since it’s not a heavily litigated area like fair use. And it’s not necessarily determined by the criteria that the art world would apply.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/william-kentridge-triumphs-and-laments-2016 monthly 0.5 2017-04-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372945481-CWWS6TZV5TMSBGHDPW6G/tumblr_onu0ejAged1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog William Kentridge, “Triumphs and Laments” (2016) / Spray paint Over the course of a year, this large-scale fresco was repeatedly damaged while on public view alongside Rome’s Tiber River. Unidentified persons applied graffiti at various points of the mural, which depicts the history of Rome, and which Kentridge created by removing the dirt building up on the walls, using a technique called “reverse stenciling.” In March 2017, Rome’s Deputy Mayor ordered a team from the city’s refuse department to clean the frieze and erase the graffiti, calling the vandals “stupid.” Experts were confident the damage could be reversed.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/thomas-gainsborough-mr-and-mrs-william-hallett monthly 0.5 2017-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372946009-92A857TTCSEJE6K5RR13/tumblr_on486fQMU81ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Thomas Gainsborough “Mr and Mrs William Hallett" (aka “The Morning Walk”) / Screwdriver On March 18, 2017, this 18th-century portrait was damaged while on view at London’s National Gallery. The Metropolitan Police said 63-year-old Keith Gregory was charged with criminal damage after attacking the painting with a screwdriver, inflicting two long gouges which “penetrated the paint layers, but not the supporting canvas.” Gallery staff and visitors detained Gregory, who initially (but falsely) claimed he had a bomb on his person, until police arrived. The painting was taken off-view as conservators determined whether restoration would be possible. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/did-isis-smash-fake-sculptures-in-mosul-experts monthly 0.5 2017-03-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372946670-S6CJ3OYX0QEP2YUVSQXF/tumblr_omr9gfWfae1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Did ISIS Smash Fake Sculptures in Mosul?  Experts say that some of the sculptures the militants smashed at the Nineveh Museum in Mosul, Iraq, were replicas. “According to archaeologists, most if not all the statues in the Mosul museum are replicas not originals,” reports Channel 4 News, London. “The reason they crumble so easily is that they’re made of plaster. ‘You can see iron bars inside,” pointed out Mark Altaweel of the Institute of Archaeology at University College, London, as we watched the video together. ‘The originals don’t have iron bars.’” “According to the British Institute,” adds Channel 4, “the originals were taken to Baghdad for safekeeping. ISIS probably wouldn’t care about the distinction. One false idol is the same as another.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-march-2017-two-third-century-busts-from monthly 0.5 2017-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372947231-9GA0FQFWF4RWBCDAJ8WK/tumblr_om8v7jfa1f1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372947378-FFJMFK1AIV4RNICOTDXT/tumblr_om8v7jfa1f1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/history-dies-in-isils-hands-but-curators-worry monthly 0.5 2017-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372947656-B3OQYO2V41DUD8XPMKMO/tumblr_ol5tjwr0h81ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog History dies in ISIL’s hands, but curators worry buying artifacts would fund terrorism ISIL terrorists have destroyed a number of shrines in Iraq and Syria — including Muslim holy sites — to eliminate what they view as heresy. As ISIL terrorists use power drills, bulldozers and explosives to destroy the cultural and architectural heritage of ancient Mesopotamia — Christian, Muslim and pre-Abrahamic from the ancient Assyrian capital Nimrud to the tomb of the Biblical Jonah in Mosul — western curators hoping to preserve what is left are caught in a dilemma. Some want to buy artifacts to protect and preserve them, such as James Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world’s wealthiest art institution, who has described the vandalism as “an argument for why portable works of art should be distributed throughout the world and not concentrated in one place.” But others are loudly calling for an effective ban on trade in Assyrian antiquities and other relics from the war zone. They say the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is not simply eradicating the idolatry it denounces as heretical, but in fact is hypocritically selling what it can on a black market, and destroying everything else. In this view, buying artifacts to preserve them in Western galleries is tantamount to funding terrorism. The targets of the vandalism include Shia shrines, a Christian monastery, and any relic that ISIL considers idolatrous, including prehistoric statues. Most destroyed sites are Islamic, which Reichel said is “one of the great perversities or paradoxes.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/an-image-grab-taken-from-a-video-made-available monthly 0.5 2017-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372947712-HE3W466B7AGN43X58K38/tumblr_ol5tgzYPO61ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog “An image grab taken from a video made available by Jihadist media outlet Welayat Nineveh on April 11, 2015, allegedly shows members of ISIL destroying a stone slab with a sledgehammer at what they said was the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ugo-rondinone-seven-magic-mountainsspraypaint monthly 0.5 2017-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372948083-WBKYGJB8HZXHLKM7UBO8/tumblr_ol5m1rFybA1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372948303-EIPKGWOO3WMQYYUT33KV/tumblr_ol5m1rFybA1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372948788-JCSLJI5JQKQOJ01X2SV8/tumblr_ol5m1rFybA1ru7mjjo3_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/multiple-works-by-david-tschitschkanprotestors monthly 0.5 2017-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372949352-G3OCL4MFGLUF3I458UCY/tumblr_ol5lq6bshb1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Multiple works by David Tschitschkan/protestors  On Tuesday, February 8, 2017, masked perpetrators attacked the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) in Kiev, destroying an exhibition by the Ukrainian artist David Tschitschkan.  The targeted exhibition featured artworks with political content in which the artist expressed a critical view on nationalism, and a sense of a missed opportunity in the Maidan Movement and Ukrainian Revolution of 2014. Surveillance footage from the site shows two women and 12 masked men appearing at the VCRC shortly before 6 p.m. The group attacked a security guard and immediately began to destroy artworks in the show. The attack lasted two minutes, after which the squad left the premises. In addition to tearing and spraying over collages, the vandals scrawled slogans such as “Moscow’s Mouthpiece,” “Servants of Separatists,” or “Glory to Ukraine.” VCRC Director Wassyl Tscherepanyn told APA on Wednesday that the police arrived 40 minutes after the incident and initially refused to search for the perpetrators. The show, which opened on February 2, had received threats from right-wing extremists prior to the attack. A guided tour with the artist slated for February 4 had been called off, but right-wing radicals reportedly attacked a visitor that day and tore down posters advertising the show. According to VCRC director Tscherepanyn, the exhibition, which will remain on view in its current vandalized form, also critically confronts a current ideological policy in Ukraine, which, with a state-ordered removal of symbols and designations from Soviet times, propagates the “decommunization” of public space. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pat-lasch-cake-sculpture-1979-moma-when monthly 0.5 2017-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372949584-0HP1PIDA5WEFUVKZ8VHC/tumblr_okawrxmUGb1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Pat Lasch cake sculpture, 1979 / MoMA When sculptor Pat Lasch wanted to loan her cake sculpture from New York’s Museum of Modern Art for a retrospective of her work at the Palm Springs Art Museum, she learned that MoMA had “discarded” the work after it “deteriorated beyond repair.” According to the New York Times, MoMA denied that Lasch’s sculpture was part of its permanent collection in the first place, explaining that it was commissioned simply as a “decorative element” for its 50th anniversary exhibition. “While it was not intended for the collection or future display at the Museum,” the statement said, “it was kept in our storage facilities for many years.” Although no attempt was made to return the work to the artist, the piece was never formally accessioned, either, so when its condition deteriorated, it was thrown away instead of conserved, with Lasch none the wiser. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-items-in-the-museum-of-islamic-art-cairo monthly 0.5 2017-01-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372950741-CIO1ALDSF1GU2GYZD7P2/tumblr_ok8htdgYR91ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Various items in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo / car bomb On January 24, 2014, a jihadist car bomb attack caused considerable damage to the museum and its holdings. Though the attack was actually targeted at the Cairo police headquarters on the other side of the street, experts estimated at the time that 20-30% of the museum’s artifacts would need restoration. In the end, of the 179 items affected by the attack, 160 were restored and back on display when the museum reopened on January 20, 2017. These repaired relics were accompanied by special gold labels to indicate their tumultuous past.  Among the works damaged beyond repair were glass lanterns from the Medieval period. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/joseph-beuys-the-pack-moths-in-january-2017 monthly 0.5 2017-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372950960-9XS1BTH6EDYMC5U729VI/tumblr_ojo5llgz9W1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Joseph Beuys “The Pack” / moths In January 2017, it was announced that the felt components of this 1969 work, which the artist had personally installed in Kassel’s Neue Galerie, had been visibly eaten away by moths.  Those components were temporarily taken off-view; museum experts believed the damage could be repaired. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rescuing-the-lost-art-of-911-how-911-spawned monthly 0.5 2016-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372951172-4IBY1EKNQGZ9M2JAUYQL/tumblr_oi4qnxS2S01ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Rescuing the Lost Art of 9/11: How 9/11 spawned one of the most unusual art preservation efforts of the modern era Excerpts: Works by artists like Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, and Le Corbusier graced the walls of the Twin Towers, and were obliterated in the tragedy; a sprawling tapestry by Joan Miro that hung in the lobby of 2 World Trade Center was demolished when the building came down around it. Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm which lost some 650 employees that day, was home to a vast collection of Rodin’s works; from the artist’s drawings to the original Three Shades, which welcomed visitors to the firm’s lobby on the 105th floor of the North Tower. The task force estimated that a staggering $100 million in art from private collections, and an additional $10 million worth of public art was lost in the tragedy. Some works of art did survive, though. The red steel sculpture which towered over the WTC courtyard, Alexander Calder’s Bent Propellor, emerged from the wreckage of the towers weeks later, though only 40 percent of the original sculpture was recovered. The Sphere, a 27-foot-high rotating bronze sculpture by German artist Fritz Koenig and one of the most recognizable works of public art at the World Trade Center, was relocated (without repairs) to Battery Park amid much controversy about what that move might signify. In June, the Port Authority finally voted to return the battered sphere to its rightful place as the sculptural heart of the World Trade Center. Cantor Fitzgerald’s “museum in the sky” carries the strangest story of resilience and rebirth, as parts of these works began to turn up amid the rubble at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill in the months after the attacks. A bust of The Burghers of Calais was surfaced almost unscathed from the rubble. A cast of Rodin’s The Thinker was reportedly spotted and recovered before “mysteriously disappearing”—though there are photos of workers posing with it immediately after the discovery—and according to reports, it was never seen again. And most prominently, by a stroke of luck, it was former Fitzgerald curator Joan Vita Morotta who identified Three Shadesfrom her home upstate while watching a news report on the Fresh Kills recovery efforts. “All of a sudden the camera shows a fuselage from one of the airplanes,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “And lying next to it is a portion of The Shades.” But to say these works were fully saved would be premature. Like the 2,500 9/11 artifacts that lay forgotten in an airplane hangar at John F. Kennedy Airport until this July, they’d entered a strange limbo unique to the art world. Damaged beyond restoration, they were declared a “total loss,” a classification attributed to objects deemed devoid of any market value by insurers and resigned to warehouses and storage spaces while their legal owners are paid an indemnity—often destined to be forgotten and unappreciated as a quirk of the art insurance market. While fragments of Bent Propellor and Three Shades live on in the 9/11 Memorial and act as physical testaments to the world-historical trauma that was that fateful day, other artifacts have been subsumed under a strange new legal definition: “not art.” From there, it profiles the Salvage Art Institute, a group well worth looking up if you’re not familiar. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jeff-koons-balloon-dog-magenta-poor monthly 0.5 2016-11-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372951497-D002O0Q5F2ZXHKMTMD1H/tumblr_ohgmaqBb4U1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372951795-I65CLQJTKKX6LWBYEMRN/tumblr_ohgmaqBb4U1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372952058-ZDYVEUBI7CGUWAO0KW91/tumblr_ohgmaqBb4U1ru7mjjo3_r1_250.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/the-factory-of-fakes-how-a-workshop-uses-digital monthly 0.5 2016-11-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372952180-GOSD4WNH74GN276Q615I/tumblr_oheyqdsYnd1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog THE FACTORY OF FAKES: How a workshop uses digital technology to craft perfect copies of imperilled art Excerpts from this extremely interesting article: “The Factum Arte warehouse, in Madrid, is filled with copies of treasured art works, including a facsimile of an Assyrian winged lion that once stood in Nimrud—a site, in Iraq, that has been largely destroyed by ISIS. A winged-lion replica, which was nearly complete, loomed over the workshop. I touched its front paws, and the plaster surface felt craggy, echoing the eroded surface of the original, which stood, for nearly three millennia, on the site of a palace in Nimrud, in what is now Iraq. In April, 2015, soldiers from isis besieged what remained of the Nimrud site. After a few days of hacking and bulldozing, they released a video of the entire archeological site being blown up. They also took a cruel photograph of a winged lion similar to the one being fashioned in Madrid: a militant was obliterating its smile with a drill. The British Museum wasn’t the only Western institution that owned precious objects from Nimrud. Many treasures were spirited out of Iraq during the nineteenth century, the heyday of imperialist archeology. After the Iraq War began, Lowe contacted curators at five museums that own pieces from the throne room of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II and secured permission to replicate them. The British Museum’s lion was scanned, at night, in the course of five weeks. (Recording at a resolution of three hundred microns takes time.)  Lowe’s initial plan was to help Iraqi curators partly “reassemble” the throne room in a library in Mosul. Facsimiles of the winged lion, and of reliefs depicting a lion hunt, were completed in 2014. High-density polyurethane is expensive, so the milling alone cost four hundred thousand euros. “We got them all through Turkey, through Kurdistan, through Erbil, down though Iraq into Mosul,” Lowe said. Then isis ransacked the library. The facsimiles were likely destroyed.Fortunately, Factum saved its molds. “The beauty is that we can send another set,” he said. The winged lion being finished by Beyro, then, could be a replacement for a replacement. Now that ISIS has laid waste to all of Nimrud, Lowe has conceived an even bolder proposal. He told me that Boris Johnson, the British foreign minister, had announced plans to help reassemble the Nimrud fragments remaining from the recent destruction, following the model of the Acropolis, in Athens. This struck Lowe as foolish nostalgia—fetishizing stone shrapnel that was likely too ruined to conjure the monuments’ beauty. A smarter way to honor Nimrud’s past, he told me, would be to “scan all the known fragments”—he gestured to a wall that held copies of Nimrud friezes that are in the Pergamon Museum, in Berlin—“and have copies erected on the site.” He planned to start a campaign to promote his idea, presenting his latest lion to potential donors as a proof of concept.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/when-footage-emerged-of-isis-destroying-the monthly 0.5 2016-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372952340-Q1HADC11T11BU0KQGBPT/tumblr_ogwmyslpFa1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog “When footage emerged of ISIS destroying the ancient city of Nimrud outside Mosul, the world stood powerless in the face of a group of militants using sledgehammers and electric drills to obliterate centuries-old archaeological gems.  But 17-year-old Nenous Thabit rolled up his sleeves and began work on replicating the sculptures. "They waged a war on art and culture, so I decided to fight them with art,“ he says. He did so by sculpting immaculate statues that resembled some of the most precious Assyrian artifacts lost in Nimrud and other ancient areas in and around Mosul.  In a modest apartment in the Kurdish city of Irbil, where Thabit and his family took refuge after fleeing Mosul, the young artist has meticulously carved 18 Assyrian statues and one mural over the past year.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/bernininis-elephant-and-obelisk-unknown monthly 0.5 2016-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372953257-TAEOM8HFZBA3DDJNR6GD/tumblr_ogqlkxghvD1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Berninini’s “Elephant and Obelisk” / unknown instrument In November 2016, this 17th-century landmark was damaged by unidentified vandals while on permanent view in Rome’s Piazza della Minerva. One of the figure’s tusks was broken off and was found laying next to the statue by Spanish tourists who proceeded to alert authorities. The event happened overnight, leaving police police to scour CC-TV footage in an attempt to identify and locate the perpetrators. According to Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, “A first estimate of the damage suggests that it will be a few days before we try and reattach the fragment and return the statue to its former glory.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-archangel-saint-michael-tourist-in monthly 0.5 2016-11-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372953375-1X1K8HSEGZMNGJSLZ0N6/tumblr_ogh9vgmgAT1ru7mjjo1_540.png Blog statue of archangel Saint Michael / tourist In November 2016, this 18th-century sculpture was damaged while on view at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon, Portugal. An unidentified museum goer - a tourist visiting from Brazil - accidentally backed into the work while attempting to take a selfie with it, knocking the statue to the ground.  Although significant damage was done to the wings, arms and mantle, museum experts believed the work could be restored. Earlier this year, the museum director Antonio Filipe Pimentel had expressed concern that such an incident might occur, as financial pressures had lead the museum to shed staff. “There are only 64 people for 84 chambers open to the public; I am very sure one day we will see hazards in the museum,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/goldschmied-chiari-where-are-we-going-to-dance monthly 0.5 2016-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372954577-47GTKRTBBIIFISYRWTNP/tumblr_ofrirbKqd11ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372954970-MFG8QGG6T9TESHRSELUB/tumblr_ofrirbKqd11ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/cy-twombly-untitled-1954-museum-visitor-in monthly 0.5 2016-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372954870-4BZJYV275V46TWSG76IX/tumblr_ofrieyizvd1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372955255-7BAE84Y9A6ZX2UBCM36R/tumblr_ofrieyizvd1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/berninis-barcaccia-fountain-soccer-fans-in monthly 0.5 2016-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372955387-YGID9Y9GK2UZXJ1R0NWQ/tumblr_ofri2yWFHq1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372955846-6BWVINEN1R2GS975XO2E/tumblr_ofri2yWFHq1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372955974-69TTDKCA9JS80PBQCIKG/tumblr_ofri2yWFHq1ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-the-two-hercules-circa-1700-tourists monthly 0.5 2016-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372956445-009GDVZQE3P0I3BV3HQW/tumblr_ofrh4siq8k1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Statue of the Two Hercules (circa 1700) / tourists In May 2015, this outdoor sculpture was damaged while on display in the northern Italian city of Cremona. Having climbed upon the work in the hopes of taking a selfie, a pair of tourists accidentally knocked off a portion of the statue’s crown, which shattered on the ground. The two perpetrators were identified by police but were not charged with a crime. The crown was shattered beyond repair. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/the-townley-venus-waiter-in-december-2015-the monthly 0.5 2016-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372956668-DW225589RJV776ZWCQ62/tumblr_ofrgqaJH5K1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog the Townley Venus / waiter In December 2015, the right thumb of this ancient Roman sculpture was accidentally broken off by an unwitting waiter during a catered event at the British Museum. The waiter, who was working for one of the external catering companies employed by the museum, got too close to the statue; he bent down underneath it and, upon getting up, bumped into the marble hand, snapping off the right thumb. Luckily, it was a clean and easily-repaired break, with the restoration carried out in the gallery during off hours. This was not the first time the statue encountered such an accident. In 2012, a visitor to the museum bumped into the statue, cracking the same hand. As with this most recent incident, the damage was soon repaired.  What’s more, the statue’s right index finger was broken off before the Venus came to the British Museum and remains so to date, although how this occurred isn’t entirely clear. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/roy-lichtenstein-nudes-in-mirror-1994-pocket monthly 0.5 2016-10-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372957399-DTING1R6EDGBN7JYA15D/tumblr_ofoo6vtWiU1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Roy Lichtenstein, Nudes in Mirror (1994) / pocket knife This work was damaged in 2005 while on view at Austria’s Kunsthaus Bregenz. It was repeatedly slashed, with four cuts each measuring nearly a foot in length. From press: “The perpetrator, armed with screwdriver, spray paint, and pocket knife, was a thirty-five-year-old Munich ex-prostitute suffering from schizophrenia. A museum visitor and an employee held the woman until police arrived. She scratched a police officer in the face and bit another in the leg during questioning. According to newspaper accounts, the attacker’s actions were spurred by her conviction that the painting was a fake—that as the Coburg Neue Presse reported,Nudes in Mirror ‘was not a genuine Roy Lichtenstein’—a claim the show’s curator, having had insult added to injury, of course immediately refuted.” The painting was eventually able to be restored, and recently went back to auction. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-francisco-franco-eggs-on-october-18 monthly 0.5 2016-10-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372958322-LV7C5H6P47DGVLTTVQZS/tumblr_of97bmhUP31ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372958603-WSW6SJSQYM9V8OWT6EFG/tumblr_of97bmhUP31ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/footage-of-an-unidentified-man-being-detained monthly 0.5 2016-10-07 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-photographs-by-alyaksandr-vasyukovich-and monthly 0.5 2016-10-07 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-photographs-by-alyaksandr-vasyukovich monthly 0.5 2016-10-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372958910-A8QK6OKDARFPSU4AU4L2/tumblr_oeoln9xyPb1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372959055-E51FS7U4J8BDJVMI3V6P/tumblr_oeoln9xyPb1ru7mjjo2_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/anish-kapoor-dirty-corner-2011-paint-this monthly 0.5 2016-09-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372959296-E0PNV4NC0D7OBF5V3MGU/tumblr_oe8ejbL8g51ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372959676-QDD88IAYS1S7GNO6RC34/tumblr_oe8ejbL8g51ru7mjjo2_640.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372959865-2VHG3BYNNZ6BWEYJAXUQ/tumblr_oe8ejbL8g51ru7mjjo3_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372960054-HFBJP5UQY8TG3QCO031D/tumblr_oe8ejbL8g51ru7mjjo4_500.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jock-sturges-various-images-urine-on-sunday monthly 0.5 2016-09-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372960664-MHMKFVSQ9YHVB0WQW8ZX/tumblr_oe65l9GNwn1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Jock Sturges, various images / urine On Sunday, September 25, 2016, a visitor used urine to attack a series of framed images on display at the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow. Following senator Yelena Mizulina’s condemning of Sturges’ exhibition “No Embarrassment” as “propaganda of paedophilia” (it included images of naked school-age girls), the exhibition was stormed by a group of men from Officers of Russia, a public organization which says it unites more than 100,000 veteran and active military officers. During their “occupation,” an unidentified man (who’d gained entry by claiming to be a journalist) sprayed what appeared to be urine from a plastic bottle; it was unclear whether the man was a member of the Officers or was acting on his own volition. In the wake of the incident, the gallery closed down the exhibition. The images themselves do not appear to have been damaged. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gerda-taro-various-photographs-paint-in-august monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372961211-8Z0VCXXP5T4XW47QKWSV/tumblr_obyegjfYrd1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Gerda Taro, various photographs / paint In August 2016, an open-air installation of Taro’s war photography was vandalized while on view in Leipzig, Germany. The works, which depict scenes of conflict including the Spanish Civil War, were covered in black paint on the night of Wednesday, 3 August.  The exhibition’s organizers stated, “How a work of art is handled in the public space is always a litmus test for the state of a community. Unlike the ‘protected space’ of a museum or gallery, a work in the public realm is under the protection of us all.”  The organizers believe the act was “politically motivated” and a police investigation has been launched.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/statue-of-dom-sebastiao-1890-tourist-in-may monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372961854-KUJM67EOX74342DZ8OV6/tumblr_obyd7y1lbE1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372962428-KM8PNZ41QG2RXRBDYTBC/tumblr_obyd7y1lbE1ru7mjjo2_640.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372962465-WHEXGYSQY4X3CYE6TLE0/tumblr_obyd7y1lbE1ru7mjjo3_640.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/james-borden-wooden-clock-1994-man-in-june monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/shelly-xue-angel-is-waiting-2014-children monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/arthur-k%C3%B6pcke-reading-work-piece-c-1965 monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372962556-FU25P0RX1W7FFSJPO4UX/tumblr_obybiqztYj1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog Arthur Köpcke “Reading-Work Piece,” c. 1965 / ballpoint pen In July 2016, a 91-year-old woman unwittingly defaced this work while it was on view at Nuremberg’s Neues Museum. Not realizing the piece (which closely resembles a crossword and features the phrase “insert words”) was not actually meant to be touched, the woman used a pen to begin filling in phrases.  Though apologetic, she insisted that the museum’s presentation had been confusing, as the exhibition had numerous interactive artworks and the Köpcke piece was not accompanied by any notices warning visitors not to act upon the artist’s invitation to fill in the spaces. Museum representatives believed the damage could be reversed. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ancient-carvings-sharp-object-in-july-2016-two monthly 0.5 2016-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372963164-XXTJ3VJK7RBBHPIVFX1C/tumblr_obyanclKXQ1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog Ancient carvings / sharp object In July 2016, two boys used a sharp object to outline a 5,000-year-old historical carving on the island of Tro in Norway, thought to be among the earliest known depictions of skiing anywhere in the world. The boys apparently had good intentions, hoping to “fix” the carving by making it more visible. They also defaced a carving of a whale which formed part of the same hunting scene. In both cases, the damage was believed to be permanent. The two boys issued a public apology but face possible prosecution under Norway’s Cultural Heritage Act. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/paolo-porpora-flowers-17th-century-fist-on monthly 0.5 2015-08-25 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/andy-warhol-marilyn-various-canvases-gunfire monthly 0.5 2015-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372963863-YJ5OEA862S5BOPCIKKU9/tumblr_nklf9a8RD41ru7mjjo1_r1_1280.jpg Blog Andy Warhol “Marilyn” (various canvases) / gunfire In the fall of 1964, a set of Warhol’s silkscreen series were damaged by artist Dorothy Podber during a visit to Warhol’s E 47th St studio. Dressed in black leather, white gloves and accompanied by a Great Dane called Carmen Miranda, Podber asked Warhol if she could shoot some of his paintings. Assuming she meant with a camera, Warhol agreed. Podber then produced a pistol and fired at a stack of paintings, penetrating four canvases through the portrait’s brow. One of the works, repaired and re-titled “Shot Red Marilyn,“ was eventually sold for $4 million in 1989, at the time setting a record at auction for a Warhol work.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/robert-indiana-seven-spray-paint-on-december monthly 0.5 2015-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372964788-SZL3H4W8K41F51O539CE/tumblr_nkjxhx8IwY1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Robert Indiana, “Seven” / spray paint On December 13, 2014, this steel statue was vandalized while on permanent display outside the Portland Museum of Art. The responsible party, still unidentified, spray painted the words “FUCK ART” near the work’s base. Conservators applied a solvent over several days in an attempt to remove the graffiti; it remains visible, but not noticeable without careful inspection. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/michael-asher-untitled-1991-sledgehammer-on monthly 0.5 2015-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372966363-0IFYI6JM96WS5JBDFBUW/tumblr_nk90ouKRPX1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Michael Asher, Untitled, 1991 / sledgehammer On the evening of January 13, 2015, a masked individual on a “wrecking spree” took a sledgehammer to this granite sculpture while it was on public display at UC San Diego’s campus. During his spree, the individual also damaged the campus’s Chancellor Building and smashed a junction box on the roof to disable several security cameras. He also destroyed eight individual cameras. The perpetrator then spray painted “You can paint over me, you can catch me, you can expel me, I will still be here,” on a wall in gold paint. He also sprayed “private property” on the wall of the Geisel Library. Asher’s sculpture was destroyed beyond repair; the individual remains at large. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/video-footage-showing-the-aftermath-of-the-march monthly 0.5 2014-12-24 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/elmgreen-dragset-prada-marfa-various-the monthly 0.5 2014-12-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372965746-06JMP4CC425NYRNF1R49/tumblr_nh3akctlbM1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Elmgreen & Dragset “Prada Marfa” / various The exterior of this outdoor installation, a simulated Prada storefront created by Elmgreen & Dragset, was extensively damaged in March 2014. In addition to being covered in sprayed and written graffiti, the small structure was splattered in blue paint and covered in signs for popular espadrilles brand TOMS shoes; politically themed pamphlets were also scattered on the premises. The pamphlets included the following: “TOMS Marfa will bring greater inspiration to consumer Americans to give all they have to developing nations that suffer disease starvation and corruption … So long as you buy TOMS shoes, and endorse Jesus Christ as your savior, welcoming the ‘white’ him into your heart. So help you God, otherwise your damned to hell … Welcome to your Apocalypse?…The irony of Prada Marfa, it’s fake. Prada Marfa has no representation of Texas and Southwest North America. Prada Marfa is a relic of a Bourgeois not so distant past; serving today’s hyper reality of a blank canvas.” The responsible party was eventually identified as Waco resident Joseph Magnano. Magnano, an artist/activist who tagged under the moniker “9271997,” apparently conceived the act as both political activism and artistic gesture. He eventually plead guilty to two counts of misdemeanor criminal mischief, thereby escaping jail time. On top of a $1,000 fine, Magnano paid an additional $10,700 in restitution to Ballroom Marfa, the nonprofit organization which commissioned and maintains the installation. Using that money, the edifice was able to be restored. In a subsequent written interview, Magnano attempted to explain his actions: “I didn’t appreciate Prada Marfa. It seemed to portray this image of persevering the iconic, the elite, the brand. I am really interested in modernization, reorientation, and the meaning of a temporary structure. As well, watching the tourist drive up to get their picture seemed very plastic culture, amusement park like… I see a sculpture like “Prada Marfa,” keeps society compressed into a certain reality, which isn’t necessarily true. I mean, who wants to be defined by consumerism and branding? I sure the hell don’t, so I wanted to test and reorientate the meaning of Prada Marfa…I didn’t target Prada, because Prada is so 2005. Prada is too high-end for the majority of Americans. TOMS isn’t, though. TOMS fits the mainstream bill … considering all the austerity and cooperate governing that takes place; America seems to have become more of a TOMS brand, instead of Prada.” He also denied having any particular problem with the artists themselves: “Using “Prada Marfa” as a canvas was not in anyway an attack on the artists. In fact, I am grateful they created “Prada Marfa,” because without it, TOMS Marfa couldn’t have temporarily existed. I’m not familiar with any of their [other] work. I didn’t even know they made “Prada Marfa” until I researched it.” This was not the first time the installation had been vandalized. Just days after its 2005 opening, unidentified parties attempted to tear the doors out using a chain; over the years, taggers have made regular use of the building’s exterior. In each instance, the damage was able to be repaired.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/claude-monet-argenteuil-basin-with-a-single monthly 0.5 2014-12-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372966090-NXWOCO6XO9DYEN24JFQM/tumblr_ngalzi1qEb1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Claude Monet “Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat” (1874) / fist Just before 11am on June 29, 2012, 49-year-old Andrew Shannon punched a hole through this work while it was on view at Ireland’s National Gallery. Security footage of the incident shows Shannon standing in front of the painting for a moment before suddenly lunging into it fist-first. While Shannon would later claim that he had fell ill and lost his balance, Irish police claimed his act was in fact “a bid to get back at the State.” (Upon his arrest, police also found a can of paint stripper concealed on his person.) Shannon was eventually convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, the final 15 months suspended on strict conditions which ban him from entering any public spaces that hold or display painted artworks. 18 months after the original incident, the Monet was able to be restored and put back on display.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jeff-koons-retrospective-spray-paint-on-october monthly 0.5 2014-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372966293-1NZARY0ADGOO24ZO40IZ/tumblr_ndp4e0LYX61ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Jeff Koons retrospective / spray paint On October 18, 2014, a man later identified as Christopher Johnson, 33, tagged a fourth-floor wall in the Whitney Museum’s Jeff Koons retrospective, spray-painting an unintelligible string of letters in black paint. Johnson was promptly apprehended and charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti, possession of a graffiti instrument and criminal nuisance. The Koons exhibition had already been vandalized a few months earlier; in both cases, however, no artworks were damaged.  Click HERE to view footage of the incident as it transpired.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/paul-mccarthy-tree-deflated-on-october-16 monthly 0.5 2014-10-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372966617-DE8KPDLKDKX8ESLB0CET/tumblr_ndnt3qc8N51ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Paul McCarthy “Tree” / deflated On October 16, 2014, this 80-ft work was torn down and ultimately deflated after a short but controversial installation in Paris' Place Vendôme. The piece, which had been installed as part of the FIAC art festival, was supposedly intended to represent a Christmas tree (according to McCarthy) but had caused outrage among many Parisians - most visibly, the French conservative group Printemps Français (“A giant 24-metre butt plug has been erected at Place Vendome,” the group tweeted. “Place Vendome disfigured, Paris humiliated!”) - due to its apparent resemblance to an anal plug sex toy, prompting calls for city authorities to remove it. Feelings were so strong that McCarthy was actually slapped in the face three times by passers-by as the artwork was being unveiled. After a short stint on display, unidentified perpetrators took matters into their own hands, cutting the cords that held the work upright. Once fallen, FIAC decided to deflate and remove the work without intentions of re-installing it. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/curator-and-various-photographs-pepper-spray-and monthly 0.5 2014-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372967206-COF5APUEU8SGTM84A4X4/tumblr_ncz2lgM6PF1ru7mjjo1_r1_500.jpg Blog Curator and various photographs / pepper spray and ink On the morning of October 3, 2014, three individuals were involved in a concerted act of assault and vandalism prompted by a photography exhibition on display at 540 W 21st Street in Chelsea (formerly the home of Eyebeam Art & Technology Center) featuring work from a selection of Russian, Ukranian, French, and Spanish photojournalists alongside physical artifacts from conflicts in those regions.  Just after 10am, an older couple entered the gallery and went straight to the Ukranian section, where they began to disperse anti-Putin and neo-Nazi leaflets on the ground. As they were doing so, a younger man entered the space, walking directly to the table where the show’s curator, Benjamin Hiller, was seated. After cursing Hiller for having “brought shame” on the Ukranian people, the man attacked Hiller with pepper spray and kicked over the table.  As this was happening, the older man used black ink to deface nearby photographs and scrawl the word “LIE” on the wall.  All three perpetrators fled the scene and remain at large. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-1988-istvan-kantor-working-under-the-guise-of monthly 0.5 2014-08-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372967285-K75H0W4DDGUCFSDV5P0Z/tumblr_naz8gm94Su1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog In 1988, Istvan Kantor (working under the guise of “Monty Cantsin”) performed his “MoMA Gift” in the museum’s second floor, producing vials of blood from his bookbag, spraying them in a giant “X” between two installed Picasso works, and proceeding to incant a militant text in which he donated the blood to the MoMA’s collection. He performed the same act at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) in 1991 and the Whitney Museum in 2014. In all cases, no other artworks were damaged.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/banksy-untitled-surveillance-piece monthly 0.5 2014-08-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372967511-YNZ7ZB0Q0WYPXB730AIV/tumblr_n9zsqzXBCQ1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Banksy, Untitled (Surveillance Piece) / spraypaint On August 1, 2014, this work, pasted to the side of a residential home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was painted over by an unidentified tagger. Given the work’s vulnerability to graffiti and the elements, it had already been coated by a layer of protective paint. Restoration experts were called in, with a protective plastic cover to be placed over the piece for additional protection. The work is expected to be fully repairable. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/the-townley-venus-1-2ad-various-this-marble monthly 0.5 2014-07-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372968626-YOYMJ7BKZ5CLMFCUUO0O/tumblr_n9jg28IjxF1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog The Townley Venus (1-2AD) / various This marble statue, adapted from from a lost Greek original from the 4th century BC, has been damaged a number of times, accidentally and otherwise. On several occasions, the work’s right hand has had to be repaired after visitors loosened or broke off its extended fingers, and in August 2011, an unidentified museumgoer stuck a wad of used chewing gum on the drapery at the front. In each case, the work was able to be restored. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/drunken-satyr-selfie-mishap-on-tuesday-march monthly 0.5 2014-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372969731-JZEUDPFF0RHM0WB8E2QH/tumblr_n2nqifrUtX1ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372969715-8PGHRXQ643SYZJS1XZ0E/tumblr_n2nqifrUtX1ru7mjjo2_r1_400.png Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ai-weiwei-vase-dropped-in-protest-on-february monthly 0.5 2014-02-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372969862-W0UZN94WBWMUP7TJLB79/tumblr_n1932l863z1ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog Ai Weiwei vase / dropped in protest On February 18, 2014, a painted vase by Ai Weiwei was destroyed while on view at the Perez Art Museum in Miami. That afternoon, Maximo Caminero, a 51-year-old local artist, picked the work up and, when told by a security guard to put it down, dropped it to the ground, smashing the vase into pieces. Caminero later explained that the act was a protest against the gallery’s decision to only display international art, saying, “I did it for all the local artists in Miami that have never been shown in museums here. They have spent so many millions now on international artists. It’s the same political situation over and over again. I’ve been here for 30 years and it’s always the same.“ Caminero also explained that the act was directly inspired by Ai’s work - specifically "Dropping A Han Dynasty Urn,” a series of photographs which shows Ai himself dropping a vase to the ground. "It was a spontaneous protest,“ he explained. "I was at PAMM and saw Ai Weiwei’s photos behind the vases where he drops an ancient Chinese vase and breaks it. I saw it as a provocation by Weiwei to join him in an act of performance protest. I admire Ai Weiwei greatly and have always supported his actions.” The work, valued at over $1 million, was destroyed beyond restoration. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-jeff-koons-sculptures-unidentified-sharp monthly 0.5 2013-12-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372970325-X3PFC1X0NVB84J2D82BB/tumblr_mxyivqkGCg1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog various Jeff Koons sculptures / unidentified sharp object Numerous sculptures by Jeff Koons were defaced while on view during Lady Gaga’s “artRave” event at Brooklyn’s Duggal Greenhouse on November 10, 2013. Those responsible were not identified; it’s unclear whether Koons intends to repair the works.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/unidentified-statue-by-giovanni-dambrogio-ca monthly 0.5 2013-08-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372970625-OB4R5XI4E1KHFEU3307U/tumblr_mr48mmTSQc1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog unidentified statue by Giovanni d'Ambrogio (ca. 1500s ) / tourist On August 6, 2013, an American tourist accidentally broke a finger off this statue while it was on view at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy. The unnamed tourist was reportedly attempting to measure the digit when it snapped off.  Museum director Timothy Verdun was unsure as to whether the work could be repaired, as the finger was in fact a recast from the statue’s original hand. The tourist apologized but is likely to face a hefty fine. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-harlequin-head-1971-claude monthly 0.5 2013-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372970754-E8GQE0QR8BXNMXVK03VX/tumblr_mq4sshRMVa1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Pablo Picasso “Harlequin Head” (1971); Claude Monet “Waterloo Bridge, London” (1901) and “Charing Cross Bridge, London” (1901); Henri Matisse “Reading Girl in White and Yellow” (1901); Paul Gauguin “Girl in Front of Open Window” (1898); Meyer de Haan “Self-Portrait” (1890); Lucian Freud “Woman with Eyes Closed” (2002) / fire (?) In July 2013, the mother of a suspected art thief confessed to having burnt these artworks in her kitchen stove. Olga Doragu, mother of Radu Doragu, told police she burnt the paintings in a bid to destroy the evidence when her son was arrested in January. He was one of three suspects taken into custody after paintings collectively valued at $150 million disappeared from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam on October 16, 2012. “After the arrest of my son I was very scared because I knew that what had happened was very serious,” court documents record Doragu’s mother as having told police. “I placed the suitcase containing the paintings in the stove. I put in some logs, slippers and rubber shoes and waited until they had completely burned.” Dogaru told investigators she had initially stored the artworks in an abandoned house before eventually burying them in a cemetery in the village of Caracliu. Once police began searching for the works, she dug up the paintings and burned them. Authorities are currently in the process of analyzing the ashes, which specialists say contained “small fragments of painting primer, the remains of canvas, the remains of paint” and copper and steel nails, some of which pre-dated the 20th century. Still, it could be months before Dogaru’s account can be verified. Henri Matisse, “Reading Girl in White and Yellow,” 1919 Pablo PIcasso, “Harlequin Head,” 1971 Claude Monet, “Charing Cross Bridge, London,” 1901 Claude Monet, “Waterloo Bridge, London,” 1901 Paul Gaugin, “Girl in Front of Open Window,” 1898 Meyer de Haan,“Self-Portrait,"1890 Lucian Freud, "Woman with Eyes Closed,” 2002 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ralph-heimans-the-coronation-theatre monthly 0.5 2013-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372971141-PV7UG3MFT081WWBD8CZF/tumblr_mocsdwZvvg1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Ralph Heimans, “The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” (2012) / spray paint Around noon on Thursday, June 13, 2013, a 41-year old man sprayed the word “HELP” onto this portrait of Queen Elizabeth II while the work was on view at Westminster Abbey. The suspect, Tim Haries, was arrested on site. Haries, a member of protest group Fathers 4 Justice, told police that he was a “desperate dad” who had damaged the painting in a bid to draw attention to his fight to gain access to his two children. A spokesman for Fathers 4 Justice supported the act, saying, “Tim Haries has lost all contact with his children and felt he had nothing to lose by appealing directly to the Queen for help by spraying his plea onto her portrait. I would support this act, but it is sad that he has to take such desperate steps.” The painting, which had been commissioned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the queen’s coronation, was removed from public viewing, but museum spokespersons did not believe the damage to be irreparable. above: Tim Haries https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ryan-mcginley-zachary-paint-on-may-7-2013 monthly 0.5 2013-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372971218-P0O9W42N9BKKVVCHQMPL/tumblr_mmhk2rvxDj1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Ryan McGinley “Zachary” / paint (On May 7, 2013, unidentified parties used a roller and white paint to damage a large-scale reproduction of this 2010 photograph while it was on view at the White Flag Projects gallery in St. Louis. The 13-foot banner had been installed outside the gallery to promote “Coconut Water,” a group exhibition in which McGinley was featured. Gallery representatives opted not to alert police, saying it was McGinley’s wish that the damaged artwork remain in place for the duration of the exhibition. “I think it says something very different to let it remain there,” explained gallerist Matthew Strauss. “It speaks to something completely different now.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/claes-oldenberg-and-coosje-van-bruggen monthly 0.5 2013-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372971416-YYFEGQKZM8XD4B91FKWZ/tumblr_mjkc53Kxpw1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen “Spoonbridge and Cherry” / Spray paint (In April 2012, unidentified parties entered the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at around 1:30 AM and spray painted “Kony” on three artworks,  including this sculpture. The vandals were presumed to be supporters of the Kony 2012 campagin. The works were successfully restored two days later.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/eugene-delacroix-la-libert%C3%A9-guidant-le-peuple monthly 0.5 2013-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372972349-66LPSJ8TBC3PBTQ1CY1G/tumblr_mi138b9aTC1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Eugene Delacroix “La Liberté Guidant le Peuple” (1830) / permanent marker (Shortly before closing time on February 7, 2013, a 28-year-old woman used a permanent marker to deface this painting while it was on view at Louvre-Lens, the Louvre’s outpost in northern France. The woman scrawled a message at the bottom right corner of the work reading “AE911,” which authorities believe refers to the abbreviation for the conspiracy theory group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. The woman was immediately apprehended; the damage was thought to be superficial and easily repairable. Lens mayor Guy Delcourt said the woman had “told security, in a rather incoherent manner, that she wanted to put her mark” on the painting. Prosecutors did not release the woman’s identity, but said she was unemployed, had a master’s degree, did not have a criminal record, and would likely be hospitalized in a psychiatric facility prior to potential prosecution.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/damien-hirst-charity-spraypaint-in-2011 monthly 0.5 2012-10-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372973492-RL9TVSKJ0HV63BIJQXXI/tumblr_mbzm2pXgcs1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Damien Hirst “Charity” / spraypaint (In 2011, this 22ft-tall outdoor statue was tagged with graffiti while on display at the Royal West of England Academy of Art. The tag, which read “Hoax,” was subsequently removed.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jonathan-gent-the-beatles-in-america-hands monthly 0.5 2012-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372973550-3GFBCK6CPV86H148OPQV/tumblr_mbqne0ZyrR1ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog Jonathan Gent “The Beatles in America” / hands (On October 11, 2012, this work - which portrays the penises of the Fab Four rendered in oil paint, their corresponding names written below in pencil - was defaced while on view at the Museum of Liverpool in England. The work was “pressed and smudged” by multiple visitors, none of whom appear to have been caught in the act. Gent’s painting had been intended to be auctioned off as part of an exhibition benefiting Claire House, a children’s charity that provides end-of-life hospital care for kids with complex medical needs. The painting was removed from the exhibition, and restoration attempts are currently underway.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/maggi-hamblings-scallops-paint-this-public monthly 0.5 2012-10-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372973654-VXG286SH0BQ1G0BYHPVW/tumblr_mbl8fxrXeD1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Maggi Hamblings “Scallops” / paint (This public sculpture - created on commission as a tribute to English composer Benjamin Britten - has been vandalized 13 times since being installed on a beach in Aldeburgh, England in 2003. The subject of much debate amongst locals (numerous petitions have been made to have the sculpture removed), the work was most recently defaced in 2011, when someone painted it with phrases like “ITS JUST AN OLD TIN CAN,” “JUNK,” and “MOVE IT.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/mark-rothko-black-on-maroon-black-paint-on monthly 0.5 2012-10-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372973962-ZX30UG0WY53YYVYJAZ9F/tumblr_mbjdzbgce41ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Mark Rothko, “Black on Maroon” / black paint (On October 7, 2012, this 1958 painting was defaced by a male visitor while on view at the Tate Modern in London. The man, later identified as a Russian artist named Vladimir Umanets, used a marker pen to tag the work, writing, “Vladimir Umanets ‘12 / a potential piece of yellowism.” As a  witness at the scene tweeted “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.” Umanets later told Britain’s Press Association news agency that he’d defaced the work in order to draw people’s attention to Yellowism, an artistic movement he’d co-founded, and compared his act to previous gestures from art history: “I didn’t destroy the picture. I did not steal anything. There was a lot of stuff like this before. Marcel Duchamp signed things that were not made by him, or even Damien Hirst.” He also said he believed that his act had increased the painting’s value. “I believe in what I am doing and I want people to start talking about this. It was like a platform,” he said. “I didn’t decrease the value, I didn’t destroy this picture, I put something new.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/robert-irwin-dot-paintings-knives-coca-cola monthly 0.5 2012-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372974207-6OYAS6NME2MZLOZ4YIEN/tumblr_ma34afF6x41ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Robert Irwin “Dot Paintings” / knives, Coca Cola, etc. (In 1965, two  of Irwin’s “Dot Paintings” were damaged by visitors while on view at the Sao Paulo Bienal. As Irwin later described, “I don’t really know what took place, but I was told subsequently that both the dot paintings I had in the show were destroyed within the first day. People attacked them, they cut them with knives, they threw things at them, they spit on them. I don’t know what all was on them when they got back; it looked like Coca Cola.  And they marked them all up - not just one person, apparently, but a number, because there were all these different gestures…I really don’t know [what instigated the attacks]. I suppose the paintings were perceived as a very minimal kind of expression, and for some reason during that period of time, that really angered people…I guess they somehow intuitively recognized it as an attack on a lot of the values they held. It threatened them.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/elias-garcia-martinez-ecce-homo-behold-the-man monthly 0.5 2012-08-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372974310-4J2Z5WFKB4KPCR70YH0C/tumblr_m967074sJ61ru7mjjo1_500.png Blog Elias Garcia Martinez “Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)” / paint (In August 2012, an elderly parishioner made an unauthorized attempt to restore this 19th century fresco, painted onto a wall of the Sanctuary of Mercy Church in Zaragoza, Spain. The woman, in her 80s and apparently acting with good intentions, brought a set of paints to church and proceeded to “update” the fresco, which had suffered extensive deterioration from moisture. Adding insult to injury, the church had plans to restore the work themselves, having recently received a donation from the painter’s granddaughter.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/brett-murray-the-spear-paint-on-may-22 monthly 0.5 2012-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372974805-8U506ZCHT49DLE6OT2CE/tumblr_m4f714yuSZ1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Brett Murray “The Spear” / paint (On May 22, 2012, this controversial painting of South African president Jacob Zuma (which depicts the politician, genitals exposed, in a dramatic pose reminiscent of Soviet-era poster work) was defaced while on view at Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery. The artwork was damaged by two men - one of whom painted a red X across Zuma’s face and genitals as the other threw black paint onto the canvas. One of the men, arrested at the scene, said simply, “The painting was offensive.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/meindert-hobbema-village-near-a-pool-nail monthly 0.5 2012-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372974844-CKT7ENGMRNASOUC2WC7X/tumblr_m3cqvupPuA1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Meindert Hobbema “Village Near a Pool” / nail file (In 1966, a woman used her nail file to damage this work while it was on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The work was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/graham-sutherland-portrait-of-sir-winston monthly 0.5 2012-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372975810-SWPRLVN2BYMG758NTPQH/tumblr_m3cqgqLbSj1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Graham Sutherland “Portrait of Sir Winston Churchill” / Mrs. Churchill (In 1954, painter Graham Sutherland was commissioned by British Parliament to produce a portrait of the Prime Minister, which was presented to him on his 80th birthday. Churchill himself did not like the portrait - he felt it depicted him as a querulous old man instead of the bulldoggish statesman who had faced down Hitler. His wife, Clementine, felt the same way, and upon accepting the work and shipping it home, she immediately hired workers to destroy it.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-works-20-cent-coins-ballpoint-pens-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372976077-KIXQHZ952I7ZK39W0M2V/tumblr_m39qv003aX1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog various works / 20 cent coins, ballpoint pens (In 1988, a series of painting were vandalized by unknown perpetrators who used 20 cent coins to scratch and ballpoint pens to puncture the works while they were on view at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. Among the works damaged were a still-life by Bernard Hall and a landscape by Louis Buvelot. In all cases, the damages were minimal and easily repaired. It is believed that the acts were carried out by members of the Australian Cultural Terrorists, who had claimed responsibility for the theft of Picasso’s “Weeping Woman” from the museum in 1986.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/enrique-chagoya-the-misadventures-of-romantic monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372976952-YIFSD2LX4KIJXSJEQXWF/tumblr_m39qg3Sxr61ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Enrique Chagoya “The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals" / crowbar (In 2010, a woman named Kathleen Folden destroyed this lithograph while it was on view at Denver’s Loveland Museum. While Chagoya’s work consisted of 12 connected panels, Folden had apparently been offended by one in particular, which depicted Jesus Christ with a woman’s body, reclining while a man buried his face near the crotch. Folden was arrested and charged; the work was destroyed and removed from the exhibition.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-femme-nue-devant-le-jardin monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372977268-RT723YPVQGDRRSP4VL4B/tumblr_m39q0cuNMS1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Pablo Picasso “Femme Nue Devant Le Jardin” / knife (In 1999, a 41-year-old man identified only as “Paul G.” used a knife to cut a large, ragged hole into this painting while it was on view at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. After slashing the work, the man went to a newspaper office, where he boasted of his crime to a reporter, and was arrested soon after. The same man, an escaped mental patient, had attacked Rembrandt’s painting “Night Watch” nine years earlier. In 1977, he’d also unsuccessfully attempted to hijack a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight using a toy gun.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/chris-ofili-the-holy-virgin-mary-paint-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372977434-YIBPG0HLLZM4ZZL0BIV3/tumblr_m39pgliEOj1ru7mjjo1_250.jpg Blog Chris Ofili “The Holy Virgin Mary” / paint (In 1999, a 72-year-old man named Dennis Heiner smeared white paint on this work while it was on view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Heiner had apparently smuggled the paint into the museum using a small hand lotion tube. He later told police he’d attacked the work because it was “blasphemous.” The work, which had caused a great deal of controversy due to Ofili’s chosen materials (which included elephant dung and collaged pornographic images), was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/neil-simmons-margaret-thatcher-cricket-bat monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372977682-BX5K0VC7TNCBZR8FPRHK/tumblr_m39p3d2Wvz1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Neil Simmons “Margaret Thatcher” / cricket bat, stanchion (In 2002, a man named Paul Kelleher decapitated this marble statue of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while it was on display at the Guildhall Art Gallery in London. After chopping at the neck of the statue with a cricket bat he’d concealed in his pants, Kelleher used a metal stanchion to complete the act. Once finished, he waited to be arrested by the police. He later said that his actions to do with “artistic expression and my right to interact with this broken world.” He also told police, “I think it looks better like that.” The statue was able to be repaired.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/dror-feiler-snow-white-and-the-madness-of-truth monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372977992-0KU1XO1R3K0OHKLUQKIR/tumblr_m39or0mUsI1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Dror Feiler “Snow White and the Madness of Truth” / electricity (In 2004, the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, tried to destroy the artwork by unplugging lights and throwing one of them into a pool causing a short circuit. Mazel claimed the work - a long pool of dyed water, upon which floated a small white boat carrying a portrait of a female Palestinian suicide bomber - was antisemitic. Upon entering the gallery space of Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities, he disconnected the electricity powering the installation and tipped one of its lights into the water. Mazel had to be escorted out by museum security; the work was able to be restored. A week later, Thomas Nordanstad, who curated the exhibition in which this work was shown, was attacked by an unidentified man who pushed him down a staircase. It was later revealed that Nordanstad had also received over 400 e-mails containing various threats. The attacker was not found.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/edvard-eriksen-little-mermaid-various-this monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372978362-5UNUUJE6VEQ0RMNQG9AF/tumblr_m39o3fhfDl1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Edvard Eriksen “Little Mermaid” / various (This open-air bronze statue, installed in Copenhagen in 1913, has been damaged and defaced on several occasions, but has been successfully restored in the wake of each incident. a) On April 24, 1964, the statue’s head was sawn off and stolen by politically oriented artists of the Situationist movement. The head was never recovered and a new head was produced and placed on the statue. b) On July 22, 1984, the right arm was sawn off and returned two days later by two young men. It was able to be reattached. c) In 1990, an aborted attempt to sever the statue’s head left a cut in the neck 7 inches deep. d) In 1998, the statue was decapitated again. The culprits were never found, but the head was returned anonymously to a nearby TV station. It was able to be reattached. e) In 2003, the statue was knocked off its base with explosives and later found in the harbor’s waters. Holes were blasted in the mermaid’s wrist and knee. f) In 2004, the statue was draped in a burqa as a statement against Turkey joining the European Union. In May 2007, the statue was again found draped in a Muslim dress and head scarf. g) In 2006, a dildo was attached to the statue’s hand, green paint was dumped over it, and the words “March 8” were written on it. It is suspected that this vandalism had something to do with International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8th. Paint has also been poured on the statue several times, including one instance in 1963 and two in 2007.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/bartholomeus-van-der-helst-banquet-of-the monthly 0.5 2012-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372978454-FFVNQZJA3EL9JBSZVQ6D/tumblr_m39njhgEiN1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Bartholomeus van der Helst “Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Munster” / fire (In June 2006, serial vandal Hans Joachim Bohlmann splashed lighter fluid on this painting and set it on fire while it was on view at the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam. Most damage was done to the varnish layer, which was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-jacob-blessing-josephs-second-son monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372978532-GRDXLV67X2DIXMT9GVPH/tumblr_m39mlcpOcL1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Rembrandt “Jacob Blessing Joseph’s Second Son” (pictured above) and Willem Drost “Noli Me Tangere” / acid (These two works were both vandalized by Hans Joachim Bohlmann on October 7, 1977 while on view at the Schloss Wilhemlshohe in Kassel Germany. In his attacks, Bohlmann was primarily targeting the faces of the personages, trying to inflict maximum damage.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/lucas-cranach-the-elder-martin-luther-and-his monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372979557-B0IM0PDZHH0PMVAVJXEU/tumblr_m39m8shbNq1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog Lucas Cranach the Elder “Martin Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora” (diptych) / acid (On 16 August 1977, these works were attacked by Hans Joachim Bohlmann, who poured sulfuric acid on them while they were displayed at the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, Germany.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/doris-salcedo-various-works-us-customs-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372979912-D5W08YSKAU0ZBHT86GFO/tumblr_m39l6cO3Tb1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Doris Salcedo (various works) / US Customs (In 1995, four sculptures by Columbian artist Doris Salcedo were destroyed by U.S. Custom Service officials at NYC’s JFK airport. Pieces of the sculptures - which consisted of furniture molded in concrete - were hammered off as the custom officers searched, unsuccessfully, for narcotics. The sculptures were en route to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum, which filed a claim for the damages with the federal agency.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/greg-taylor-down-by-the-lake-with-liz-and-phil monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372980745-8UZ0MQ58BB703Y4HDUJ6/tumblr_m39kqrganz1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Greg Taylor “Down by the Lake with Liz and Phil” / saw, sledgehammers (In 2010, a series of vandals attacked this controversial sculpture, which depicts Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sitting together naked on a park bench. The work, installed by a lake near Canberra Australia’s High Court, had been on view for only a week before vandals repeatedly attacked the work, successfully beheading and severing legs from both sculptures and caving in Philip’s chest. The sculpture was permanently removed as a result.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/henry-moore-king-and-queen-saw-in-1995 monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372981012-O0ZTTTE122WW76QI5FWT/tumblr_m39k8m7yjY1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Henry Moore “King and Queen” / saw (In 1995, vandals sawed off the heads of these open-air bronze sculptures, installed on a hillside in Dumfries, Scotland. Though the perpetrators were not caught, the decapitated heads were able to be reattached.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/portrait-of-chairman-mao-zedong-paint-filled monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372981166-0UBCRSSHOX71FWXBA2P0/tumblr_m39jsn0kHn1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong / paint-filled eggs, burning object (In May 1989, at the height of ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, three men - Yu Dongyue (a journalist), Yu Zhijian (a schoolteacher), and Lu Decheng (a truck mechanic) - threw eggs (which had been emptied and refilled with red, blue and yellow paint) at the large painted portrait of Mao Zedong displayed prominently near Tiananmen Square. According to news reports, other demonstrators seized the three men and turned them over to police. The damage to the painting was able to be repaired. The three men were sentenced to life in prison; each served at least ten years before being separately released. The painting was attacked again in May 2007, when a 35-year-old unemployed man from Xinjiang hurled a burning object at the portrait and damaged it. The man was arrested; the painting was restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/paul-klee-golden-fish-acid-in-1977-a-man monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372981464-M3ZZQATMJ128IBWX2I50/tumblr_m39ixoLSGi1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Paul Klee “Golden Fish” / acid (In 1977, a man threw acid at this work while it was on view at Germany’s Hamburg Kunsthalle museum. Though damaged, the work was able to be restored. This was the first of many acts of vandalism made by Hans Joachim Bohlmann, who damaged over 50 different artworks between 1977 and 2006.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/hans-haacke-and-you-were-victorious-after-all monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372981667-9YPK0R9EEQC4XCLTPW5I/tumblr_m38ut4sgHs1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Hans Haacke “And You Were Victorious After All” / firebomb (In 1988, this work was included in “Bezugspunkte 38/88 (Points of Reference),” a city-wide exhibition which highlighted sixteen loci of Nazi activity in the city of Graz, Austria. Haacke’s temporary installation recreated a Nazi victory column that had been erected over a public statue in 1938, when Hitler honoured Graz as an early Nazi stronghold, calling it the ‘City of the People’s Insurrection.’ Haacke’s memorial, produced on the original site, included an additional text which commemorated those killed locally by the Nazis. Nearby, 16 posters inscribed with ‘Graz - City of the People’s Insurrection’ featured facsimiles of pro-Aryan and anti-Semitic documents Haacke culled from local newspaper reports, want ads, and university course listings printed in 1938. The column was firebombed by neo-Nazis a week before it was to come down. The work was destroyed beyond repair.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/david-smith-his-estate-while-curator-clement monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372982286-THBSO7NEOLGNQNG1WJSS/tumblr_m38u6d8e2u1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog David Smith / his estate (While curator Clement Greenberg was a long-time champion of sculptor David Smith’s work, he never approved of Smith’s experimentation with colored paint. Painted sculpture challenged Greenberg’s dictum of medium purity: “It seems to be a law of modernism that the conventions not essential to the viability of a medium be discarded as soon as they are recognized,“ he said, and Smith’s paint was decidedly non-essential to the sculptures, merely interrupting "the raw, discolored surfaces” of the welded steel. In a letter he sent Smith in 1951, Greenberg went so far as to request permission to paint over the multicolored surface of a sculpture given to him by the artist. “It should be black,” Greenberg insisted, adding, “We can always scrape it off again.” When Smith died in 1965, Greenberg became an executor of his estate. In that capacity, he stripped the paint from five of Smith’s outdoor sculptures, all of which had been painted white. Greenberg had some of the works rusted and sealed, while others he let deteriorate or fade as a result of weather. It was a controversial move, particularly because Smith’s own wishes were not entirely clear. He’d never explicitly given (or denied) his executors the power to alter his works. For his part, Greenberg insisted that Smith’s intention was never to leave the works white: the white paint was simply a primer, a mid-way point in a process that had been halted by the sculptor’s death. Better to alter the works, he argued, so that they resembled other finished works. Doing so, it was also noted, would improve their resale value considerably. The question, as writer Beverly Pepper framed it, boiled down to this: “Should we not value phases of the artist’s research as much as the conclusions he came to?” In this case, the answer from the estate seemed to be no.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/diego-rivera-man-at-the-crossroads-the monthly 0.5 2012-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372982247-IMFUH1BJOAKBI7U8AHQ2/tumblr_m38sjkCqL91ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Diego Rivera “Man at the Crossroads” / the Rockefellers (In 1933, the Rockefellers commissioned muralist Diego Rivera to create a mural for the ground-floor wall of the Rockefeller Center. The artist was given a theme: “Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future.” Nelson Rockefeller was outraged by the finished mural, which included images of society women drinking alcohol, a portrait of Leon Trotsky, and a prominent depiction of Vladimir Lenin. Rockefeller asked Rivera to change the face of Lenin to one of an anonymous laborer. When Rivera refused, Rockefeller paid the artist and immediately had the work draped over (never to be shown to the public). Soon after, workers demolished the mural, hauling pieces of the work away in wheelbarrows. One of Rivera’s assistants had taken a photograph of the mural before it was destroyed. Using that photo as reference, Rivera eventually recreated the mural at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where it was renamed “Man, Controller of the Universe.” Rockefeller later hired muralist Jose Maria Sert to replace Rivera’s work with a new mural with Abraham Lincoln as its focal point.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/william-bouguereau-the-return-of-spring monthly 0.5 2012-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372982482-JCRW5MVRNEDC5BXHUGC4/tumblr_m376uvtWah1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog William Bouguereau “The Return of Spring” / statue, chair (This 1886 painting has been twice attacked by people offended by its overt sensuality: a) In 1890, while on view in Omaha as part of a traveling exhibition, the work was attacked by a man named Carey Judson Warbington, who took a nearby chair and threw it at the painting. The damage was minimal. Warbington, a fervently religious man, later explained that he’d seen similar pictures in a “house of ill-fame,” and didn’t want women like his mother or sister to see a work of such blatant sexuality. He felt he had to destroy the painting because it “was not at the place which must be natural to it.” He was declared insane at his trial and committed suicide shortly thereafter. Interestingly, in the wake of the incident, the owner of the painting bought the chair used in the attack and, for a time, had it exhibited along with Bouguereau’s piece. b) In 1976, while on view at Omaha’s Joslyn Museum, a 37-year-old window-cleaner working in the gallery took a nearby bronze statue from its pedestal and threw it at the painting. Damages were once again minimal.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jacob-epstein-oscar-wildes-tomb-hammer monthly 0.5 2012-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372983252-G3E7XZLJDN0J4PV44XQ0/tumblr_m3710i3VBz1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Jacob Epstein “Oscar Wilde’s tomb” / hammer & chisel, kisses (In 1961, the sculpted angel that kneels atop Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris’ Pere Lachaise Cemetery was vandalized by two English women. The angel, done by sculptor Jacob Epstein, was originally endowed with over-sized testicles, which the two women found distasteful. The detached testicles were recovered soon after by the cemetery keeper, who ended up using them as paper weights. They were not reattached to Epstein’s piece. The tomb was also famous for bearing lipstick traces of kisses left by hundreds of admirers. Over time, the grease from the kisses began to cause significant damage to the limestone. As a result, a glass barrier was installed to shield the monument in 2011.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/albrecht-durer-mary-as-grieving-mother monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372983553-NPO58Q558MAEHOEYFXSD/tumblr_m34zthVVn11ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Albrecht Durer “Mary as Grieving Mother,” “Mourning of Christ,” and “The Paumgartner Altar” / sulfuric acid (In 1988, a 51-year-old homeless man walked into the Alte Pinakothek Museum in Munich and sprayed these works with sulfuric acid contained in a champagne bottle. He wasn’t caught until a group of school children came into the gallery and one of the students cried out for him to stop. He did, setting down the bottle and then finding a guard to explain what happened. The man later said he’d attacked the painting “out of revenge,” because of deductions that had been made from his pension to pay for similar attacks he had made on paintings in Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The man also described himself as “psychologically disturbed.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/the-portland-vase-the-portland-vase-is-a-roman monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372984361-K0STKVRVXBBV352TYYQL/tumblr_m34zheYCbF1ru7mjjo1_250.jpg Blog The Portland Vase The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase dated somewhere between AD 5 and AD 25. In 1845, while out on loan to the British Museum, the vase was shattered by a man named William Lloyd, who, after a week-long drinking binge, picked up another sculpture and threw it at the vase, smashing it to pieces. At that time, the vase was only partially reassembled, as the restorer was unable to replace all of the pieces. (The missing fragments were apparently put into a box at some point in the process, misplaced, and ultimately forgotten.) Then, in 1948, the vase’s keeper received the thirty-seven fragments in the mail. (The sender was not sure what the pieces were, and had actually sent them to the British Museum in hopes of identifying them.) Using these pieces, the vase was able to be fully reconstructed. Additional restorations were required and completed in 1986 and 1988. The restored vase was returned to public display in 1989, with little sign of the original damage visible. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/peter-paul-rubens-king-philip-iv-of-spain monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372984467-N832HRUVECP20MZQR7X2/tumblr_m34ynsWkBD1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Peter Paul Rubens “King Philip IV of Spain” / fire (In 1985, an unidentified man was arrested for setting fire to this painting while it was on display in the Zurich Kunsthaus in Switzerland. The fire reduced the work to ashes, leaving only its Baroque frame. The man was captured during a check of all visitors at the museum’s exits, which were closed after a guard noticed the smoke from the fire. He later justified his deed as an act of protest against environmental pollution.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/numerous-abstract-expressionist-works-knife-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372984531-GWTAJ5OVWHNHTZZJ7OY4/tumblr_m34xoebBOx1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog numerous Abstract Expressionist works / knife (In 1985, a 24-year-old man named Eugene D. Burt attacked several works hanging in the main concourse area of a Washington DC government office complex. The damaged works were part of an exhibition that included artists Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Philip Guston, and Joan Mitchell. Burt, owner of a nearby shoeshine stand, walked into the concourse, pulled out a kitchen knife and slashed 8 of the 75 paintings. Then, with a red crayon, he wrote various religious slogans onto the paintings, some of which read, “John Paul is Good” and “Antichrist Ronald Reagan 666.” Seven of the eight works in question were destroyed beyond repair. When he was finished, he walked to a nearby police station, dropped his knife outside the door, and turned himself in. In his statement, he explained that he’d destroyed the works in order to “denounce the anti-Christ in Europe.” In a letter written to the Associated Press, Burt denounced President Reagan, writing, “Our President is the second least spoken of by Daniel the Prophet of the Old Testament.” Only a few months earlier, six paintings from a different exhibition in the concourse were damaged when a man wrote on them with a ballpoint pen.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/isamu-noguchi-wakai-hito-human-body-in-2004 monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372985038-IPMST4SWR676G8ROO8F8/tumblr_m34wsqyyDs1ru7mjjo1_r1_400.png Blog Isamu Noguchi “Wakai-Hito” / human body (In 2004, the Noguchi Museum in Queens, NY lent this bronze sculpture to an exhibition hall in Sapporo, Japan for inclusion in a retrospective of the sculptor’s work. During that exhibition, a museum patron became ill and lost her balance, falling onto the piece. The work was knocked to the floor and damaged, but was ultimately able to be repaired.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ceramic-totem-by-tatiana-echeverri-fernandez monthly 0.5 2012-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372985082-2WFBAEWBMQ9IQM046R3Q/tumblr_m34wbpqkY31ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog ceramic totem by Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez / human body (In 2008, a series of 5 ceramic totems, collectively entitled “Frauleins Christina, Panthea, Zenobia, Semiramis and Guinevere,” were on view at London’s Royal Academy when a museum visitor lost her balance and fell into them. One of the totems was irreparably damaged in the incident. As one witness described the scene: “It was an enormous crash, like pottery smashing. Everyone was just standing around not knowing what to do at all, and one woman in a white top, who I assumed had knocked it over, was standing with her hand on her head. "After a while a person who was in charge of the room ran off to get help and someone came in with a dustpan and brush to clean it up. Before that people were still coming in to the room and thought it was part of the exhibition. They were taking pictures. I think they thought it was meant to be like that. It was quite funny.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/alessandro-algardi-jupiter-victorious-over-the monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372987785-ZK3NMC7Z34WNCKSTTS3L/tumblr_m33f76P0Oq1ru7mjjo1_r1_500.png Blog Alessandro Algardi “Jupiter victorious over the Titans: Fire” / human body (A museum visitor had an epileptic fit and crashed into this 17th-century sculpture while it was on view at London’s Wallace Collection. Damages were apparently minimal.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-self-portrait-at-the-age-of-63 monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372986761-INUXOH3VIX8OJF5VGYAU/tumblr_m3396rockT1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Rembrandt “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” / paint (In 1998, a 26-year-old nudist activist (and former art student) named Vincent Bethell used yellow paint to draw a large dollar sign on this work while it was on view at London’s National Gallery. Bethell, who entered the museum wearing a woman’s floral print dress, had attached a tube of paint to his thigh with rubber bands. He stood in front of the work for over fifteen minutes before stripping naked and applying paint to the canvas. He was quickly subdued by security. As Bethell later explained, “I was attempting to highlight the injustice of criminalising public nakedness. It was a naked protest that attempted to gain the right to be naked in public.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/an-excerpt-from-the-trial-of-tilted-arc-1986-a monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/richard-serra-titled-arc-us-government-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372987437-PCAF60JMN9BQSBDCJ3AO/tumblr_m338krNICD1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Richard Serra “Titled Arc” / US government (In 1981, the US Arts-in-Architecture program (part of the US General Services Administration) commissioned artist Richard Serra to create a work of public art for the Federal Plaza in NYC. The work proved controversial from the outset: some balked at its cost ($175,000 for a solid block of steel); others objected to the graffiti and rats it seemed to attract; others simply found it an eyesore. Most significantly, a number of people working in surrounding buildings complained that the work was an inconvenience, as they were forced to walk around the massive sculpture as they crossed the plaza. (Which, according to Serra, was precisely the point: “The viewer becomes aware of himself and of his movement through the plaza. As he moves, the sculpture changes. Contraction and expansion of the sculpture result from the viewer’s movement. Step by step the perception not only of the sculpture but of the entire environment changes.”) As a result of this controversy, Judge Edward Re began a campaign to have the the sculpture removed. In 1985, there was a public hearing to determine whether Tilted Arc should be relocated. Serra, for his part, argued that work was site specific, that to remove it would be to destroy it, and if it was relocated, he would remove his name from the piece. At the end of the hearing, a jury ruled 4-1 to remove the piece. Serra appealed, and the ruling was debated over the course of the next five years or so. In the end, the jury’s ruling was upheld. Exercising proprietary rights, authorities of the General Services Administration ordered the destruction of the public sculpture that their own agency had commissioned ten years earlier. Government workers dismantled the work on March 15, 1989.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/various-dutch-artists-knife-in-1989-a monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/roy-lichtenstein-nude-in-mirror-knife-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372987611-Q7H5G26HX8HBO82WV5PB/tumblr_m33729uLFu1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Roy Lichtenstein “Nude in Mirror” / knife (In 2005, a woman visiting a Lichtenstein retrospective at Austria’s Kunsthaus Bregenz suddenly pulled a knife from her handbag and repeatedly stabbed this work, leaving four 12-inch-long slashes in the canvas. Upon her arrest, police found that her purse also contained a screwdriver and a can of red spray paint, which she said she hadn’t had time to use. She said she attacked the work because she thought it was a forgery.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jo-baer-untitled-lipstick-in-1977-a-woman monthly 0.5 2012-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372987800-DD5J6632OC59PFIRGZAW/tumblr_m336ec1RbX1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Jo Baer “(untitled)” / lipstick In 1977, a woman named Ruth van Herpen kissed a white monochrome painting by Jo Baer while it was on view at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art. She left a lipstick mark and a smear of red on the work. At her subsequent court hearing, she explained, “It looked so cold. I only kissed it to cheer it up.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/peter-paul-rubens-the-fall-of-the-damned-acid monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372987984-MCHKBZZTH4OESVC7LL6Q/tumblr_m31f964HwB1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Peter Paul Rubens “The Fall of the Damned” / acid (In 1959, a man threw an acid on the painting while it was on view at Munich’s Alte Pinakothek. The painting, which dated back to circa 1620, was destroyed.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/sue-lawty-mesh-security-guard-in-2006-while monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372988309-VOP7R2FMY8S9620IGHA2/tumblr_m315x9zJ6h1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Sue Lawty “Mesh” / security guard (In 2006, while on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, this textile art installation was destroyed when a security guard, walking through the darkened gallery during closed hours, tripped on a security barrier and fell into it, dragging the work down with him as he fell.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/agnolo-bronzino-an-allegory-with-venus-and-cupid monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372988327-ETHDDC6I4188U9UU9EP6/tumblr_m315ki8feV1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Agnolo Bronzino “An Allegory with Venus and Cupid” / fist (In 2003, while it was on view at London’s National Gallery, a museum visitor punched this work several times, leaving a series of dents in the canvas. The work was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/carl-andre-venus-forge-vomit-in-2007-a monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372988557-ZWAX76XO2FAC6JLR7AJV/tumblr_m31566s2iZ1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Carl Andre “Venus Forge” / vomit (In 2007, a child became queasy and vomited onto this work while it was on view at the Tate Museum in London. Several of the work’s steel and copper plates had to be removed for restoration, and the work was reinstalled in short order.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-the-actor-accidentally-ripped monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372988766-ZKDFGBRQ1OM34O3UEQ7S/tumblr_m314wh0LBa1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Pablo Picasso “The Actor” / accidentally ripped (In 2010, a female art student was visiting the Metropolitan Museum in New York when she lost her balance  and crashed into the artwork, causing a six inch vertical gash in the bottom right corner of the canvas. The work was eventually restored and reinstalled.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/mark-rothko-black-on-maroon-children-at-the monthly 0.5 2012-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372989940-T0E2CQ3YUFMZR8S48R9O/tumblr_m314kznZx11ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Mark Rothko “Black on Maroon” / children At the Tate Museum in Britain, a two-year-old child managed to cross a barrier and leave hand prints on the painting; the work was able to be restored. Only three months earlier, the same painting had been left with a series of dents after another child had poked at the work. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-1920-an-artist-known-only-as-delivigne-slashed monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tracy-emin-various-works-various-means-three monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372990540-8VDZHMZDNSI35AHOV7LI/tumblr_m30bjkNvMn1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Tracy Emin - various works / various means Three different works by Emin were damaged over the course of her 2008 exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. a) “Self Portrait: Bath” sustained damages when a piece of barbed wire was caught on the jumper of a museum visitor, who proceeded to drag the work, breaking a piece of neon. b) “Feeling Pregnant III” sustained minor damage when a visitor backed into its stand and knocked it to the floor. c) “My Uncle Colin” sustained damages when gallery staff accidentally punched a series of holes into the work while hanging it. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/michael-landys-break-down-in-2001-artist monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372990792-KQZ0PR3ZPFG80EMGVLHG/tumblr_m30asf8E6k1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Michael Landy’s “Break Down” In 2001, artist Michael Landy held an exhibition called “Break Down,” in which he had all of his personal belongings destroyed over the course of two weeks. Among the destroyed items were the contents of his art collection, which included works by artists Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst. (Note: He didn’t take it all the way - at the end of the two weeks, his home and dog remained intact) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/richard-serra-untitled-sculpture-urine-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372991377-IL1FZ1KBYRY95MY3R656/tumblr_m3094bjKuY1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Richard Serra (untitled sculpture) / urine (In 1981, artist David Hammons urinated on a Serra sculpture installed outdoors in lower Manhattan. Hammons, who had the act documented in a series of photographs later titled “Pissed Off,” was arrested immediately after completing the act/work.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gustave-courbet-the-return-from-the-conference monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372991761-DDVUA7Q89GUTQ52WCMMI/tumblr_m308gfgogk1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Gustave Courbet “The Return from the Conference” / anonymous Catholic (In 1909, this work - a depiction of drunken priests stumbling down a country road- was bought and destroyed by a private citizen who, as a strict Catholic, considered the work anti-clerical. Interestingly, this was precisely the sort of reaction the artist had hoped for. Courbet created the work for the expressed purpose of being refused entry into the 1863 Paris Salon, which he felt would bring him some useful notoriety. Things went according to plan: while the painting was indeed rejected on the grounds of its being “an outrage on religious morality,” and was even denied a spot in the Salon des Refusés, the resulting controversy garnered the artist a great deal of attention. Said Courbet: “I painted the picture so that it would be refused. I have succeeded. That way it will bring me some money.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/detroit-museum-of-new-art-kaboom-note-part monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372992003-40ISRAE3ZK2OXXP9AZH7/tumblr_m307cqssHC1ru7mjjo1_r1_250.jpg Blog Detroit Museum of New Art: “kaBOOM!” (Note: Part of me is a little skeptical that this event actually took place as described below by curator Jef Bourgeau, but a number of publications reviewed the exhibition and gave similar stories, so I’m posting it. If you have any additional information - especially PHOTO DOCUMENTATION, which I couldn’t find online - feel free to share it via the “Submit” option to the right.) In 2002, the Detroit Museum of New Art staged an exhibition called “kaBOOM!” in which visitors were invited to destroy reproductions of over 100 well-known artworks by artists like Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Barnett Newman, and Willem de Kooning. While the show was set to run for two months, the exhibit was completely destroyed by the end of its chaotic opening reception. In addition to destroying all of the reproductions as intended, visitors got creative with their vandalism: Fires were set in isolated galleries using piles of museum brochures. / A wrecking ball, supplied as a means of destroying a particular work on display, was removed from its chain and used instead as a bowling ball, taking out an entire installation as well as the corner of one of the museum’s walls. / Visitors urinated into not only a reproduction of Duchamp’s “Fountain,” but also his sculpture  “Why not Sneeze, Rrose Sélavy?” (a birdcage with sugar cubes), before stomping the cage to pieces. / Artist Dana Smith, giving a performance combining Yoko Ono’s “Cut” with Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even,” was attacked, leaving her in tears and running naked for the safety of a locked room. / At some point, someone wrote “Fuck Art Rules!” on a wall with their own feces. The show was not without precedence: the Dadaists famously held an exhibition in which visitors were supplied with an axe and invited to destroy the works on display. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/marcus-harvey-myra-eggs-ink-in-1997-this monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372993048-A7V91O22MPN9GQ7SXAZ3/tumblr_m2zj03j2t81ru7mjjo1_r1_400.jpg Blog Marcus Harvey “Myra” / eggs, ink (In 1997, this portrait of Myra Hindley (an English woman convicted of participating in the infamous Moors Murders of the 1960s) was included in “Sensation,” an exhibition of Young British Artists at the Royal Academy of Art, London. Based on Hindley’s widely-known mugshot, the work’s inclusion in the show caused a great deal of controversy in the press, and four members of the Academy resigned in protest. The painting was vandalized twice, by two different artists, on the opening day of the exhibition: a) In the first attack, artist Peter Fisher smuggled blue and red ink into the exhibition, concealed inside two camera film cases; he threw the ink over the painting and smeared it in. b) After witnessing the first attack, artist Jacques Role left the museum to buy six eggs from a shop across the street, returned to the exhibition, and threw four of the eggs at the painting before being stopped by an off-duty police officer. The painting was removed, restored, and rehung two weeks later behind a protective perspex screen.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/richard-avedon-daughters-of-the-american monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372993277-Y35J96P7RQBJ4IZLVDXS/tumblr_m2zhja9sSB1ru7mjjo1_r1_1280.jpg Blog Richard Avedon “Daughters of the American Revolution” / pistol (In 1986, an unemployed security guard and Vietnam veteran named Ellis Nelson entered the Black Forest Inn, located in Minneapolis, and pulled a revolver from under his coat. While patrons of the Inn dove for cover, Nelson aimed the gun at a large print of this Richard Avedon photograph. After shooting the photo numerous times, Nelson surrendered and was arrested. When asked why he shot the photograph, he replied, “That photo always bugged the hell out of me.” Erich Christ, owner of the Black Forest Inn and the photograph, decided not to repair the work, claiming it had become a popular tourist attraction as a result of the incident. He was quoted as saying, “[Visitors] like to stick their fingers in the holes and take pictures.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/michelangelo-david-hammer-in-1991 monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372994174-U9TT42YZT17FNC3FS5H7/tumblr_m2zgz0bbJZ1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Michelangelo “David” / hammer (In 1991, 47-year-old Piero Cannata, an unemployed Italian, managing to smuggle a hammer into Florence’s Galleria dell'Accademia Museum and attack the famous sculpture, breaking a toe on the left foot. The damage was reparable, as all the fragments from the shattered toe had been collected. “It was Veronese’s beautiful Nani who asked me to hit the David,” he later claimed, apparently referring to a Venetian woman who had modeled for the 16th-century painter. Cannata was found to be of unsound mind and spent a brief time in a mental hospital. Upon his release, he gained employment as a museum guide, providing tours of Tuscany’s artistic masterpieces - including David. He was later found responsible for other acts of vandalism, including: a) In 1993, police caught him defacing a fresco by the Renaissance master Filippo Lippi in Prato cathedral. b) Also in 1993, he took a knife to “The Adoration of the Shepherds Before Baby Jesus” by the 16th-century artist Michele di Raffaello della Colombe, on view in the basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri. At that time, he told police that “a force inside me urged me to do it.” c) In 1999, he was sent back to a psychiatric hospital after using a marker to scribble on a Jackson Pollock painting then on view in Rome. Upon his arrest, he explained he had actually been looking to vandalize a work by the Italian abstract artist Piero Manzoni, “but I found an equally ugly one and damaged that instead.” d) In 2005, he spray painted a black “x” on a plaque commemorating the burning to death of the 15th-century preacher and reformer Girolamo Savonarola, set into the paving of Piazza della Signoria.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/bartolomeo-ammannati-fountain-of-neptune monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372993820-7EPE577JNGAERG0EDUX4/tumblr_m2zfz8Zz7W1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Bartolomeo Ammannati “Fountain of Neptune” / various (This fountain, dating back to the 16th century and standing at the center of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, has been vandalized on numerous occasions: 1) In 1982, one of Neptune’s shoulders was painted bright blue following a win by the Fiorentina soccer club. 2) In 1981, 1986, and 1989, the hooves of the horses were broken off and had to be replaced. 3) In 2005, three young men climbed the statue, damaging one of the hands and trident.  4) In 2006, a drunk man, wishing to have his picture taken with the statue, climbed it and tried standing on its left hand. The hand broke off, sending the man falling into the water below.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/roy-lichtenstein-curtains-pen-in-1993 monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372993891-0CNV9SORMTC26PTJ7DHC/tumblr_m2yq475x4j1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Roy Lichtenstein “Curtains” / pen (In 1993, Reginald Walker, 21, was temporarily employed as a guard at the Whitney Museum when he wrote a love note to his girlfriend on Lichtenstein’s 1966 painting. Using a felt-tipped pen, Walker drew a heart on the canvas, along with the inscription, ‘Reggie and Crystal / I Love you Tushee /  Love Buns.’) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/henri-matisse-pianist-and-checker-players monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372994255-KU7I9AV07GX0BUMP6HHR/tumblr_m2yn30mdm91ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Henri Matisse “Pianist and Checker Players,” “Zorah Standing,” and “The Japanese Woman”/ pencil (In 1998, three Matisse paintings were vandalized while on view at Rome’s Capitoline Museum. The damage, which included pencil markings and small puncture holes onto each canvas, occurred while a number of school groups were visiting the museum. The culprit was never identified, but the works were able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gaston-lachaise-standing-woman-human-bodies monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372994893-TVX5IG3X13AIEGR34K3A/tumblr_m2ymgvneeT1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog Gaston Lachaise “Standing Woman” / human bodies, vomit, food, drinks (In 2006, the Milwaukee Museum of Art rented out its Quadracci Pavilion to the organizers of MartiniFest, a semi-formal event sponsored by Clear Channel Radio. During the event, a group of four men climbed onto Lachaise’s sculpture, groped her breasts while a friend documented the scene a camera phone, and splashed the work with drinks. Food, drink and vomit were also found on and near a number of other artworks by the end of the evening, and in the aftermath, two unnamed sculptures had to be removed from the gallery after sustaining damages. The problem, according to the programming director for Clear Channel, was not the martinis but the price: “[The drinks were] probably too cheap…Hindsight is 20-20,” she said.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-le-reve-elbow-in-2006-casino monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372995007-8QDY9GVC9G5ZZDUNEIWW/tumblr_m2ylt74CVo1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Pablo Picasso “Le Reve” / elbow In 2006, casino mogul Steve Wynn agreed to sell this 1932 Picasso to fellow art enthusiast millionaire Steve Cohen. The selling price was $139 million — then the highest in history for a piece of art. Two days after the agreement was reached, however, Wynn (who suffers from an eye disorder that affects his peripheral vision) was entertaining friends at his Las Vegas casino when he accidentally thrust his right elbow through the canvas, leaving a silver-dollar-size hole. As a result, Wynn and Cohen agreed to invalidate the sale. The work was able to be restored, but its appraised value fell to around $80 million. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/claude-monet-untitled-works-knife-paintbrush monthly 0.5 2012-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372995378-OTTVBUQMGGD6LVFCMMPW/tumblr_m2ylhxVXGd1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Claude Monet (untitled works) / knife, paintbrush (In 1908, painter Claude Monet was set to present a new series of paintings. The works, three years in the making, had been lauded by critics after an advance viewing, and ads for the exhibition, set for May of that year, had been published in the press. Immediately prior to their installation, however, the 68-year-old Monet decided the paintings weren’t worthy of display. Amid protests from onlookers, Monet blotted out the images with paint before slicing the canvases repeatedly with a knife. The works were destroyed and the exhibition was canceled.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/timur-serebrykov-in-2008-while-working-as-a monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372995570-F1TB4EY547ECUOADGR9Q/tumblr_m2xu1mTyZF1ru7mjjo1_250.jpg Blog Timur Serebrykov (In 2008, while working as a guard at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Serebrykov attacked Vija Celmens’ painting “Night Sky #2”, scratching the canvas’ surface with his keys. “I didn’t like the painting,” Serebrykov told police when they arrested him. “I’m sorry.” The painting was restored, although it still bears a faint scar.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/vija-celmens-night-sky-2-keys-in-2008 monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372996917-PSQSI18C6YQ5TV1MNA29/tumblr_m2xtybQoHw1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Vija Celmens “Night Sky #2” / keys (In 2008, while on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Celmens’ work was attacked by a museum guard, who scratched the canvas’ surface with his keys. “I didn’t like the painting,” guard Timur Serebrykov told police when they arrested him. “I’m sorry.” The painting was restored, although it still bears a faint scar.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/robert-gober-bag-of-doughnuts-accidentally monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372996946-QEG8QQLOYU63AMYZ2T24/tumblr_m2xtn9eOsS1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Robert Gober “Bag of Doughnuts” / accidentally eaten (In 1989, a critic/curator named Ed Brzezinski accidentally devoured a Gober sculpture on display at Cooper Gallery in New York. “Look, it was an honest mistake,” Brzezinski said. “I was hungry. I’d been drinking and I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I noticed this bag of doughnuts sitting on a pedestal. Plain doughnuts with no sugar. I figured somebody had brought them and then gotten tired of them. So I grabbed one and bit it. It tasted stale.” Gallery attendants immediately noticed Brzezinski’s act and ejected him from the space. By this time, however, Brzezinski discovered that Gober had coated his doughnuts with Roplex, a preservative chemical. “I threw up. An ambulance took me to the St. Vincent’s Hospital. They said that if the chemical was dry, it goes right out of your system. If it’d been liquid, it would have killed me.” “What is upsetting me is how the art community is now acting like I was a saboteur,” he concluded. “This won’t be good for my career.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-2000-porters-at-a-sothebys-auction-house-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/martin-creed-the-lights-going-on-and-off-eggs monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372997238-0TFGAL8XFZJL45FCKH4B/tumblr_m2xs5136W41ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Martin Creed “The Lights Going On and Off” / eggs (In 2001, a woman named Jacqueline Crofton smuggled eggs into London’s Tate Museum and threw them at Creed’s work (which consists of an empty room with two flashing lights). The eggs were wiped away in short order and the room was returned to normal viewing soon after. Crofton, a 52-year-old artist and grandmother, had actually dreamed of committing the act the night before. After awaking from the dream, she told her husband of her intentions and promptly set out for the museum. Explaining her actions, Crofton claimed that the attention gained by the Turner Prize-winning exhibit was “humiliating” for the majority of “genuine artists” in the UK.“I have nothing against Creed, although I do not think his work can be considered as art,” she said. “At worst, ‘The Lights Going On And Off’ is an electrical work. At best, it is philosophy.” She continued, “What I object to fiercely is that we’ve got this cartel who control the top echelons of the art world in this country and leave no access for painters and sculptors with real creative talent. All they are interested in is manufacturers of gimmicks like Creed, who made his name with a ball of BluTac and a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball. Someone had to make a stand.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/martin-kippenberger-when-it-starts-dripping-from monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372997634-UUB39CF23CFEYYLF8C9L/tumblr_m2xpz78TgO1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Martin Kippenberger “When It Starts Dripping From The Ceiling” / accidentally scrubbed clean (In 2011, Kippenberger’s work - a wooden structure with a rubber trough painted to look as though it had once contained a puddle of dirty rainwater - was on view at Germany’s Ostwall Museum. An overnight cleaner mistook the trough’s hand-painted patina for simple dirt and scrubbed it away.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/joseph-beuys-untitled-bathtub-accidentally monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372998048-KHFUC714A7JYUXLPQO4X/tumblr_m2xpmw6gQ91ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Joseph Beuys “Untitled (Bathtub)” / accidentally scrubbed clean (In 1986, Joseph Beuys’ sculpture - a dirty bathtub with a layer of grease on the inside - was scrubbed clean by an employee of the Academy of Fine Art in Düsseldorf.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/damien-hirst-installation-accidentally-thrown monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372998525-5982LDMW4Y9SB4AV08CQ/tumblr_m2xoydpz6F1ru7mjjo1_r1_500.png Blog Damien Hirst installation/ accidentally thrown away (In 2001, a cleaner accidentally threw out some of Damien Hirst’s work while it was on view at London’s Eyestorm gallery. Hirst’s installation included a pile of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays, which overnight cleaner Emmanuel Asare mistook as garbage from the previous night’s opening. As Asare later told a newspaper: “As soon as I clapped eyes on it I sighed because there was so much mess. I didn’t think for a second that it was a work of art - it didn’t look much like art to me. So I cleared it all into bin-bags and dumped it.” The gallery was able to put the installation back together, referencing documentation of how installation had originally looked. They also installed a sign by the work, reading “Keep Off.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/gustav-metzger-recreation-of-first-public monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372998612-CHY17XNCMETAX7BAO7SF/tumblr_m2xoczMaIQ1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Gustav Metzger “Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art” / accidentally thrown away (In 2004, Metzger recreated his 1960 work “Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art” for a retrospective at London’s Tate Museum. The work, a multimedia installation exploring his concept of Auto-Destructive Art, included an acid-damaged nylon painting and a bag of rubbish. The bag of rubbish was accidentally thrown away by an overnight cleaner who didn’t realize it was part of the exhibition. While the bag was fished out of the compactor when the mistake was found, Metzger considered it beyond repair and created a new bag as a replacement. The new rubbish bag was put in a box every night as a precaution.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/carl-andre-equivalent-viii-vegetable-dye-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372998753-3LVRPC7YDPUTFDWCK0OX/tumblr_m2wqageUzk1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Carl Andre, “Equivalent VIII” / vegetable dye (In 1976, a visitor to London’s Tate Museum threw blue vegetable dye onto Andre’s work. The liquid was easily washed off and no damage was done.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/francisco-goya-etchings-from-the-series-the monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372999178-7Y9K42BBC4QM7240KOWD/tumblr_m2wptysNu81ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Francisco Goya, etchings from the series “The Disasters of War” / paint (In 2003, English artists Jake and Dinos Champman purchased a complete (and mint condition, printed directly from the artist’s plates) set of etchings from Goya’s famous 19th-century series.  The brothers then added comical grotesque faces to the etchings, ultimately presenting them as a series titled “Insult to Injury.“ A number of the works were damaged when a man named Aaron Barschak threw red paint at them while they were on view in the Chapmans’ 2003 exhibition The Rape of Creativity.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/adolf-hitler-various-untitled-watercolors monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537372999411-Z5SB8QWVJVBYBONVQ7T4/tumblr_m2wpge3vcC1ru7mjjo1_500.png Blog Adolf Hitler, various untitled watercolors / paint (In 2008, English artists Jake and Dinos Chapman acquired  a group of original watercolors painted by Adolf Hitler. The brothers painted bright psychedelic skies and smiley faces onto the works, ultimately presenting them in an exhibition titled “If Hitler had been a hippy, how happy would we be”.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/leonardo-da-vinci-mona-lisa-postcard monthly 0.5 2012-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373000678-25YBXFZR6ZWX1Z6D3LGP/tumblr_m2wp85X5fo1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Leonardo da Vinci “Mona Lisa” (postcard reproduction) / pencil (In 1919, artist Marcel Duchamp used a pencil to drew a mustache and beard on a cheap postcard reproduction of da Vinci’s iconic portrait. Beneath the image, he wrote “L.H.O.O.Q.,” which, when read aloud, sounds like “Elle a chaud au cul”, translated as “She has a hot ass,” or alternatively “there is fire down below.” He later presented an untouched black and white reproduction of the Mona Lisa, mounted on card, as a work titled “L.H.O.O.Q., Shaved.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/marcel-duchamp-fountain-hammer-urine monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373001314-0JP944PKEBTU2G4BAFH7/tumblr_m2wnqmLA2J1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Marcel Duchamp “Fountain” / hammer, urine (Duchamp’s infamous 1917 sculpture has been vandalized (or “intervened”) on numerous occasions: 1) Musician/artist Brian Eno claimed to be the first to urinate into the work, while it was on display at the MOMA in 1995. As he wrote in his book A Year With Swollen Appendices: “I positioned myself before the display case, concentrating intensely on its contents. There was a guard standing behind be and 12 feet away. I opened my fly and slipped out the tube, feeding it carefully through the slot in the glass. It was a perfect fit and slid in quite easily until its end was poised above the famous john. I released my thumb and a small but distinct trickle of my urine splashed on the work of art.” 2) French artist Pierre Pinoncelli urinated into the piece while it was on display in Nimes, France in 1993.  Later, in 2006, while “Fountain” was on display in Paris, the then 76-year-old Pinoncelli attacked the work with a hammer, causing a slight chip. Upon being arrested, Pinoncelli said the attack was a work of performance art that Duchamp himself would have appreciated. 3) Chinese performance art duo Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi urinated on the work while it was on display in London in 2000. They were prevented from soiling the sculpture directly by its Perspex case. When asked why they felt they had to add to Duchamp’s work, Chai said, “The urinal is there – it’s an invitation. As Duchamp said himself, it’s the artist’s choice. He chooses what is art. We just added to it.” 4) South African artist Kendell Geers urinated into the work while it was on display in Venice in 1993. 5) Swedish artist Björn Kjelltoft urinated into the work while it was on diplay in Stockholm in 1999.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-1983-while-visiting-the-ducal-palace-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/francois-boucher-unidentified-artwork-ink-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373001060-SAM7PL1ODX1KF680U3MC/tumblr_m2wmdols9J1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Francois Boucher (unidentified artwork) / ink In 1912, a woman vandalized a portrait by 18th-century painter Francois Boucher, coloring in the eyes, nose, and mouth of  with red ink and a paint brush.  After initially giving the false name Delaure Frolaine, the culprit was eventually identified as Prolaine Delarre, a Parisian seamstress. Explaining her actions, she said, “I am miserably hungry and have been unable to find work. I often go to the Louvre, and the sight of the young woman in the picture with a happy smile and luxurious clothes maddened me. I decided to mutilate her hateful face in the hope that perhaps after that people would notice me and save me from starving.” With that she added, “The picture displeased me and I wished to correct what I considered wrong.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/barnett-newman-whos-afraid-of-red-yellow-and monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373001340-RWF5AT8XVLVXP7R2UD1Y/tumblr_m2wll3aFpg1ru7mjjo1_500.gif Blog Barnett Newman “Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue (IV)” / security barrier, paper (In 1982, a 29-year old veterinary student named Josef Nikolaus Kleer attacked this painting while it was on display at the National Galerie in Berlin. He first used a security barrier to hit the painting a few times, and then placed a series of notes and media pictures on and around it, including an issue of Der Spiegel featuring a caricatured Margaret Thatcher on the cover; a copy of Red List, an official German pharmaceutical catalog; and numerous hand-written notes bearing slogans like, “Whoever does not yet understand it must pay for it! Price: on arrangement.“ When Kleer later admitted to the attack, he said it was because the painting was a perversion of the German flag, and that public funds should not be used to buy art because artists earned too much money.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/david-hammons-how-ya-like-me-now monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373001845-LFTRQCZSTJEPFJWAVSRE/tumblr_m2wja2DbxP1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog David Hammons “How Ya Like Me Now?” / sledgehammers (In 1989, Hammon’s altered portrait of politician Jesse Jackson was installed on the corner of Seventh and G in Washington DC, in conjunction with the Washington Project for the Arts’ outdoor exhibition “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism.” Shortly after handlers completed the installation process,  a group of ten black men - who regarded the work as demeaning and racist - used sledgehammers to attack it and knock it down from its scaffolding. (Hammons, himself a black man, said the men had misinterpreted the work, pointing out that it was intended as a denouncement of racism.) When the demolished work was re-installed (in its damaged state) in the indoor gallery space of the WPA, Jackson himself gave a speech about the work and its assault. Saying he “got a kick” from the work, Jackson said, “Sometimes art provokes; sometimes it angers. That is a measure of its success. Sometimes it inspires creativity. Maybe the sledgehammers should have been on display too.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/susan-burns-in-2011-56-year-old-burns-visited monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373002021-TBVDOW41KVHHFV63LNUM/tumblr_m2w7tgdpDE1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Susan Burns (In 2011, 56-year old Burns visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which was holding a Gaugin retrospective at the time. Upon seeing Gaugin’s “Two Tahitian Women,” she tried to wrench the painting from the wall and, unable to do so, began slamming it with her fists. Because the painting was protected by a transparent acrylic shield, however, no damage was done to the work itself. After being arrested, Burns said, “I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned.” She also warned the police, saying, “I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/paul-gaugin-two-tahitian-women-fists-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373002303-CX5L5AA4I7YC01AXIW4N/tumblr_m2w7oulxq91ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Paul Gaugin “Two Tahitian Women” / fists (In 2011, a 56-year old woman named Susan Burns visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which was holding a Gaugin retrospective at the time. Upon seeing this painting, she tried to wrench the painting from the wall and, unable to do so, began punching it with her fists. Because the painting was protected by a transparent acrylic shield, however, no damage was done. After being arrested, Burns said, “I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned.” She also warned the police, saying, “I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/over-the-course-of-ten-months-in-1985-a-demented monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373002410-Y0T294H7EC30SBGL9HMM/tumblr_m2w7ant6AQ1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog (Over the course of ten months in 1985, a demented biology professor broke the noses off of eighty stone statues installed in Rome’s Villa Borghese Gardens, including notable works by the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Upon his arrest, police discovered that the man was carrying all of the noses with him in a plastic bag. When asked why he had attacked the statues, he claimed, “The KGB are after me.” He then gave the police a slip of paper on which he’d written, “I am a UFO.”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/in-1945-a-man-named-edward-morse-confessed-to monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-the-night-watch-butter-knife-acid monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373002888-5OHGFIFFLN0ZQA2K4QKA/tumblr_m2w6kmZkiO1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373003119-Q20DG3RAR36BSR0XOWOC/tumblr_m2w6kmZkiO1ru7mjjo2_r1_1280.jpg Blog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373004145-AL2N742NR2RRNPZYH7LB/tumblr_m2w6kmZkiO1ru7mjjo3_r1_1280.jpg Blog https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/nan-goldin-nan-and-brian-in-bed-moma-ad monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373004675-55XRM2EP88COWXWGODQH/tumblr_m2vjfz1u5U1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Nan Goldin “Nan and Brian in Bed” (MOMA ad) / poster (In 2009, MOMA ran an advertising campaign in which it reproduced 57 works from its permanent collection and plastered the images around Brooklyn’s Atlantic-Pacific subway station. The works were soon “re-mixed” by a street artist known as Poster Boy. Interestingly, his accomplice in these acts was Doug Jaeger, the marketing executive who created the campaign for MoMA. One night around 2am, Poster Boy and Jaeger, both wearing official MoMA jackets, convinced MTA security that they were there on official business, and proceeded to glue images strategically onto the various reproductions. When they were done “re-mixing,” Jaeger staged a fashion shoot in front of Poster Boy’s reworked creations, using hired models and a professional photographer. MOMA denied any complicity with Poster Boy.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ottavio-vannini-the-triumph-of-david-foot-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373004917-YS52I53NF1XSNP10UOIZ/tumblr_m2viviVydw1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Ottavio Vannini “The Triumph of David” / foot (In 2007, a 21-year-old named Timothy Kubena, disturbed by the painting’s violent imagery, ripped the work off the wall of the Milwaukee Art Museum and began pounding and kicking the portion showing Goliath’s head. Once he’d punctured the piece, he took off his shoes and shirt and laid down on the museum floor to wait for police to arrive, saying to museum security, “That’s it. I just want that gone. I’m done. I come in peace.” The damage - a tennis ball-sized hole between Goliath’s eyes - was eventually restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/unknown-artist-unknown-work-spray-paint monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373005067-5DWFZ5VK1EZUQX3OCO6Y/tumblr_m2vijkPxwh1ru7mjjo1_500.png Blog unknown artist, unknown work / spray paint https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/eyob-mergia-after-caravaggio-knife monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373005549-CXOW45T9X4HW9PU0PISC/tumblr_m2vi9eY3CR1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Eyob Mergia “After Caravaggio” / knife https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/graham-hudson-canal-st-commons-spray-paint monthly 0.5 2012-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373005824-PKKKX34UW3AHBF4CXDHA/tumblr_m2vhwqcDOR1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Graham Hudson “Canal St Commons” / spray paint https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/willem-de-kooning-drawing-eraser-in-1953 monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373006141-DABA04FQX4CC1UXJ4KKH/tumblr_m2u9i8nt3N1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Willem de Kooning drawing / eraser (In 1953, artist Robert Rauschenberg had been working on a series of white monochrome paintings and, in an attempt to integrate drawing into the series, began experimenting with erasure. Unsatisfied with erasing his own work, he approached the painter Willem de Kooning and requested a work of de Kooning’s to erase. In response, de Kooning gave him an untitled drawing done in pencil and crayon. The process of erasing the picture took Rauschenberg weeks to complete. The resulting work, “Erased de Kooning Drawing,” could be seen as a gesture of succession - but, Rauschenberg insisted, not one of destruction.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/piet-mondrian-composition-in-red-white-and monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373006254-ABBRSW2FBFLU0UUKQXN3/tumblr_m2u8egYutn1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Piet Mondrian “Composition in Red, White, and Blue” / vomit (In 1996, a twenty-two year old art student named Jubal Brown ate blue cake icing and blue Jell-O prior to entering the MoMA. Once inside, he proceeded to make himself projectile vomit onto the work, staining the work blue. “I found its lifelessness threatening and it made me sick,” he later said. Damages were able to be repaired.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/banksy-last-graffiti-before-motorway-paint monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373006605-7A23LSNCC76TPOSOAES4/tumblr_m2u6wbyJUo1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Banksy “Last Graffiti Before Motorway” / paint https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/clyfford-still-1957-j-no2-drunken-fists-ass monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373007045-PCBNYYUD37X561F1ERCU/tumblr_m2u5xbwXQ01ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Clyfford Still “1957-J no.2” / drunken fists, ass (In January 2012, a woman named Carmen Tisch punched, scratched, and rubbed her bare ass against the painting. The damage was said to be minimal.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/carmen-tisch-in-january-2012-the-36-year-old monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373007431-LR92KCCX8C7ETUNSHL0C/tumblr_m2u5t8J7sw1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Carmen Tisch (In January 2012, the 36-year-old Tisch was arrested for attacking “1957-J no.2” by Clyfford Still, then on view at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Tisch punched and scratched the painting, then pulled down her pants, rubbed her ass against the work, and collapsed to the ground, where she urinated on herself. It was later confirmed that Tisch was drunk at the time. The damage to the painting was said to be minimal; Tisch was charged with criminal mischief.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/seward-johnson-marilyn-paint-installed-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373008963-PNK5RH3GYXRBRRJXG31Q/tumblr_m2u5hmtHWB1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Seward Johnson “Marilyn” / paint (Installed in the summer of 2011 in Chicago, the 26-ft statue of Marilyn Monroe was vandalized twice before the end of the year: first by taggers, then again by unidentified vandals who splashed red paint under Monroe’s dress, the paint running down her leg.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rock-art-spray-paint-in-2011-a-teenager-known monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373012985-YSD7ZY47B0R45J5G8ZK6/tumblr_m2u2hl6uvH1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog rock art / spray paint (In 2011, a teenager known as “Pee Wee” was arrested and charged with tagging a series of rock art panels in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada. The panels dated back to 1000 AD and included both pictographs (paintings and drawings on rock) and petroglyphs (drawings scraped and ground onto the surface of the rock).) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-danae-acid-knife-in-1985-a monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373013039-DY00QQLL60R1FSMBTFQO/tumblr_m2txufraHv1ru7mjjo1_r1_640.jpg Blog Rembrandt “Danae” / acid, knife (In 1985, a museum visitor attacked the painting, slashing the canvas twice with a knife before splashing it with sulfuric acid. The entire central part of the composition was reduced to a “dark, bubbling, foul-smelling mass that trickled down to the bottom of the the frame and from there onto the floor.” The man was later judged legally insane. The damage was restored over the course of the next twelve years, and the painting was returned to public viewing in 1997.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/vasily-vereshchagin-holy-family-and monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373013724-YZX1K0UBMODSY8GYFYDZ/tumblr_m2tx9egBQS1ru7mjjo1_r1_250.jpg Blog Vasily Vereshchagin “Holy Family” and “Resurrection” / acid (In 1880, an exhibit of the Russian painter’s work in Vienna drew opposition from the Catholic Church. The controversy culminated in a monk splashing acid on the paintings, destroying them as a result. Photographs of neither work are currently available.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/joan-miro-world-trade-center-tapestry-rubble monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373013836-YRLVA9DE16V7GIIC8051/tumblr_m2t4m3of5n1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Joan Miro “World Trade Center Tapestry” / rubble (The tapestry was commissioned especially for the lobby of 2 World Trade Center in 1974; it was destroyed in the events of Sept. 11, 2001) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/artist-unknown-vladimir-lenin-paint monthly 0.5 2012-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373013950-PFWOBVHIBEMWYL5DIJR0/tumblr_m2t40hBita1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog artist unknown “Vladimir Lenin” / paint (Originally produced in 1965, this Lenin bust was identical to many others installed throughout Russia: plaster-cast, painted dark to resemble a bronze patina, and displayed in public places across the East Bloc. In 1989, during the Monday Demonstrations (a series of peaceful political protests against the government which ultimately lead to the breakdown of the communist regime), this particular bust was defaced by protesters.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/cast-of-auguste-rodins-the-thinker-cleveland monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373014443-094FHDOEXWX9I2Q4PTWG/tumblr_m2su1xQkia1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog cast of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Cleveland) / pipe bomb (1970) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/leonardo-da-vinci-the-mona-lisa-various monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373014997-JCNDT3P6NS2T1JZ8DDGU/tumblr_m2sr8rqWis1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Leonardo da Vinci “The Mona Lisa” / various (Along with several successful thefts, the painting has been attacked by vandals on numerous occasions: a) In 1956, the lower part of the painting was severely damaged when a man doused the painting with acid. b) Also in 1956, a man threw a rock at the painting, damaging the canvas near ML’s left elbow. c) In 1974, a handicapped woman, upset by the museum’s policy for the disabled, sprayed red paint at the work while it was on display at the Tokyo National Museum. The painting, behind glass, was unharmed.  d) In 2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a terra cotta mug (purchased at the Louvre gift shop) at the painting. The mug shattered against the glass enclosure, leaving the painting unharmed. ) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/cast-of-auguste-rodins-the-thinker-buenos monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373015646-QVKQ9YEBN44LY17UZ826/tumblr_m2sq31I84r1ru7mjjo1_640.png Blog cast of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Buenos Aires) / spray paint https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/mondrians-spray-paint-vandalized-by-artist-ivan monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/kazimir-malevich-suprematism-white-cross monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373016411-KF30QKEYVFUQN8T1T7RK/tumblr_m2r8gjcoVi1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Kazimir Malevich “Suprematism (White Cross)” (1927) / spray paint On January 4 1997, this work was damaged while on view at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Alexander Brener, a Russian performance artist, smuggled a canister of green spray paint into the gallery and used it to paint a large dollar sign onto the canvas. Brener surrendered on site, claiming his action had been a performance protesting “corruption and commercialism in the art world.” He later clarified that his act had not been one of violence: “What I did WAS NOT against the painting. I view my act as a dialogue with Malewitz [sic].”  The work was permanently damaged. Brener was eventually convicted and served six months in a Dutch prison. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/helen-frankenthaler-the-bay-chewing-gum-in monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373016900-1FRBMCWWYKN4M34IJJ53/tumblr_m2r80nabIZ1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Helen Frankenthaler “The Bay” / chewing gum (In 2006, a 12-year-old boy stuck his chewing gum to the corner of the painting, then on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The museum’s conservation lab successfully cleaned and restored the work, which was put back on display later that year.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/ilya-repin-ivan-grozny-and-his-son-ivan-knife monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373017502-I7KCAETWT8NEK6MHVDQS/tumblr_m2r7jfEBGX1ru7mjjo1_500.gif Blog Ilya Repin “Ivan Grozny and his son Ivan”/ knife (In 1913, a 29-year-old iconographer named Abram Balashev attacked the painting while it was on view in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, repeatedly screaming “Stop the bloodshed!” as he did it. Balashev was found mentally ill and restricted to a psychiatric hospital. The painting was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/nicolas-poussin-adoration-of-the-golden-calf-and monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373017771-U0K2EB6V2RJH1K5YR0DF/tumblr_m2r5maeR411ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Nicolas Poussin “Adoration of the Golden Calf” and ““The Adoration of the Shepherds” / spray paint (In 2011, these two paintings were defaced by a 57-year-old male visitor while on view at the National Gallery in London. Both paintings were able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/diego-velazquez-rokeby-venus-detail-meat monthly 0.5 2012-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373017945-QOHNPZLJOPAWFVKEEZDI/tumblr_m2r5eiJctm1ru7mjjo1_500.png Blog Diego Velazquez “Rokeby Venus” (detail) / meat cleaver This painting was attacked in 1914 while on view at London’s National Gallery. Mary Richardson, a suffragette, used a meat cleaver she’d hidden in her coat, slashing the canvas repeatedly. She later declared her deed as an act of protest against the arrest of fellow suffragette Emmaline Parkhurst. Upon her arrest, she issued the following letter of explanation:  “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Parkhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas. Mrs Pankhurst seeks to procure justice for womanhood, and for this she is being slowly murdered by a Government of Iscariot politicians. If there is an outcry against my deed, let every one remember that such an outcry is an hypocrisy so long as they allow the destruction of Mrs. Parkhurst and other beautiful living women, and that until the public cease to countenance human destruction the stones cast against me for the destruction of this picture are each an evidence against them of artistic as well as moral and political humbug and hypocrisy.” https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/dick-bengtsson-kumla-prison-potato-salad-at monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373018627-A3E2TI84NHBHYMMEH1HM/tumblr_m2qum6LCQW1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Dick Bengtsson “Kumla Prison” / potato salad (At a reception given by the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, artist Olle Carlström pressed a plate of potato salad onto the swastika featured in Dick Bengtsson’s painting of the Kumla prison auditorium and its constructivist tapestry. Carlström, an expressionistic painter, could not raise his glass in the presence of a painting that included a swastika.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jan-van-assen-willem-v-instrument-unknown monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373018630-J4P39BLP7KZOVZNJMLDT/tumblr_m2qtw9ZBci1ru7mjjo1_1280.jpg Blog Jan van Assen “Willem V” / instrument unknown (defaced in 1795) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/buddhas-of-bamyan-explosives-monumental monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/t/5ba2703e520149c7a1650f2d/1537373033931/tumblr_m2qmo54yLP1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Buddhas of Bamyan / explosives (Monumental statues of buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in Afghanistan sometime in the 6th century, leveled with explosives by the Taliban in 2001) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/damien-hirst-away-from-the-flock-black monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373019862-AL05VAU4G8AO2Z35CBAA/tumblr_m2qm7vPUOK1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Damien Hirst “Away From the Flock” / black pigment (In 1994, an artist named Mark Bridger walked up to the piece - a white lamb floating in a tank of formaldehyde - and poured black pigment into it, creating a new work he called “Black Sheep”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tracy-emin-my-bed-human-bodies-in-an-effort monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373020095-N6G13UNUPBOED4KWVGYY/tumblr_m2qljj2zvh1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Tracy Emin “My Bed” / human bodies (In an effort to improve the work and make it less “institutionalized,” Chinese performance artists Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi disrobed and jumped onto the bed while it was on view at the Tate Modern in London. They called their action, Two Naked Men Jump Into Tracey’s Bed.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/french-artist-sam-rindy-during-her-trial-for monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373021146-QLNSB5ATTPWF8QYGJHQ7/tumblr_m2qkw17GLD1ru7mjjo1_540.jpg Blog French artist Sam Rindy, during her trial for damaging a Cy Twombly painting by kissing it, leaving a red lipstick stain https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/hans-joachim-bohlmann-german-serial-vandal-who monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373021381-U4YWVPYDRPAS8NO4XCIK/tumblr_m2qkpeng1K1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Hans-Joachim Bohlmann German serial vandal who primarily targeted artworks at public exhibitions. Between 1977 and 2006, he damaged over 50 paintings by such artists as Rubens, Rembrandt, and Durer.  https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/three-chinese-vases-qing-dynasty-17th-century monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373021359-0XG52NALI3ZN164D7IXS/tumblr_m2qkf7F8dz1ru7mjjo1_1280.png Blog three Chinese vases, Qing dynasty (17th century) / human body (In 2006, a museum visitor tripped on his shoelace and stumbled into these 17th-century vases while they were on view at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. As one witness described the incident: “We watched the man fall as if in slow motion. He landed in the middle of the vases and they splintered into a million pieces. He was still sitting there stunned when staff appeared. Everyone stood around in silence, as if in shock. The man kept pointing to his shoelace, saying, ‘There it is; that’s the culprit.’ ”) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/pablo-picasso-guernica-spray-paint monthly 0.5 2012-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373021421-8I5BS1V50V9XQI4VD983/tumblr_m2qfaoGdND1ru7mjjo1_r1_1280.jpg Blog Pablo Picasso “Guernica” / spray paint (Vandalized by then-artist / current-art-dealer Tony Shafrazi, who in 1974 smuggled a can of red spray paint into MOMA and wrote “KILL LIES ALL” across the painting. Shafrazi was apparently protesting Nixon’s pardon of William Calley, a participant in the My Lai massacre. As police took him into custody, Shafrazi said, “Call the curator. I am an artist.” The spraypaint was non-archival and easily removed.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/laszlo-toth-shouting-i-am-jesus-christ-risen monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373022115-JMKEAI8BT3NFUTP1KCDA/tumblr_m2oozve3aP1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Laszlo Toth, shouting “I am Jesus Christ - risen from the dead,” immediately prior to vandalizing Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” May 21 1972 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/laszlo-toth-immediately-after-vandalizing monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373022505-PHVDXAJZ1KF0A57XN4LR/tumblr_m2oow31N3i1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Laszlo Toth immediately after vandalizing Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” May 21 1972 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/michelangelo-pieta-geologists-hammer monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373023069-BWR5K02QUKKHAY8J551D/tumblr_m2ootmV8xz1ru7mjjo1_400.jpg Blog Michelangelo “Pieta” / geologist’s hammer https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/jackson-pollock-drips-on-black-fire monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373023402-0TZR5R20OCCHQZV400SE/tumblr_m2ooo7zxgc1ru7mjjo1_r1_500.jpg Blog Jackson Pollock “Drips on Black” / fire https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/claude-monet-la-pont-dargenteuil-drunken monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373023720-GP3A5JTA376VQVTT7B5G/tumblr_m2oofrj1A21ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Claude Monet “La Pont d'Argenteuil” / drunken fist (In 2007, one of a group of “drunken intruders” punched a hole in this work while it was on view at the Orsay Museum in Paris. The break-in occurred as the city held its annual “all-night festival,” which brings thousands of people into the streets for music, sidewalk exhibits, and other activities. The intruders broke into the museum in the early hours of the morning and left when, upon inflicting the damage, alarms began to sound. At a later press conference, French Culture Minister Christine Albanel openly wondered how the intruders were able to enter the museum so easily, through what she said must have been a “fragile” door. She also wondered how they were able to force their way out through a different door – one that was supposed to be held firmly shut by bolts. While no arrests were made, the work was able to be restored.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/still-from-2007-video-footage-of-neo-nazis monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373024770-2XI4HPZOX3C89JC9FPNH/tumblr_m2oo3icQvj1ru7mjjo1_r1_500.jpg Blog Still from 2007 video footage of neo-Nazis breaking into a Swedish museum and destroying works by Andres Serrano. The video was posted to YouTube but removed soon after. https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/andres-serrano-piss-christ-hammer-this monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373024828-2WUTW3OUVCPZ57K5YTPS/tumblr_m2oj9gw7TT1ru7mjjo1_500.jpg Blog Andres Serrano “Piss Christ” / hammer (This controversial 1987 photograph has been attacked on multiple occasions - most recently in 2011, when a man smashed the work with the hammer while the piece was on view at Collection Lambert in Avignon, France. According to museum guards, a group of men arrived at the gallery at closing time. Two of them attempted to smuggle cans of paint spray and a chisel in their jackets. The guard noticed and proceeded to confiscate the objects - during which a third man took a hammer (or icepick or screwdriver, it remains unclear) to Serrano’s piece. The attacker struggled with the guard, but helped by one of his accomplices, managed to escape. In the struggle, another Serrano work, “The Church (Sister Jeanne-Myriam),” was also damaged. “Piss Christ” had been previously vandalized in 1997 (twice). The attacks took place within days of each other, while the work was on view at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. The first incident occurred when 51 year old John Allen Haywood took the photograph from the wall and kicked it. Haywood received a one month suspended jail term. He later told the press, “You can go so far with taking the piss, you understand….It riles me, it really gets me very upset.” Asked what he would say to Serrano, he replied"I wouldn’t like to say nothing to him. I’d just like to punch him on the nose.“ Haywood’s actions caused slight damage to the photograph’s framing, but none to the work itself. The very next day, two male teenagers also attacked the piece. According to witnesses, one teenager acted as a decoy, kicking a print on the opposite wall to distract museum guards. As the guards rushed to subdue him, the other teenager attacked Piss Christ with a hammer. Both teens were arrested; the print was damaged beyond repair. In 2007, a group of neo-Nazis attacked a Serrano show in Sweden, although Piss Christ was not on display there.) https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/rembrandt-self-portrait-sulfuric-acid monthly 0.5 2012-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ad09b5a7e3c3a4d365774f8/1537373024961-6Z2L7YPJUF05TQIMO12C/tumblr_m2oinm9Ldq1ru7mjjo1_640.jpg Blog Rembrandt self-portrait / sulfuric acid https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/Ryan+McGinley monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/2013 monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/White+Flag+Projects monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/paint monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/photography monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/Eugene+Delacroix monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/1830 monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/marker monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/conspiracy+theory monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/mental+illness monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/Delacroix monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/La+Liberte+Guidant+le+Peuple monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/blog/tag/AE911 monthly 0.5 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/new-blog daily 0.75 2018-09-19 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/art-damaged-1 daily 0.75 2018-05-05 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/about daily 0.75 2018-06-20 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/new-page-1 daily 0.75 2018-09-19 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/intro-fairfield daily 0.75 2025-05-09 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/description-fairfield daily 0.75 2025-05-09 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/description-2-fairfield daily 0.75 2025-05-09 https://www.artdamagedbook.com/description-3-fairfield daily 0.75 2025-05-09