M. C. Escher Work Enters the Public Domain, Suspect Surrenders Himself in Pennsylvania Art Heist, and More: Morning Links for January 3, 2023

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The Headlines

IT’S NOT JUST MICKEY MOUSE—other artworks have now entered the common domain, too. Artnet News has a look at what’s now available for usage by the general public, and there’s a bounty of art-related material. Are you, like many others across the world, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Surrealism? You’re in luck: André Breton’s novel Nadja has officially entered the public domain. Perhaps you love M. C. Escher? His print Tower of Babel , featuring a vertigo-inducing view of the titular structure, is also joining that Breton book, along with pieces by Francis Picabia, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, and much more.

CRIME BLOTTER. The Pennsylvanian city of Scranton may not be a destination for art museums, but it is the site of a not-insignificant art heist that took place in 2005. At the Everhart Museum, thieves walked away with works by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock, and only recently have authorities begun to track down the people responsible. Four pleaded guilty to the crime last year. On Monday, another suspect surrendered himself, according to WNEP. He had been wanted for seven months as part of an alleged ring that also targeted New Jersey’s Ringwood Manor, where thieves heisted a Jasper Cropsey painting in 2011.

The Digest

Alexis Smith, a giant of the Los Angeles art scene, has died at 74. Known for collages composed of ready-made imagery, Smith was the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego two years ago. [Los Angeles Times]

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art has received a donation of 75 works by Black artists, including pieces by Derek Fordjour, Jarvis Boyland, and more. [The Commercial Appeal]

An Italian court has ruled that Los Angeles’s Getty Museum can keep a Jacapo Bassano painting, bringing to an end a years-long dispute over how the work exited the country. [The Art Newspaper]

Two gold ornaments were discovered in 1,500-year-old in Kazakhstan. According to one archaeologist, they may depict “the crowned sovereign, majestically sitting on a throne in a saintly pose and surrounded by servants.” [Live Science]

Celebrities, they’re just like us. Hilaria and Alec Baldwin reportedly took their kids to New York’s Balloon Museum on New Year’s Eve. [People]

The Kicker

THE FRENCH DISPATCH. Just in time for the next Whitney Biennial, opening in March, New York’s Whitney Museum has expanded the offerings at the Frenchette Bakery, which took over the space formerly occupied by Danny Meyer’s Untitled. What’s on offer, you ask? “More substantial fare will include a warm black radish vichyssoise, tarte flambée, mushroom and Taleggio pizza, a roast beef sandwich, an omelette, rotisserie chicken salad, and duck confit with farro,” according to the New York Times. Sounds delectable.  [The New York Times]