Footnotes

Is art in America in bad shape? Stephen Colbert probably says no.

• The arts in America are ailing.
• In San Francisco a homeless man with mental illness who stole 40 prints and works of art from the San Francisco Botanical Gardens library, and objects different institutions was sentenced to four years probation after he entered a guilty plea.
• Donn Zaretsky notes the hypocrisy in deaccessioning.
• Does the "insane wealth of socially worthless Wall Street zillionaires" produce a climate for the "worthless" works of Damien Hirst?
• Robert Wittman is organizing a paid seminar (for $2,500) from June 12-17 on art recovery, security, and protection.
• Will the Baghdad Museum open its doors this Spring? The $13 million provided by the U.S. government through the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project should help with better security. Though they could have saved a lot of trouble with more care eight years ago.
• Also, a new documentary is on the way, "Road to Nasiriyah" which has "stunning footage" of the looting of Iraq's archaeology.

Here's the New  York Times' video of damage and restoration at Babylon: