Monday's Art Notes

_--A work by Erwin Wurm, "Untitled 2008," during the eighth edition of Art Basel Miami, which closed Sunday. (Photo by Juan Castro/AFP/Getty Images.)_ Art Basel Miami wound up Sunday. Though not as crowded as other years, the galleries participating in the trade show "reported strong sales":http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The%20going%20is%20tough:%20but%20stronger%20sales%20at%20all%20levels%20than%20last%20year/19833. We'll have more on Art Basel Miami later today on Art Beat, when we talk to Jason Kaufman of the Art Newspaper. * "Paris museums were open Sunday":http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/arts/design/07arts-FRENCHMUSEUM_BRF.html?partner=rss&emc=rss after "a four day strike":http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/museums-france, which shut down the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay and the Pompidou Center over issues of attrition and the increasing dependence on private contractors to staff the museums. A union leader at the Pompidou said the return to work is "just a pause in the conflict." * The Washington Post demonstrates how arts organizations are getting and using stimulus money with a roundup of local arts organizations that stayed afloat during desperate times "after they had received a stimulus lifeline":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/04/AR2009120400067.html. * "Malcolm Wells":http://www.wickedlocal.com/bourne/news/x1682951842/Malcolm-Wells-an-architect-ahead-of-his-time, an environmentally-pioneering architect known for his "gentle" underground designs, died over the weekend at age 83 at his home in Brewster, Mass.