Friday's Art Notes

_Dana Stephensen performs the work 'Contour' during the final rehearsal of 'Bodytorque. Muses' by "the Australian Ballet":http://www.australianballet.com.au/ in Sydney on May 26, 2011. "'Bodytorque. Muses'":http://www.australianballet.com.au/whats_on/event_detail?perfid=1999 comprises of five choreographed modern ballet performances exploring the relationship between artist and muse. Photo by Torsten Blackwood/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * The New York Times "tells the story":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/arts/design/the-pieta-behind-the-couch.html of how a possible Michelangelo turned up in a upstate New York house, and how its owner has spent years trying to prove its provenance, prompting debate and disagreement from scholars. * The American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents the singers at the New York City Opera, filed a labor complaint against their bosses in order to try and block the company's leave-taking of Lincoln Center, via "The Wall Street Journal":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520804576347912541196274.html. * The founder of EBay, Pierre Omidyar, has given $3 million to the Louvre for projects relating to Persian art, via "ARTINFO":http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37763/ebay-founder-gives-the-louvre-3-million-to-promote-persian-art/. * Many arts writes have lately wondered why American museums aren't taking a greater stand against China's imprisonment of Ai Weiwei, including "Terry Teachout for the Wall Street Journal":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520804576345131557759812.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_4, "Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes":http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2011/05/with-ai-detained-should-vmfa-deal-with-china/ and "Mary Louise Schumacher for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel":http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/122202159.html * Leonora Carrington, one of the most celebrated artists in Latin America who traded her British aristocracy to become a surrealist and the lover of Max Ernst as a young woman, has died at age 94 in her longtime home of Mexico City, via "Retuers":http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/26/us-mexico-carrington-idUSTRE74P6KC20110526.