Thursday’s Art Notes

Gilt copper statues of the Amitabha Bhudda on a purple sandalwood stand from the Building for Enjoying Lush Scenery (‘Cuishanglou’) in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Lent by the Palace Museum, Beijing, for the exhibition The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City on show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through May 1, 2011.

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Meanwhile, a different exhibit of Chinese artifacts set to open Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania (after stints in Texas and California) has been shut down after Chinese officials asked the museum not to show any of the objects on display, via The Associated Press.

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NEA chief Rocco Landesman has said that since the economy can’t support as many art nonprofit organizations as there are operating in the U.S. right now, perhaps we need to let some of them die, via ARTINFO.

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The Los Angeles Times has an appreciation of American composer Milton Babbit, who loved challenging listeners with puns complicated form and theory, died on Saturday at age 94.

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A deaccessioning sale by the Cleveland Museum of Art of Old Masters paintings made more money for the museum than expected, via The Cleveland Plain Dealer.