Auguste Rodin Sir Alfred Munnings Season Opens Softly at Christie’s New York Sales Preview Madrid Museum to Combine Condoms and Art Southampton’s Art-Sale Plans Face New Opposition in U.K. Researchers Devise “DNA Profiles” for Bronze Sculptures Hindu Groups Threaten Indian Artist

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If the plans proceed, Southampton’s City Art Gallery, renowned for its collection of 20th-century British art, will lose Alfred Munnings's After the Race, valued at around £4 million ($6.6 million), as well as Auguste Rodin’s sculpture Eve, worth about £1.5 million ($2.5 million). Critics fear that if the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, which oversees Britain's public galleries, allows the sale, local authorities throughout the country could ransack their collections. A campaign on England’s south coast is trying to stop the sale, but Southampton's leisure chief defends the plan, saying the money will be used to enhance the collection because “building the museum will effectively provide a new wing for the gallery.” The Titanic museum is expected to open in 2012.

Read more at the Belfast Telegraph.