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Reports on President George Bush's abrupt firing of National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman John E. Frohnmayer. The move is seen as an attempt to remove the NEA as a campaign issue for Bush's opponent Patrick J. Buchanan. Buchanan's NEA stance; Resignation; Replacement.

Covers the controversy over New York's Museum of Modern Art's (MOMA) sale of Yasuo Kuniyoshi's painting `Upside Down Table and Mask' in order to buy a previously unrecorded oil sketch for Picasso's `Demoiselles d'Avignon.' The MOMA has one other Kuniyoshi, `Self-Portrait as a Golf Player.' Prices; Reason for quick sale; Reactions.

Reports that the anti-obscenity `loyalty oath' that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) required of all grant applicants to sign in 1990 was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in Los Angeles, Calif. on Jan. 9. Ruling of US District Judge John G. Davies; Suits brought by the Bella Lewitsky Dance Company and the Newport Harbor Art Museum; Impact; Details.

Discusses the appointment of David C. Levy, 52, as the new director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Controversy caused when former director Christina Orr-Cahall cancelled the Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective in June 1989; Reaction of the art world; Budget; Staff; Details.

Discusses the tax problems of the estate of the late American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. The initial value of $72.8 million; Refusal by Tax Court to lower the value to $36.4 million; Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claim that the estate owes an additional $6 million in taxes.

Discusses two controversial television ads concerning the 1992 presidential election. One, by the gay activist group Act Up, was rejected by a New Hampshire television station. The other was aired in Georgia and placed by candidate Patrick Buchanan's campaign.

Discusses the `Wall Street Journal' decision to reject an advertisement designed by Dally Advertising of Fort Worth, Texas. It features a reproduction of Thomas Eakins' `The Swimming Hole' (1883-85), which the `Journal' found offensive because it contains nudity.

Reports on the National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) possible law suit against the New York arts group Movement Research, who might have violated federal regulations which prohibit funding of works that are politically motivated. Attempt to recover grant funds used for `Performance Journal #3'; Movement Research has denied the NEA's accusations and refuses to return the funds; Articles and works of art in the `Journal.'

Reports on the 1991 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fellowships awarded to two performance artists, Holly Hughes and Tim Miller. Attacks on their work by right-wing critics and politicians; Passed over and virtually blacklisted by NEA in 1990; Their suit against NEA.

Discusses the losses of artwork by artists, art dealers and collectors in the huge brush fire in the hills above Oakland, Calif. on October 21, 1991. The loss of an uninsured collection valued at $18 million; Loss of 30 years' worth of research on American mill towns; More.

Reports on the blocking by Congress of a move by Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to ban National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding of `patently offensive' art. Horse-trading on US Department of Interior appropriations bills; A trade-off involving not increasing cattle-grazing fees on federal lands.

Summarizes a court suit brought by four artists against the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), alleging the NEA vetoed fellowships based on political, not esthetic, reasons. Newly released government documents seem to support the allegations.Other accusations; Transcripts.

Focuses on the controversy surrounding the traveling exhibition `Motion and Document, Sequence and Time: Eadweard Muybridge and Contemporary American Photography,' which opened at the National Museum of American Art (NMAA) in Washington, D.C. Objection of director Elizabeth Broun to the 1964 work by Sol LeWitt entitled `Muybridge I'; NMAA charged with censorship by organizers Jack Reynolds and James Sheldon.

Focuses on a controversial art exhibition at the National Museum of American Art titled `The West as America,' a well-received revisionist exhibition of 19th century American Art. Prompted two Republican senators, Ted Stevens of Alaska and SladeGorton of Washington to call for an investigation of the Smithsonian Institution and to accuse Smithsonian Secretary Robert McC. Adams of harboring a political agenda.

Discusses the effect of the Supreme Court's May 23, 1991 abortion ruling in `Rust v. Sullivan' on government funding of the arts. Decision interpreted as broadening governmental controls on free speech; Implications for the NEA funding process.

Examines a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that calls for extensive reform of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as well as for the elimination of fellowships for individual artists. Criticisms of the arts agency by the report's author, Robert Knight; Charges of mismanagement; Response of NEA; Details.

Reports that National Endowment for the Arts chairman John E. Frohnmayer has once again rescinded his own veto of an NEA grant, restoring funding for a $10,000 project proposed by New York artist Mel Chin. Previous flip-flops by Frohnmayer; Reaction of the art world.

Reports that a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled that New York artist Jeff Koons violated copyright law when he made a sculpture based on a photograph by California photographer Art Rogers. Details of the case; Implications.

Reports that the confusion over the 1991 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) reauthorization compromise legislation passed by Congress has forced NEA chairman John Frohnmayer to call a special meeting of the National Council on the Arts, the NEA's chief advisory body, to try to sort out the new regulations. Details; Protests; Outlook.

Looks at the slander suit being brought against Julianne Davis, general counsel for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), by the Rev. Donald E. Wilder, director of the American Family Association (AFA) stemming from remarks made by Davis at an Oct. 24 speech at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Details; Defense being used by Davis.

Comments on two administrative moves by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that forecast the new stance of the organization regarding public controversies. Part of an overhaul outlined by chairman John E. Frohnmayer in congressional testimony. Formation of a watchdog committee to monitor grant recipients; Congressionally mandated prohibition of obscene art; Denial of appeals by the four performance artist who grants were vetoed in June; Details.

Examines the continuing harassment and court suit against the Cincinnati Arts Center (CAC) and its director, Dennis Barrie, over the April-May hosting of the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition.

Discusses syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak's criticisms of performance artist Karen Finley and the resulting National Council on the Arts decision to suspend all 18 recommended performance-art grants pending examination of their content.

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