Ketubah-handscribbed And Hand Painted On Parchment -watercolor And Cristals

The company that makes Legos has landed at the center of a social-media firestorm after Chinese artist Ai Weiwei complained that it refused to supply a bulk order of the toy bricks for his art.

Ai said he wanted to use the bricks for an exhibition on free speech at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. The museum attempted to place an order but was told by the company that it “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works."A post on Ai’s Instagram account said:

"As a powerful corporation, Lego is an influential cultural and political actor in the globalized economy with questionable values. Lego’s refusal to sell its product to the artist is an act of censorship and discrimination.”

A free-speech advocate who was imprisoned by the Chinese government, Ai suggested that Lego was acting under pressure from authorities. The privately held Danish company recently announced that a Legoland theme park will open in Shanghai. 

In response, fans of the artist flooded Twitter and Instagram with offers of Legos, and Ai said he was setting up drop-off points for donations. He also posted a picture of Legos that had been left inside a car on a street in Berlin, where he is serving as a visiting professor at the University of the Arts.

Fans Flood Artist Ai Weiwei With Offers Of Legos

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Unique Original oil painting on canvas of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv by OriDvir (3500.00 USD) http://ift.tt/1znSzWR

Six designers, six cities. Discover Rome, Italy with Dior’s perfumer-creator François Demachy on Diormag.com.

George Elgar Hicks - On the seashore (1879)

Vincent Van Gogh: Casas en Auvers, 1890.

STACKSOPHONE, BABY!

Can’t make it to New York for Matisse: The Cut-Outs? Experience it tomorrow at your local movie theater. Search locations and times near you.

[Image by Andrew Hinderaker for The Wall Street Journal]

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec -The Box with a Gilded Mask                    

Do you have ALL THE KNOWLEDGE about the world of Harry Potter?  Are your Muggle-born friends constantly turning to you for advice navigating the ever-shifting staircases of Hogwarts? Do you secretly have lesson plans ready for the day you get hired as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?  

Or do you just know a lot about the wonderful world of Harry Potter and want to share it with the Dashcon attendees?

Whatever your particular brand of HP love, the Harry Potter committee at Dashcon is looking for a few friendly, knowledgeable, and FUN people to be panelists at a Q&A session for fans of all ages.  Whether your specialty is the etymology of spells, the use of folklore in character names, or your memorization of the Marauder’s Map - feel free to apply as a panelist!

We need your help!

Norman Rockwell’s ‘Saying Grace’ headlines the top 10 most expensive works of art sold at international auctions in December. 

Here’s a look at the top 10.