SANTA FE, N.M. – Apparently, risky art can be likened to risky stocks as far as the marketplace is concerned, according to an Associated Press report. “People are being very cautious,” Carolyn Gilliland, director of the Munson Gallery, said recently. “They got jittery with the election, waiting to see what the new administration will do with the economy,” she said. “People are just not settled.” The impact of a softening stock market and other economic factors on the sizable art market in Santa Fe — where the economic impact of various arts activities is estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually — remains to be seen. However, Gilliland agrees with the notion that when the economy slows down, racier, riskier, contemporary art is hit hardest, while more traditional, conservative, representative art continues to move.

PARIS _ An expert on the French artist Edgar Degas has been chosen to take over as director of the Louvre Museum. The French Cabinet named Henri Loyrette, currently chief of the Orsay Museum, to replace Pierre Rosenberg, who is retiring after a 39-year career at the Louvre, the world’s largest museum. Loyrette, 48, is the author of three books on French turn-of-the-century artist Degas. He is expected to take the Louvre helm on April 14 after seven years running the Orsay, which houses France’s largest collection of 19th-century art. Loyrette plans to refrain from commenting publicly about his new position until taking over the post, a spokeswoman told the Associated Press.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Christian University administrators have reported more than 100 pre-Columbian Peruvian pottery pieces valued at $267,700 missing from the school’s library. The FBI and Fort Worth police have joined the search for the rdf_Descriptions, reported missing March 2 from a locked archive in the basement of the Mary Couts Burnett Library, AP reports. Police at TCU are circulating photos of the missing pottery to auction companies, private buyers, appraisers and museums. “It looks unique enough that it’s got to show up somewhere,” TCU police Detective Kelly Ham told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The pottery, including pieces created around 300 B.C., was part of the Moorehead Collection donated to TCU in 1996 and 1997. The university had exhibited the collection for a year before holding it in a study collection for TCU students and faculty members in the library. The pottery was accounted for during an inventory in February. But when a staff member found a box out of place, another inventory was conducted in early March.