– Tracking Mitt's Arts Voting Record: Critic Tyler Green crunches the numbers and lays out Mitt Romney's dismal record on arts funding in Massachusetts. (His veto of the creation of the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund was overidden by the state legislature in a 33-3 vote.) There is, however, one arts connection he didn't mention: The Republican presidential candidate is apparently descended from the family of famed 18th-century English portraitist George Romney. If that doesn't get your vote, we don't know what will! [MAN, WaPo]

– Picassos Form Authentication Committee: While many artist foundations have stopped authenticating artworks to avoid expensive lawsuits, the Picasso family is taking the opposite approach. Four of Picasso's heirs have formed an organization dedicated to authenticating the artist's work under the umbrella of the family's Paris-based Picasso Administration. “With all the fakes coming to the market over the past few years, we realize we needed...to give the art world one place to receive good advice,” said Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the artist’s grandson. [NYT]

– Ruby Slippers Click Their Heels to London: The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will loan its original pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" to the V&A Museum for the first four weeks of its exhibition "Hollywood Costume," which opens October 20 in London. This marks the first time the ruby slippers have ever left the United States, as well as the first time they are reunited with Dorothy's blue and white pinafore dress since filming. [Press Release]

– Would Andy Warhol Have Approved of "Real Housewives"?: Bravo honcho Andy Cohen thinks so. "Melissa from the ‘Housewives of New Jersey’ was on the cover of Us Weekly last week...I think he [Warhol] would have been interested in that," Cohen said during a panel event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday for the exhibition "Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years." (He shared the stage with artist Deborah Kass.) "It’s my fantasy that he would have dug the ‘Housewives’ series." [Page Six]

– Hauser & Wirth Sets Opening Date: The highly-anticipated opening of Hauser & Wirth's second New York space has been set. The new, 24,700-square-foot gallery, located in the 1930s warehouse that once housed the Roxy roller rink, will open on January 22 with an exhibition of Swiss artist Dieter Roth. Björn Roth, Dieter’s son, will create a functioning bar in the space (more for coffee than liquor). [NYT, Press Release]

– Cruise Ship Passenger Caught Stealing Fake Rembrandt: A cruise ship vacationer admitted to attempting to steal a copy of a famous oil painting by Rembrandt valued at $13,000 while on a Bermuda-bound liner. The ship's security staff stumbled upon the passenger, Kevin Hudgeons, holding the door-size painting and trying to leave the vessel. He said he planned to mail it home to himself. A local court fined him $500. [Royal Gazette Online] 

– "Sgt. Pepper" Album Art For Sale: Original artwork for the "Sgt. Pepper" album is posed to sell for as much as $129,000, 50 years after the Beatles released their first record. British Pop artist Peter Blake's original collage for the insert of the 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" will be offered at Sotheby's auction of Modern British art on November 13. (Check out our Video of the Day, below, to see Blake talk about the work.) John Lennon and Paul McCartney worked closely with Blake to create the imagery for the record. [Bloomberg]

– Peggy Loar Resigns as Qatar Museum Director: Museum veteran Peggy Loar will resign from her post as director of the National Museum of Qatar after four years with the institution in order, she says, to be closer to her family in the United States. Before joining the QMA, Loar served as director of the Wolfsonian Museum and Research Center in Miami. The NMQ is currently being renovated by Jean Nouvel and is set to reopen in 2014. [AiA]

– How Strong Is the Art Market?: In advance of auction season kickoff, Kelly Crow lays out five key questions that will gauge the health of the overall art market going forward. (How much is the euro crisis dampening art sales? Where is the next likely hot spot?) The takeaway, however, is that collectors "remain eager to splurge on masterpieces, but they're turning their noses up at anything that appears second-tier." [WSJ]