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Wednesday
January 31
- INNOCENCE
ABROAD: A wave of lawsuits followed last year's US government
investigations of price fixing by Christie's and Sotheby's. The
auction houses made a costly settlement, but an American judge
has now dismissed three suits dealing with cases outside the country.
So are the auctioneers innocent abroad? Not really. The judge
ruled that the overcharges occurred outside the US and had no
substantial effect on the US; therefore, the court had no jurisdiction.
BBC 01/30/01
- TAKE
A WEB OUT OF CRIME: At least two of 15 Greek stone heads stolen
from University of Pennsylvania storerooms have been returned,
thanks to the Internet. The sculptures, excavated at the Extramural
Sanctuary of Demeter in Cyrene 20-30 years ago, were stolen from
storerooms sometime in the past year. A website was established
describing the figures, and two of them were recovered within
a couple days. Archaeology 01/30/01
- SPORTING
CHANCES: One of the Royal Ontario Museum's prize pieces of
art is a small 3450-year-old statuette known as Our Lady of the
Sports. The ivory and gold figurine, in the collection for seventy
years, was believed to be Minoan, from about 1450 BC. Now, several
archaeologists claim it's a forgery. Museum officials deflect
the claims: "If she's a genuine artifact, she's one of the
great artifacts in North America, and even if she isn't, she's
still very interesting." Ottawa
Citizen (CP) 01/31/01
- CHARTING
THE MENIL: Nearly three years after the death of the Menil
collection's controversial founder, the museum is still trying
to find its artistic compass. "To me the Menil is the Garbo of
museums in its elegance and allure, and its seeming desire to
be left alone." The New York Times
01/31/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
- RACING
TO FAME AND GLORY: It was never much of a space. But "for
a crucial decade between 1988 and 1998, City Racing was one of
the main centres of the London art scene. It provided vital early
exposure to some of contemporary art's leading names, and anyone
who was anyone in Nineties British art would attend its famously
packed Sunday evening exhibition openings." London
Evening Standard 01/31/01
Tuesday
January 30
- $48 MILLION LATER, A 'NEW' GUIMET: Paris' Musée
Guimet extraordinary collection of Asian art has long been loved,
but its building was a dark ramshackle affair. Now, after $48
million and a five-year makeover, the physical Guimet seems to
have caught up with the extraordinary artistic one. The New York Times
01/30/01
(one-time registration required for access)
Monday
January 29
- THE
DAMN COWS ARE BACK - AND THEY'RE SUING TOO: The fibreglass
art cows are coming next to London - 500 of them. The animals-on-parade
shtick is turning up in cities everywhere. But now the Swiss that
started it all are suing the Americans who ran with the idea and
there are countersuits and... The
Independent (London) 01/29/01
- BUYING
CUBAN: Cuban art is hot hot hot right now. "But has that
interest been sparked by the quality of the art and the artists
or by Cuba's forbidden allure, something given greater emphasis
in this country by the island's status as a renegade outlaw, off-limits
to U.S. citizens without special permission?" Miami
Herald 01/18/01
Sunday
January 28
- DOING
THE RIGHT THING (OR TRYING TO): The
plundering of Jewish art collections by the Nazis and the subsequent
redistribution of great works of art is now a matter of indisputable
public record, and museums around the world have been scrambling
to identify works in their collections that they may not have
a right to possess. But it is an arduous process, and fine moral
distinctions come into play. Chicago Tribune, 01/28/01
- RECREATING
A SOUL:
Washington's National Gallery takes on a monumental task in its
new show highlighting the legacy of the whirling dervish that
was Alfred Stieglitz. The sometime-artist, sometime-curator, and
full-time agitator put together some of the most forward-thinking
and artistically significant galleries of the century during his
career. Washington Post, 01/28/01
- ART
AND THE BARRIO:
Carmen Lomas Garza is an artist whose work represents not only
her own perspective on the world, but that of an entire culture.
One of the pioneers of the Latino-American art world, Garza has
made her work as much about civil rights as it is about the daily
struggles of life in the notorious Texas slums known as "the
barrio." San Jose Mercury News, 01/28/01
- MAJOR
COLLABORATION: The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Guggenheim Foundation
have announced a collaboration that seems to go beyond what museums
have done so far. The accord would involve exchanges of exhibitions,
curators and know-how. The Art Newspaper
01/26/01
- WORLD
DOMINATION? "The response of the guardians of the
American museum world is to cry "McGuggenheim!", and claim
that Thomas Krens, the management-trained director of the
New York Guggenheim, is rolling out the brand. The tie-up
with the Hermitage and Kunsthistorisches are just part of
a wider strategy for what looks increasingly like a bid by
Krens for world domination."
The Guardian 01/27/01
- FUROR
OVER FREE MUSEUMS: So British museums are to be free again?
"In the 1980s, when museum charges were encouraged by the
government of the day as part of a market-driven economy, museums
and their collections were regarded as commodities. And the result?
Those institutions that went down the charging route saw their
visitor numbers plummet on average by a third. This approach failed
to take account of the unique importance of museums: they are
a crucial part of the fabric of the individual and of society,
and everyone should have free access to them." The
Guardian (London) 01/27/01
- DESIGN
ARMY: "Fabrica is an offshoot of the Italian clothing
giant Benetton, as in United Colors of. Fabrica calls itself a
communication research centre, but the term does little to contain
the way in which it pulls in umpteen different directions at once.
It could as readily style itself the arts and visual design arm
of a company that has always made an effort to be seen as more
than just the world's largest consumer of wool." The
Telegraph (London) 01/27/01
- DOME
DISPERSAL: Major art from London's failed Millennium Dome
is being dispersed. "Sadly, the story of how the New Millennium
Experience Company (NMEC) dealt with art reflects the general
ineptitude of its management. Although seven important sculptures
were commissioned for the area between the Dome and the Thames,
these were crassly displayed and a promised grant from the Henry
Moore Foundation was needlessly lost." The
Art Newspaper 01/26/01
Friday
January 26
- TOO FAMOUS FOR ITS OWN (AND OTHERS)
GOOD: The "Mona Lisa" is being
moved to a room of its own at the Louvre due to the mobs that
crowd its current spot, which shows the painting in context among
other works of the Italian High Renaissance. The Louvre has had
to admit that there are limits to this approach and to place bullet-proof
glass over the painting; and now it has ruefully accepted another
failure that comes from celebrity, and it is removing the work
to a raucous room of its own." The Independent (London) 1/26/01
- MIES IN VOGUE: For the first time ever, the Whitney
Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York are collaborating
on complementary exhibitions examining the work of Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe. "Mies in Berlin" at MOMA will highlight
his early career; "Mies in America" will tackle his
last three decades in the U.S. "A show of this caliber is
necessary now because of a heightened interest not only in Mies
but also in modernism." New York Times 1/26/01 (one-time registration required for access)
- DOUBLE
TROUBLE: London's Royal Academy is going to double in size,
taking over an adjacent building. But a plan to move the Academy's
students to new quarters is being panned by the students. Why
do the artists like their present ramshackle digs, through which
many famous artists have passed? “They boast the most perfect
light in which to work." The
Times (London) 01/26/01
- BETTING
ON REMBRANDT: In December a Rembrandt sold for a record $28
million. So will the prime Rembrandt portrait Steve Wynn is selling
at Christie's bring that much? "The market may be disappointed.
Christie's describes the painting as 'exquisite' and it certainly
has an interesting history, which often affects value, having
disappeared for 40 years until the early 1990s when it reappeared
in a private collection. Yet some art world insiders argue that,
unlike the December Rembrandt, this one will not soar in value."
Forbes 01/25/01
- FUNDING FEARS: One of Scotland’s premier arts
awards ceremonies took place this week amid widespread fears that
the government’s new arts funding scheme might curtail future
grants to individual artists. "In recent years, because everything
has become based on big hits, big bonanzas and the big image,
it has got very worrying and you feel as if the [Scottish Arts
Council] committees are withdrawing from artists." The Herald (Glasgow) 1/26/01
- POLICE:
LENNON HAD A "SICK MIND": In 1970 London police
raided a gallery showing art by Beatle John Lennon, confiscating
some of the work. Now internal police documents detailing reasons
for the raid have been made public . "Many toilet walls depict
works of similar merit. It is perhaps charitable to suggest that
they are the work of a sick mind. The only danger to a successful
prosecution, as I see it, is the argument that they are so pathetic
as to be incapable of influencing anyone and therefore unable
to deprave or corrupt any person. However I feel the great influence
of John Lennon as a Beatle must be borne in mind." The
Guardian (London) 01/26/01
Thursday
January 25
- ROYAL
ACADEMY TO GROW: London's Royal Academy of Arts is to "double
in size after agreeing to purchase the nearby Museum of Mankind,
which it first tried to buy more than 100 years ago."
BBC 01/25/01
- POMPEII
IN LONDON: An intact Roman mosaic built in the 2nd century
AD has been unearthed in London. "This mosaic is comparable with
those at Pompeii and, in Britain, with those in the Roman Palace
at Fishbourne. The parallel with Pompeii continues in that, like
that city hit by the eruption of Vesuvius, it was destroyed suddenly
- in this case, by fire that collapsed the walls, bringing down
shelves and cooking pots in the kitchen next door."
London Evening Standard 01/25/01
- BUT
DON'T CALL HIM AN ARTIST... "Gary Greff is transforming
his hometown of Regent North Dakota into the 'metal art capital
of the world'. His vehicle for the journey is the inchoate 'Enchanted
Highway': a series of four (out of a planned 10) colossal metal
sculptures on the two-lane county road connecting Regent to the
interstate 30 miles north. If you want to make Greff cringe, call
him an artist. Though he receives grants from both the National
Endowment for the Arts and the state arts council, Greff considers
himself an entrepreneur." Salon
01/24/01
- ART
AND THE INTERNET: "Today, only 2% of international art
sales, valued by the EC at $7 billion, are actually well known
- and that's because those took place in public auctions. With
the help of the Internet, that figure is sure to rise, since information
can now circulate on a larger scale, allowing the value of art
to be redefined and modernized." BusinessWeek
01/24/01
Wednesday
January 24
CANADIAN
COMPROMISE: For years now, Canada's National Archives
has begged and pleaded for a National Gallery displaying portraits
of founding fathers and other national heroes. Also for years,
Canadian politicians have agitated for a "Canada Gallery"
to house historical documents and other artifacts. This week,
a deal was struck to create a new nationalistic museum in Ottawa
to serve both purposes. The site, ironically enough, will
be the former American embassy.
Ottawa Citizen 1/24/01
OH,
HENRY! The Henry Luce
Foundation is donating $10 million to the Smithsonian's American
Art Museum to "liberate" more than 5,000 artworks that
would otherwise have been condemned to the warehouse. The museum
closed last year for renovations to its home, the Old Patent Office
building, and will reopen in 2004, utilizing the new "visible
storage" display concept to exhibit the pieces the Luce grant
will fund. Washington Post 1/24/01
PAHK
THE CAH IN ALLSTON/BRIGHTON? Harvard University is considering
the building of a new museum of natural history on some of the
hundred acres the school owns in the Allston/Brighton neighborhoods
of Boston. The new museum, which would probably cost several hundred
million dollars over five years, would draw on the collections
of five existing Boston museums, and would prominently house the
city's famed 4000-piece "Glass Flowers" collection.
Boston Globe 1/24/01
E-ART
CONSOLIDATION: As consolidation in the electronic art selling
business continues, icollector and eBay form an alliance to sell
art on the internet. "The deal comes as eBay revamps its
high-end art site Great Collections, which is being transformed
into a new art-and-antiques site, eBay Premier (ebaypremier.com)."
The Art Newspaper 01/24/01
SOON TO BE FREE? Talks continue between the British
government and the country’s museum directors over plans to make
admission to all the country’s museums free. "Sources say
free admission at all national museums could soon be a reality."
The Independent (London)
1/24/01
PORTRAIT OF THE COMMUTER
AS AN ARTWORK: Billboards have sprung up in Los Angeles
declaring stretches of clogged freeways and cookie-cutter
retail stores to be works of living art. The oversized labels
are part of a promotional campaign by L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary
Art. Desperate? Maybe. Lowbrow posing as highbrow? Perhaps. But
people are talking about it.
L.A. Weekly 1/24/01
RESTORING A MINOR
POPE: One of the side benefits of the economic boom
of the last decade has been the newfound ability of cities to
reinvest in their own beautification. Pittsburgh's Frick Park,
long in disrepair, is undergoing a massive restoration, with particular
attention being given to the unique neoclassic gates designed
by the iconoclastic John Russell Pope.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
1/24/01
Tuesday
January 23
Monday
January 22
- PRESIDENT
STEALS ART COLLECTION: The art collection (worth several million
dollars) collected by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and left at
the presidential palace in Manila has gone missing after President
Estrada was hounded out of the palace by crowds insisting he give
way for a successor. The Times (London)
01/22/01
- LEARNING
FROM STAR BUILDINGS: Universities are commissioning big-name
architects to design signature buildings for their campuses. But
"although many of the new buildings have been acclaimed on
aesthetic grounds, some educators question these latest signature
buildings. The structures are expensive both to build and to maintain,
and administrators are unprepared for the task of guiding, challenging,
and controlling star architects." Chronicle
of Higher Education 01/22/01
- THE
ARCHITECT WITHIN: Architect Daniel Libeskind's "early
drawings are clues to his highly personal approach to architecture.
Difficult to interpret at first, second and third attempts, they
represent a search for that which ultimately cannot be spoken
about, cannot be described. This is neither as odd nor as negative
as it might sound; rather it relates to the prophetic strain of
Jewish mysticism that informs Libeskind's work." The
Guardian (London) 01/22/01
- ART
WINDFALL: The museums of France are about to get a trove of
paintings given by a collector. "The Musée d'Orsay, the Musée
Granet in Aix-en-Provence and other museums will share the 74
paintings, 27 graphic works, five sculptures and three artists'
books executed at the end of the nineteenth century and in the
twentieth century." The Art Newspaper
01/22/01
- THE
MEANING OF MODERN ART: "The idea of a discernible master-current
in the art of the modern era is now much ridiculed in certain
academic and museum circles, and the campaign to discredit it
is one in which MOMA in this country and the new Tate Modern in
Britain have taken the lead. And there are, to be sure, many reasons
to reject the idea. It undoubtedly smacks of elitism, and certainly
doesn’t conform to the strictures of political correctness. Aesthetic
judgments about art are definitely not an equal-opportunity enterprise.
And the very thought of a master-current inevitably suggests that
many widely admired works of art would have to be considered—well,
minor" New Criterion 01/01
Sunday
January 21
- LOUVRE
EVACUATED: The Louvre Museum was evacuated Sunday after a
bomb threat. "Some 3,000 to 4,000 visitors were forced to
leave the famed art museum in central Paris following a suspicious
telephone call at about 10:15 a.m." New
Jersey Online (AP) 01/21/01
- TO
CATCH A THIEF: The Italian caribinieri has commissioned forgeries
of 10 important works stolen from Italian churches, museums and
private collections over the past three decades. They will be
put on display in hopes that someone will recognize them and come
forward with information on their whereabouts. The
Independent (London) 01/21/01
- CAUTIONARY
FOR COLLECTORS: Gustav Rau, a 78-year-old German citizen,
spent more than 40 years building his collection of almost 800
masterpieces, including paintings by Degas, Munch, Renoir and
Fra Angelico, worth about £300 million. He set up three charitable
foundations in Zurich and Berne, which were allowed to look after
the paintings and organise occasional money-spinning exhibitions,
the proceeds of which went to the developing world. But Rau decided
three years ago to change charities, so the foundations sued to
declare him incompetent. Not content with that, Dr Rau's former
friends set about proving that the art collector had gone mad.
The Telegraph (London) 01/21/01
- A
NEW FOREST OF TOWERS: In Chicago a new boom in modernist skyscraper
office buildings. But it's modernism with a twist. Chicago
Tribune 01/21/01
- CLIP
AND SAVE: Sotheby's argues in court that its proposal to pay
$100 million of its $512 million settlement in its collusion case
with coupons for further purchases will not shortchange customers.
"Sotheby's argued that customers who sued the auction houses
for overcharges from antitrust violations would benefit more from
a settlement with coupons, which could have a higher aggregate
value than an all-cash payment, than they would in a settlement
without the coupons." New York
Times 01/21/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
- FRENCH
AUCTION REFORM: France struggles to reinvent its auction laws
in an attempt to revive the country's place in the international
art sales world. The government proposes new laws governing auctions
that should open up the business. Critics say the proposals don't
go far enough. International Herald
Tribune 01/21/01
- GREEK
ART RETURNED: "Nearly 300 ancient objects stolen from
a Greek museum a decade ago have been returned to Greek officials,
the FBI said. The objects, valued at more than $2 million, were
stolen in April 1990 from the Archaeology Museum in Corinth, 50
miles southwest of Athens." CNN.com
01/21/01
- A
NEW ZEITGEIST: Art buyers for the British government have
traditionally bought classic art - Turners, Constables and the
like - to decorate the offices of government ministries. But the
Labour party has been directing the buying of contemporary art,
including that by the controversial YBAs, and the Royal opposition
is furious. The Independent (London)
01/21/01
Friday
January 19
- FORMER
PRES GOES NON-PROFIT: The former Sotheby's president who resigned
amidst collusion investigations of the company, has forfeited
her stock options. "At the time she resigned, Ms. Brooks
volunteered to give back all but a few of her options. The company
then asked for the return of all the options as partial payment
for damages stemming from her role in a price-fixing scheme that
has cost the auction house tens of millions of dollars in fines
and lawsuit settlements. It also ensures that she will not profit
from any increase in Sotheby's stock." New
York Times 01/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- WARTIME
COMPENSATION: "A family that fled from Nazi Germany during
the Second World War is to receive £125,000 in compensation from
the Government because a painting they sold for food ended up
in the Tate gallery." The Independent
(London) 01/19/01
- MUSEUM
BAIL-OUT: A British government rescue of the beleaguered Royal
Armouries Museum in Leeds "could end up costing the taxpayer
£25 million. The museum, set up in 1996 to house 40,000 military
artefacts, faced going into receivership two years ago after attracting
less than half its target number of visitors." BBC
01/19/01
- SCOTLAND
LIKES ART: Scotland's National Galleries logged in a record
one million visitors last year, 16 percent more than in 199 and
25 percent more than 1998. "2000 was a unique year for the
Galleries - exactly 150 years after our foundation stone was laid
in August, 1850. This fact definitely inspired us, and our enthusiasm
must have been infectious." Glasgow
Herald 01/19/01
- DANGEROUS
ROCKS: London's Museum of Natural History has plead guilty
to putting radioactive rocks on display that were emitting radiation
above permitted levels. London Evening
Standard 01/18/01
Thursday
January 18
- NEW
CALDER MUSEUM? The Philadelphia Museum of Art is about to
announce it will build a new museum dedicated to sculptor Alezander
Calder. The museum is also said to have picked a site and is close
to selecting prizewinning Japanese architect Tadao Ando to design
the building. Philadelphia Inquirer
01/18/01
- LEAVING
EUROPE BEHIND? A new tax on the sale of art in Europe has
art dealers worried."If extra taxes make the trade in art
more expensive in Europe, then that trade will leave. The business
will migrate to the U.S., Switzerland, Japan and other countries
exempt from the tax." Forbes
01/18/01
- ART
AND MOVIES: London's artists of the Damien Hirst/Tracey Emin
genre are so famous at home that they compete with movie stars
for space in the tabloid press. Now they'll be movie stars,
as plans are revealed for a new film telling of their rise to
prominence. The Scotsman 01/18/01
- WE'RE
AWARE WE'RE HERE: The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art
has hired giant ad agency TWBA\Chiat\Day, the firm responsible
for Absolut Vodka’s art-friendly ads, the Energizer Bunny, Apple’s
“Think Different” campaign and “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” to create
an "awareness campaign" for the museum. "Over the
next month or so, and continuing through June, MOCA’s 2001 Brand
Awareness Campaign will position 60 site-specific labels as billboards
throughout the city. LA Weekly 01/18/01
Wednesday
January 17
- STOLEN
ART INITIATIVE: American museums announced a plan to identify
art that might may have been stolen by the Nazis in WWII. "Museums
will be asked to disclose on the Internet the identity and chain
of ownership of all works in their collections that changed hands
during the Nazi years (1932-1945) and could have been in Europe
during that period. This new agreement is the latest step in a
worldwide effort to identify and recover art confiscated by the
Nazis." Washington Post 01/17/01
- THE
CASE FOR NOT RETURNING THE ELGIN MARBLES: If
art should be in the places where it can have the most impact
and influence, isn't London the place? From Constable to Henry
Moore and beyond, the sculptures from the Parthenon have had a
major influence on British art. New Statesman 01/15/01
- STONED
AND DECEIVED: An investigation into the fiasco
surrounding the British Museum’s use of the wrong kind of stone
in its £100 million Great Court has found that the museum was
indeed deceived by the masonry company that supplied the stone.
However, the inquiry also determined that the museum should have
acted more quickly to verify and then rectify the problem.
The
Times (London) 1/17/01
- COURSE
OF ACTION: Now that the report is out, what should be
done next? "Camden councillors have been taking expert
legal advice on what action they should take and one option
being considered is that the museum should be prosecuted for
breaching planning laws." London
Evening Standard 01/17/01
- THE
POLITICS OF BIENNALE: For the first time Canada's representative
at the Vennice Biennale will be from a gallery from Manitoba.
But artists there are not rejoicing - the gallery has chosen artists
from Alberta. And can it put together the money to make the biennale
project work? The Globe & Mail
(Canada) 01/17/01
Tuesday
January 16
- SUPER
MOVEMENT: " 'Superflat' is the best name for an art movement
since - well, since Pop, from which it descends. Name-wise Superflat
has it all over mid-1980s Neo-Geo, its most recent conceptual
cousin. The name is market-savvy. It has retro-snap. It's wry.
It takes the hoary critical arguments of the pre-Postminimal 1970s,
which insisted on flatness as essential to the truth of painting,
and gives them a shove: Oh, yeah? Superflat is more true. It's
supertrue. And it's got something for everyone. Painting. Sculpture.
Photography. Fashion. Porcelain sex dolls." Los
Angeles Times 01/16/01
- THE GOOG IN AUSTRIA: The Guggenheim has announced a new
collaboration with Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, which builds
on the New York museum’s already evolving partnership with the
State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The new three-way
alliance will allow for shared exhibitions, co-curating, and shared
resources. "You get much more marketing and picture power
if you pool your resources." New York Times 1/16/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
Monday
January 15
- TURBULENCE
AHEAD: January is usually a quiet month
in the art-sales world, when auction houses recover from the holiday
boom, but not so this year when the turbulent events of last year
show no sign of letting up. The price-fixing scandal is still
being resolved, internet sales continue to perform poorly, and
Sotheby’s has announced plans to layoff 8% of its international
workforce over the next few months. "Only one thing is certain:
2001 will not be dull." The Telegraph (London) 1/15/01
- FANS
WILL BE FANS: It’s a well-known fact that groupies
will spend top dollar for a memento of an idol’s greatness - think
Madonna’s bustier, Michael Jordan’s jersey, etc. But now the trend
has hit the contemporary-art world, with the first ever auction
of "Britart memorabilia" being held in London this week.
Nicholas Serota’s Tate Modern hard-hat, Michael Craig-Martin’s
painting trays ("fresh from the studio") and Anthony
Gormley’s overalls ("complete with ball-bearings in pockets")
are all on the block." The Times
(London) 1/15/01
- INTERNET
CZECH-UP:
Following a government inquiry into the location and ownership
of art and real estate since World War II, the Czech Cultural
Ministry has launched a special Internet site (www.restitution-art.cz)
to help locate art stolen by the Nazis. The committee was the
first of its kind to be organized in a formerly communist country.
Ha’aretz (Israel) 1/15/01
- IDENTITY
ISSUES: Given the fact that national identity
trumps religious affiliation for many contemporary Jewish artists
identifying themselves in today’s art world, a proposed Jewish
Museum of Art in London raises interesting questions about the
dedication of galleries and museums to select groups. "Why
then should art by Jews be set apart? I do not know - but in my
bones I feel that it should, at least until it is completely absorbed
into the mainstream." London Evening Standard
1/15/01
- A
WELL-KEPT SECRET: With a $17 million building designed
by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and the distinction of being
St. Louis’ first major new art institution since 1904, why does
no one know about the newly built Pulitzer Foundation for the
Arts? "In defying current museum trends to reach out to increasing
numbers of visitors, the new foundation is harking back to the
early part of the 20th century when wealthy private
collectors created intimate, personal museums like the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the Barnes Foundation." New York Times 1/15/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- TAKEOVER
DENIED: Reports that Glasgow's museums are to be nationalized
were denied by the city and the Scottish executive. "According
to reports in a Sunday newspaper, the executive was preparing
to foot the £17m annual bill for Glasgow's civic arts collection,
which is considered to be one of the finest in the world."
Glasgow Herald 01/15/01
Sunday
January 14
- SHANGHAI
SURPRISE: "The Shanghai Biennale 2000 - the third by
the Shanghai Art Museum - leaves in its aftermath hope for a steady,
if slow development of the city's art scene. By international
standards, the Biennale was far from cutting-edge, but in a country
where contemporary art continuously struggles against an indifferent
public and a restrictive government, the exhibition was an important
marker - the most open state organized art event since the 'China
Avant-Garde' exhibitions in Beijing in 1989."
International Herald Tribune
01/13/01
- REASON
TO COMPLAIN: Bilbao's ugly stains, Norman Foster's wobbly
bridge; architects have recently been beaten up on for failures
in their buildings. "When buildings leak or rust, it offers
people who don't like contemporary architecture the same kind
of weapon presented by the charges of plagiarism levelled at the
Turner Prize short list last year. It's taken as positive proof
that not only are contemporary architects incapable of designing
buildings that are anything but a blot on the landscape, but they
are conmen who can't even keep the rain out." The
Observer (London) 01/14/01
- THE
NEW ARCHITECTURE: "Architects were villains in the 1980s:
often they are heroes now. But it's not so much a style thing
as the fact that architects are increasingly giving the public
what it wants in another sense. It's to do with making nice places
to hang out in. This is the age of the flâneur, that evocative
and untranslatable French word roughly meaning someone who saunters
about aimlessly but agreeably. Flâneurs need places to promenade.
This is what architects like to provide. And, unusually, some
of them have been given the money to do it." The
Sunday Times (London) 01/14/01
- THE
FRENCH AUCTION THIRD WORLD: France's restrictive nationalistic
hold on its art auction market cost it prominence internationally.
"The price France paid was that the brightest of its citizens
who dreamed of living in the world of art and auctions went over
to the English auction houses. Ironically, their contribution
was an important factor in the irresistible ascent of Sotheby's
and Christie's." International
Herald Tribune 01/13/01
- GRAVES
ON TARGET: "In the mid-1980s, after more than 20 years
as an acclaimed architect, Michael Graves began designing household
objects. In 1997, he was commissioned by the U.S. discount chain
Target to create hundreds of products, this time aimed at the
mass market. Sold through Target's more than 800 stores, these
appliances and gadgets have brought Graves a greater level of
fame among the public than perhaps any architect in history. Predictably,
some of his peers play the girl's school headmaster and sneer,
pronouncing him a prostitute. The more generous ones admit they
are simply jealous of his success." The
Globe & Mail 01/13/01
- DECORATING
BUILDINGS: In architecture "no aesthetic statement resonated
more forcefully across the 20th century than Adolf Loos's declaration
in 1908 that 'ornament is crime', echoed a few years later by
Mies van der Rohe's 'less is more'." But now some small steps
toward decoration? The Telegraph (London)
01/13/01
Friday
January 12
- HERMITAGE
FIRE: New Year's Eve fireworks accidently hit scaffolding
atop the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and started a fire.
The scaffolding encased the Chariot of Glory on top of the Arch
of the General Staff Building. "The wood and metal sheeting
which enclosed it intensified the blaze inside, destroying most
of the statue of Gloria, which stands on a chariot pulled by six
horses." The Art Newspaper 01/12/01
- ANCIENT
RING: A mysterious ring of wood has emerged from under the
sands on a beach in Norfolk in the UK. "The structure was
discovered just 100 metres from the site where the famous Bronze
Age monument known as Seahenge was uncovered more than two years
ago." BBC 01/12/01
- VATICAN
ONLINE: The Vatican Library, founded in 1451 and the "world's
oldest library," has only been accessible to church officials
and scholars. But now the Vatican has made a deal with an internet
company in California to sell "reproductions of manuscripts,
coins, ancient maps, timepieces, scientific instruments, and art
from its vast collection." Business
2.0 01/11/01
Thursday
January 11
- MOST
CONTROVERSIAL: Since Brian Kennedy became director of the
National Gallery of Australia in 1997, he has been a lightning
rod of controversy. A "staff shake-up, resignations, criticism
over the acquisition of a David Hockney painting for the equivalent
of more than £2 million, allegations about the gallery's unhealthy
air-conditioning system (subsequently unsupported) and cancellation
of the controversial 'Sensation' show" have helped make him
(and his museum) the most controversial arts organization in Australia.
Irish Times 01/11/01
- POST-POST-NEO-SOMETHING
OR OTHER: How to sort out the neos from the posts and post-posts
in the second half of the 20th Century? New
York Observer 01/10/01
Wednesday
January 10
- FEWER
PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY LOOKING: Enormous crowds at Tate Modern and
the Royal Academy’s "Apocalypse" show have supposedly
signaled a new level of public interest in art - but have they?
London attendance records actually show numbers are down for many
other solid, well-curated exhibits. "Could the over-promotion
of selective versions of contemporary art be channelling the interest
people have for it in ways from which it will never escape, and
creating a new category of sold experience where only quality
should count?" The Independent 1/09/01
- REBUILDING
BEIRUT: Now that Beirut is no longer a war
zone, Lebanese officials and architects are considering how to
best rebuild the 5,000-year-old city. "Should Beirut replace
its old fabric with a new one? Should it conserve some old elements?
And if so, which ones? Should rebuilding be true to the original,
or would such "non-transformation" of buildings risk
a transformation of social relationships?" Encompassing 19.4
million square feet of reclaimed land, it’s one of the largest
urban development projects in history. Architecture
Week 12/20/00
Tuesday
January 9
- RING
AROUND THE BILBAO: Only three years after it opened, the Bilbao
Guggenheim has discoloring brown stains on its shiny titanium
exterior. Says architect Frank Gehry: "If they'd cleaned the building
properly when construction was completed, the stains would not
be there. It's normal: you finish a building and you clean it.
But they didn't. It makes me angry because everyone points at
the architect." The New York Times
01/09/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
- ENDANGERED
PAINTINGS: On the Caribbean island of St. Cristobal, limestone
mining threatens thousands of ancient cave paintings left by the
inhabitants who lived there when Christopher Columbus landed "Archaeologists
believe the oldest drawings are up to 2,000 years old, but no
one is certain because you would have to destroy them to carbon-date
them. These caves have been compared to the pyramids of Egypt
in terms of their importance to Caribbean native culture.”
MSNBC (AP) 01/08/01
- ROUGH
TIME ONLINE: All in all, it's been a tough year for online
sales of art. Sites have folded, and others are barely hanging
on, pressured to turn profits. " While those observers who
are skeptical of the Internet's potential as a marketplace for
high-end art note the financial instability of the past year,
optimists point to an increasing number of new collectors who
have emerged online." ArtNews
01/01
- BARBARIANS
INSIDE THE GATE: London's Royal Academy annually hosts the
Summer Exhibition, the largest open contemporary art show in the
world — where "entries are occasionally criticised as too
traditionally good-looking." But this year pop artist Peter
Blake is curating. "He has served notice that the painterly
event will be pepped up by the inclusion of works from more controversial
artists such as Tracey Emin, notorious for a stained bed, and
Damien Hirst, who specialises in pickling animals."
The Times (London) 01/09/01
- LOOSE
CHANGE: A Scottish museum attendant managed to smuggle 150
coins out of the museum, "including one worth £100,000, from
Perth Museum and Art Gallery, where he had worked for two years.
The thefts were discovered when management updated the catalogue
of the coin collection." The
Times (London) 01/09/01
- OLYMPIC
ART BUST: A number of artists who shipped their work to Sydney
for showing during last summer's Olympic games have yet to get
their work or money back, leading some to consider legal action.
The Australian 01/09/01
- CONFESSIONS
OF AN OUTSIDER ARTIST: "It can take guts to identify
yourself openly as an outsider, as for many in the art world such
an admission is tantamount to a credibility cop-out. A degree
of cynicism is perhaps understandable when cutting-edge art has
'colonised' outsider regions repeatedly during the past century.
And it's not unheard of for ostensibly mainstream artists to claim
outsider status, further blurring the distinction between 'outsider'
and 'insider'." *spark-online
01/01
- GOYA
MOVIE: Director Milos Forman is going to make a movie of Goya's
life. The story will "center on Goya's life as a painter,
a political figure and a lover. But this is more than a bio picture.
It's about a whole era, which includes the Spanish Inquisition."
Variety 01/09/01
Monday
January 8
- MORE
ARRESTS IN SWEDISH ART ROBBERY: Two more arrests have been
made in the case of the stolen Rembrandt and Renoirs. One of the
suspects is said to be a lawyer. "He and another lawyer detained
earlier are suspected of acting as go-betweens with the thieves
in their efforts to obtain a ransom for the pictures."
BBC 01/08/01
- WHERE'S
EUROPE'S BEST ARCHITECTURE COMING FROM? "Switzerland
has produced several of the world's most original and respected
architects in recent years, including Jacques Herzog and Pierre
de Meuron (best known outside their homeland for Tate Modern and
the exquisite Dominus Winery in California's Napa Valley) and
Mario Botta, who was, for a brief while, an assistant of the great
Swiss architect Le Corbusier." The
Guardian (London) 01/08/01
- PANDERING?
"Art museums these days are pandering to the lowest common
denominator, confusing popular junk with high art, and failing
their mission to set standards and educate the public. Or they're
throwing over outdated and elitist concepts about art, making
it fun, bringing more people into museums, and teaching them to
see beauty in everyday objects. Either the barbarians are at the
gate, or they're already in, and, hey, they're not barbarians."
USA Today 01/05/01
- THE
NEW MUSEUM: The Guggenheim's Thomas Krens on criticisms of
the museum's Armani show: "We’ve expanded the concept of
what a museum/gallery is. You have to be flexible today. I see
a museum as a research and education institution, as well as a
theme park - I say theme park not in a pejorative manner. People
come here for a visceral experience. I’m involved with objects
of material culture - that’s about everything. So then you choose
a hierarchy. "We look at the high practitioners in the field of
material culture, be it motorbikes, paintings or clothes. Clothes
and motorbikes have not got a frame around them but they reflect
the aspirations of culture in an age of globalisation."
The Scotsman 01/08/01
- THE
ART OF SELLING ART: "Art galleries often appear to be
nothing more than underutilized museums, but their real purpose
is to sell art. Compared with other retailers, they are spectacularly
bad at what they do. Most people don't go to galleries, and thanks
to the snobbery and traditionalism of some dealers, artists cannot
effectively connect with the vast American public and its equally
vast purchasing power. Art galleries sell art in the way that
fancy stores sell luxury goods: they use high prices to suggest
scarcity, quality and prestige." New
York Times 01/07/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- SFMOMA'S
DIGITAL INITIATIVE:
Digital art represents a challenge to museums used to caring for
objects they can hold in their hands. "For museums, which
are collections of objects, the intangibility of digits raises
some interesting questions. How do you register a work when it
has no physical presence? How do you preserve an online piece
that the artist continues to update?" New
York Times 01/08/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- THE
BUTCHER, THE PAINTER? Bones believed to be those of the artist
Giotto are dued to be buried this week. But some experts contend
the bones don't belong to the artist. One writes to the archbishop
of Florence: "I can assure you that those bones have nothing to
do with Giotto. If you officiate, you may find yourself blessing
the bones of some fat butcher." The
Telegraph (London) 01/06/01
Sunday
January 7
- ART
ROBBERY CAPTURE: A seventh suspect is captured in Swedish
Rembrandt/Renoir theft. "The man was detained on Saturday
night and is suspected of being an accessory to blackmail in a
scheme to hold the three paintings for ransom." CNN
01/07/01
- LONDON
CALLING: Last year was an architectural feast in London, with
an array of important new buildings opening. "This year will
be even more packed with new buildings and projects. What has
yet to be seen is whether they will match the architectural panache
of what we have just seen, and indeed whether the hundreds of
millions of pounds involved has been wisely spent."
The Telegraph (London) 01/07/01
- TAKING
THE 17th: "The 17th century - either in the form of the
high baroque, or the classicism of Carracci and Poussin - is not
big box office. The 20th century was in love with the 15th, with
Piero della Francesca and Giovanni Bellini. Michelangelo remains
the biggest art star of all (except perhaps Van Gogh). The Italian
17th century, in popular appeal, comes nowhere. But this general
indifference - delightful to the 17th-century fan - may be in
the process of changing." The
Telegraph (London) 01/07/01
- CONCEPTUAL
ARTIST: Architect Daniel Libeskind has a number of projects
in the proposal or construction stages. "for Libeskind, the
point of architecture is not how it looks, but how it feels. He
always saw his drawings as a necessary preparation for building,
rather than theoretical speculation. The fact that they are not
immediately comprehensible as architecture is no drawback for
him." The Observer (London) 01/07/01
- MAGNIFICENT
MISTAKES: Is Victorian architecture in again as some suggest?
"Any attempt to render Victorian architecture trendy is,
of course, doomed to failure. It is both too common and – even
when we do absorb it properly – too confusing to most post-modern
sensibility, which likes reference, but not too much." Guess
not. The Independent 01/05/01
- SIGN
ME UP: Three years ago Mark Murchison worked loading docks
in Queens. After he got laid off, he took classes in handling
art. Now he's working as an art handler moving the Museum of Modern
Art's collection. How much to art handlers earn? "Up to $65
an hour at places such as Sotheby's, the Metropolitan Museum of
Art and the MOMA. "I had this blue-collar thing happening
back then, and now I'm working at one of the beacons of the cultural
world." New York Daily New 01/07/01
Friday
January 5
- HISTORY
DOESN'T COME IN NEAT PACKAGES:
In preparation for its major renovations, the Museum of Modern
Art sought to retell the story of modern art. Now the last segment
of that retelling opens: "Of the 11 segments that make up
this final chapter of MOMA's retelling of the story of modern
art, six are tedious, formally obvious, and didactic to the core.
Here, the extraordinary is rendered ordinary, the resistant made
palatable; the discordant passes unnoticed. Little vision for
the future is evident; next to nothing is said about contemporary
art; positions aren't taken; outlooks are narrow; risk is nonexistent."
Village
Voice 01/03/01
- NAZI
FEARS: A prominent Gustav Klimt painting has been pulled from
a show at Canada's National Gallery because of concerns it might
have been Nazi plunder. "The painting is owned by
the Belvedere, a state museum in Vienna, and is part of a current
show there called Klimt and Women. The museum decided to rescind
its agreement to lend the work after a panel of Austrian art experts
advised the government in November to return that and another
Klimt to the original owner's heirs." Ottawa
Citizen 01/05/01
- FASHIONABLE ART: The Guggenheim's
show on Armani fashion is indicative of a shift in perception
of fashion as art. The show "is a perfect example of the
blend of fashion, art, commerce and academic analysis that marks
the current cultural scene. How we dress now is a subject that
engages semioticians, social historians, political analysts and
gender theorists - 'fashion civilians', in the words of Colette's
biographer Judith Thurman - as well as superstar designers, magazine
editors, high-spending celebrities, and chic purveyors and curators
of front-line style." London Review of Books 01/14/01
- SUSPECTS
IN REMBRANDT THEFT Police have arrested four Swedish
men in connection with the December 22 theft of a Rembrandt self-portrait
and two Renoir paintings from Stockholm’s National Museum. The
artwork, valued at $30 million, is still missing. The Times (London) 01/05/01
- ASWAN
DAM DESTROYING ANCIENT TEMPLES? The Secretary General of Egypt’s
Supreme Council of Antiquities says that "waterlogging"
has severely damaged stone foundations of the Temple of Karnak,
"which is a stone’s throw from the Nile. Dr Gaballa explained
that after the Aswan dam was built (1960-70), the natural drainage
of the Nile valley had been blocked and buildings on both banks
of the river have been affected." An investigation, undertaken
with the help of the UN, has begun. The
Art Newspaper 01/05/01
- THE
COMIC EDGE: "While cartoonists hardly need the validation
of The New York Times to tell them what they are doing is important,
the recent mass media acceptance of graphic novels is undeniably
important, for countless reasons. But why are comics receiving
this attention now? Anyone involved in comics on any level knows
that now is one of the worst times economically for the art form."
*spark online 01/01
- FIGHTING
THE HACK TRACK: Some of the superstars of architecture - Rem
Koolhaas, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano - are currently
designing projects in Chicago. But design in the city "has
become a two-track building boom - on the one hand, high-quality
non-commercial projects by the visiting superstars; on the other
hand, low-quality commercial and residential buildings (Nordstrom,
One Superior Place and the like) turned out by hacks."
Chicago Tribune 01/05/01
- ART
FOR RENT: An Edinburgh gallery has begun letting its customers
rent artworks. "People come in, pick a piece, go home and hang
it on the wall and if they're fed up with it they bring it back
and change it for another piece." BBC
01/05/01
Thursday
January 4
- ART
DOTCOM FALLOUT: A year ago online art selling was seen as
the future of art sales. But a number of the online sellers who
crowded into cyberspace have failed at the task. Add Artnet to
the list. Artnet was "the first website to offer blue-chip
works of art for on-line sale. Now, less than two years later,
the company is cutting costs and reducing staff. In other words,
the company has given up trying to sell paintings on-line, choosing
to concentrate on prints and photographs." The
Art Newspaper 01/03/01
- THE
REAL DEAL(ER): Why won't the internet replace the need
for art dealers? "Selling dodgy art is as old as the
art business itself. Whether the fakes look as good as the
real thing or are merely shoddy knockoffs is beside the point.
The point is that buyers will need expert advice now more
than ever to guide them through the hazards of the art market."
Forbes 01/03/01
- SPILLOVER
POPULARITY? London's new museums have been such a hit with
audiences that elsewhere in England museums with construction
projects are busy revising upwards their attendance projections.
The Guardian (London) 01/04/01
- HISTORY
THROUGH A LENS: In the 1870s photography replaced draftsmen
and artists as primary recorders of history; as in a series of
photographs taken of Rome at the time that showed what pieces
of antiquity interested the Romans. Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 01/04/01
Wednesday
January 3
- TIME
TO TAKE A CHANCE? London has scored great successes with the
buildings errected with National Lottery money. So isn't it time
that some bolder chances were taken, some adventurous turns that
might result in brilliance? The Times
(London) 01/03/01
- THE
ART OF DIGITAL: There are those critics (and you know who you are)
who believe there is no such thing as digital art. Why? "Digital
media are not easily written about as art. It is another leap
that has to be taken. Until digital works are seen in an art context
they will not be assessed properly - that's the biggest challenge.
And no one knows how [or why] digital technology is art." Los Angeles Times, 01/03/2001
- KLIMTS
RETURNED: Eight paintings by Gustav Klimt that were stolen
by the Nazis and later turned up in an Austrian gallery, have
been returned to the family from whom they were stolen and are
on display in Canada. The Globe &
Mail (Canada) 01/03/01
- MORE
PRESSURE ON THE BARNES: The Barnes Collection, near Philadelphia,
is in a bind. It's broke. And its residential neighbors have long
been unhappy with the crowds the Barnes generates. Now some neighbors
want the Barnes to build a multi-million-dollar road to the museum
that would take visitor traffic off local streets. Philadelphia
Inquirer 01/03/01
Tuesday
January 2
- ART
RANSOM: Thieves who stole a Rembrandt and two Renoir paintings
from Sweden's National Museum on December 22 are ransoming the
paintings for "several million crowns'' "Police have
received a letter with photographs of the three art works, which
are valued at about $30 million." The
Telegraph (London) 01/01/01
- CYNICAL
BLOCKBUSTERS: "The art
exhibition has become one of our favourite treats. Orgies of hype
and merchandising, blockbuster shows are the cultural equivalent
of a royal wedding or the World Cup - spectacles that make us
feel part of a community of chat, deciding that yes, we really
do all feel that late Monet is as fascinating if not more so than
the Monet of the 1870s. Last year hardly a week went by without
the opening of some absolutely unmissable show, and this year
the procession rolls on, genuflecting before one modern or ancient
master after another." The Guardian
(London) 01/01/01
- SO
WHAT CONSTITUTES ART? The Los Angeles County Museum's show
on California has been faulted for emphasizing history and pop
culture as much as art. "Museums, like other institutions, are
trying to make things relevant. The show cuts a broad path through
the cultural landscape, touching on everything from surfboards
to WWII Japanese internment camps, as well as the varying manifestations
of spirituality. "It's all been a part of the growing democratization
of the arts. Today you can say a word like 'multicultural' and
people recognize it; you don't have to explain it anymore."
Christian Science Monitor 12/29/00
- A
LITTLE SHOW BIZ IN BROOKLYN: The Brooklyn Museum had a reputation
for its rich collection and stodgy ways. Then three years ago
Arnold Lehman arrived as director and brought some show business
to the place (including last year's "Sensation" show).
"Mr. Lehman makes no apologies for his populist approach,
saying that if the choice arose, he would have no trouble favoring
a broader audience over deeper scholarly research, while bearing
in mind that the mission of the museum is always about art."
New York Times 01/01/01
(one-time registration required for access)
- SHANGHAI
CENSORSHIP: The Shanghai Biennale, with "67 artists from
15 countries, is China's bid to join the club of biannual art
extravaganzas led by Venice and New York City." But the censors
have made a mess of the program. CNN
01/01/01
- STOLEN
PICASSOS: Police recover a fifth stolen Picasso in Turkey.
New Jersey Online (AP) 11/14/00
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