VISUAL

An Art Crawl, By Bike, In Melbourne

“Even as a Melbourne local and a longtime art lover I find it near impossible to keep up with the independent openings happening in my city.” - The Guardian (UK)

Milwaukee Museum Returns Enslaved Artist David Drake’s Works To His Descendants

“Drake made and inscribed ambitious stoneware jars while enslaved in South Carolina in the 1800s, despite punishing conditions and anti-literacy laws that prevented teaching enslaved persons to read.” - The New York Times

Correcting The Record On Lee Krasner

Krasner and Pollock were, in mid-20th-century New York, at the heart of the artistic movement that would become Abstract Expressionism. At that time, the only label more detrimental to a talented artist’s career than “woman” was the handle “wife.” - The New York Times

At Long Last, MOCA In L.A. Has Its New Director

“After almost two decades of high leadership turnover and a more than year-long search, the Museum of Contemporary Art has appointed Jonathan Abbott as its new director and chief executive.” He comes from Boston’s PBS affiliate, GBH, where he was CEO for 15 years. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Lucas Museum Architects And The Building Of Fantasies

MAD Architects is a team that has completed major cultural and residential projects in 16 countries and counting. Their signature is hard-to-believe designs that do all of the shouting — etched towers churning like hula-hooping women; a museum honed like an ancient stone; an opera house resembling a mountain, bursting from the ground. - The New York Times

Former Microsoft CEO Repairs Damaged Calder Mobile In U.S. Senate Building

When Kim and Jon Shirley visited Alexander Calder’s Mountains and Clouds (1976/1986) in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, the stabile portion of the sculpture (the mountains) was there, but the mobile part (clouds) had been removed due to structural damage. Ten years and $10 million later, the clouds are back. - ARTnews

The African American History and Culture Museum, Ten Years On

The decades-long effort got its final push with the bipartisan efforts of Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a stalwart of the civil rights movement, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; the bill establishing the museum was signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. - The Smithsonian

Director Of Kanal-Centre Pompidou In Brussels Will Step Down Immediately After Opening Weekend

“Yves Goldstein will leave (the new contemporary art museum) two days after its opening on November 28. He has spent a decade leading Kanal through the planning and renovation of its home in a massive Art Deco building, which formerly housed a Citroën garage, and navigating a partnership with the Centre Pompidou.” - Artforum

Six Artists Who Shaped Modern American Design — And The Bitter WWII Experience Which United Them All

“The (Barnes Foundation) exhibit ‘Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America’ examines six renowned Japanese-American artists whose work defined modern American art and design in the mid-to-late 20th century — all of whom were severely impacted by mass incarceration” in wartime internment camps. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

The “Extraordinary” Bolivian Painter Whose Work Was Discovered In The Trash

“Alejandro Mario Yllanes was a protégé of Diego Rivera, who championed the bravery with which Yllanes made searingly political works. Yllanes … left little trace of his life after 1950, leaving a cache of paintings, engravings and documents in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.” - The New York Times

National Trust For Historic Preservation Announces $10M Fund To Push Back Against Trump

The fund “will provide resources for legal defense, public advocacy, and community action when historic places and the laws that protect them are under threat,” Brent Leggs, the trust’s president, said in an interview on Tuesday. - Washington Post

Comedy Comes To The Museum Tour

During the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month, she made her way to the National Galleries of Scotland for what was billed as a "cheeky romp" uncovering the "gossip, glamour and glorious absurdity hiding behind the art." Gloriously absurd it was. - NPR

Faced With Soaring Costs, Museums Are Rethinking Their Climate Control Standards

For decades, professionals codified a climate range of plus or minus 2°C and plus or minus 5% humidity into museum practices and loan agreements worldwide, applying these numbers to institutions in environments wildly different from London. In recent years, however, professionals have started to push back against these stringent standards. - The Art Newspaper

British Museum Bans Picture-Taking At The Bayeux Tapestry

The museum made like the Sistine Chapel and announced a ban on photography in the exhibition, an unforgivable move to some in the Instagram age but a godsend to others. - The New York Times

Leaders Of Brussels Regional Government Wants Director Of New Kanal-Centre Pompidou Fired

“On Thursday, Minister-President Boris Dilliès of the center-right francophone Mouvement Réformateur (MR) party reportedly surprised members of the Brussels-Capital Region government, which he has led since February, when he announced he is seeking (founding director Yves) Goldstein’s immediate dismissal.” - ARTnews

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