Los Angeles, where the coronavirus pandemic has been particularly severe, is the largest city in the nation whose museums have yet to reopen even temporarily since the pandemic struck last March. - The New York Times
Fundraising for the project has been at a virtual standstill for the past two years, since Vancouver’s Chan family, headed by Burrard International Holdings founder Caleb Chan, committed $40 million toward the project now estimated to be worth $355 million, including a $50 million endowment fund. That total does not include the City of Vancouver’s gift of a 99-year...
"Almost nine years ago, two thieves carried out a near-perfect heist at the National Gallery in Athens, taking two works by modern masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, as well as a a sketch by Italian Mannerist artist Guglielmo Caccia. … The case remains unsolved, but a new investigation suggests at least one work — Picasso's Head of a...
Even though it has a little more flair, I hope we can accept the Turkish monolith as a normal part of life in 2021. It is not a mystery — even though we don’t know who exactly put it there, we know human beings did it, and we know that they were undoubtedly inspired by the 100-plus other monoliths...
"Many workers regarded it as a positive step this summer when numerous leading institutions released detailed diversity, equity, and inclusion issues (DEI) plans. But more than six months later, employees are still waiting for progress reports. Artnet News surveyed more than a dozen museums across the country, none of which agreed to share the full amount of money they...
"The Frick Collection will open in the Breuer building as the Frick Madison on March 18, the museum announced on Tuesday, beginning a two-year stay in the Brutalist space while its 1914 Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue undergoes renovation." - The New York Times
"Louis Aliot, the right-wing mayor of Perpignan, a city in the south of France, will let four museums begin welcoming visitors once more, effectively disobeying countrywide COVID-19 safety guidelines that are keeping museums throughout the country shuttered." - ARTnews
The attorney general does not comment on ongoing audits, but Hyperallergic has acquired documents raising questions about board member self-interest and misuse of tax-exempt bonds that nonprofit attorneys interviewed by Hyperallergic say are within the office’s investigative scope. The documents shed light on the school’s debt-financed expansion into Fort Mason that jeopardized SFAI’s original campus on Chestnut Street and...
Once the AAMD, looking at the financial carnage wrought by COVID, relaxed its strict rule about museums selling their art only in order to acquire other art, the sales started — with major museums in Brooklyn, Syracuse, the Berkshires, and, above all, Baltimore drawing a huge amount of scrutiny, more than a little condemnation, and even (though it's not...
The Louvre Conservation Center, located in Liévin (20 miles or so southwest of Lille), "has six storage areas, including dry, low-humidity areas for metalworks, a photography studio, workshop rooms, a varnishing booth, and study space. The center has large windows for natural light, and the rooftop garden features 27 seed varieties. More than 5,000 plants have been sown around...
Mwazulu Diyabanza is a Congolese activist who would prefer France's museums were open so he could get some attention for taking African objects from their displays "to highlight what he sees as the mass pillaging of the continent by European colonialists. And it’s not just the mighty museums. Diyabanza and his supporters also plan to include smaller galleries, private...
Five Florine Stettheimer works showed up in 2020. But there was a bit of an issue: "Only two turned out to have been actually created by Stettheimer. Of the other works, two were removed from the marketplace and the attribution changed on the third." - The New York Times
Well, on Instagram, actually. Yes, another InstaMuseum. Did Spanish people invent something to make life easier, better, more comfortable? Into the "museum" it goes. Part of its goal: "We have to generate a narrative for Spanish design." - El Pais
Or from bad development, anyway. Now it's up for bids not for sale but for "sustainable longterm uses." The fight against a luxury hotel development galvanized Edinburgh preservationists. "For campaigners, the fate of the Royal High School, established as a free educational facility for rich and poor children alike with the ethos that all deserved to learn in an...
