No Money, No Resources, Stalled Renovation "After nearly three years and $17 million, Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark, city-owned Hollyhock House and the adjacent Barnsdall Park [in Los Angeles] may still remain closed to the public when the first of two renovation phases is finished late this spring, city officials said Wednesday. And there are currently no plans and no money for the second phase... More than 50 supporters of Hollyhock House, community leaders and citizens who value Barnsdall Park's neighborhood art programs, turned up for the progress report. Some could not contain their dismay at phase one's outcome: In addition to being late and over budget, the project will leave far less space for art classes." Los Angeles Times 02/28/03

Practically Speaking - How Libeskind Was Chosen for the WTC How was Daniel Libeskind's plan for the World Trade Center site chosen? The decision rested as much on politics, economics and engineering as on aethetics. "Almost immediately after the decision was announced, civic groups, downtown business leaders and others began debating the details that will be needed to put the plan into effect." The New York Times 02/28/03

• Learning Salesmanship In Denver Even before he submitted his design for Ground Zero, Daniel Libeskind was uniquely prepared for the necessity of selling oneself and one's art to American politicians and finicky citizens. It was less than three years ago that Libeskind beat out four other architects to become the winning designer of a $62.5 million addition to the Denver Art Museum. And while the media scrutiny and public interest in Denver was a fraction of that with which Libeskind would contend in New York, the architect's skill at presenting his work as a public boon was evident in the Denver competition. Denver Post 02/28/03

Scottish Government Helped Save Titian The Scottish government gave £2.5 million of the £11.6 million needed to buy the Scottish National Gallery's Titian acquired this week. "I am most impressed with the Scottish Executive and Mike Watson in particular for giving us £2.5 million at a difficult time. It’s a very enlightened thing for a government to do. A direct treasury grant in Scotland for something as rarefied and distinguished as this is a splendid thing." But the director of the National gallery warns that other art treasures are in dancer of being sold and taken out of the country. The Scotsman 02/27/03

A Binding "Kiss" The most-talked-about work at this year's Tate Britain show of contemporary work is Cornelia Parker's "The Distance (A Kiss with String Attached)" that binds up the lovers in Rodin's famous sculpture "The Kiss" in string. "It's my homage to two artists and a way of showing that love is more complicated than just a kiss. In fact, Dante's punishment of the illicit lovers was to condemn them to be entwined in an embrace for eternity. 'The Kiss' used to be considered indecent. People thought it should be covered up, which in effect is what I've done. I don't think I've hidden the eroticism. If you conceal things, they become more charged." London Evening Standard 02/27/03

Scotland's National Gallery Makes A Titian Its Own Scotland's National Gallery buys itself a Titian for £11 million. The painting has hung on loan to the gallery for 60 years. "It took more than two years to complete the deal, using £7.6m worth of lottery funding and a £2.5m contribution from the Scottish executive. The rest of the money came from the National Art Collections Fund and the National Galleries. To facilitate the sale, £2.4m of the picture's value was offset against inheritance tax." The Guardian (UK) 02/27/03

Tracking Down Nazi Art Loot - A Futile Task? More people are trying to track down art looted by the Nazis during World War II than ever before. And museums and collectors are under greater scrutiny. But "experts have become increasingly pessimistic that much more of it will ever be recovered and restored to its rightful owners. The Germans seized perhaps 600,000 important works from 1933 to 1945. "As many as 100,000 pieces are still estimated to be missing, and some have undoubtedly been destroyed. 'Obviously, what this is all about is the art world having to pay the price for lack of interest in provenance that they have shown for generations. It's a good idea to put it on the Internet and make it available, but I don't think there's a great deal of follow-up by museums'." The New York Times 02/27/03

Met Museum Lands Matisse Trove The Metroplitan Museum lands a gift of 50 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints by Matisse, valued at $100 million. "The gift, which comes from a foundation named after Matisse's youngest son, Pierre, and Pierre's wife, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, is one of the most important gifts of modern art the Metropolitan has ever received." The New York Times 02/27/03

Leonardo Interactive Leonardo da Vinci was one of the great minds in history. The Metropolitan Museum has developed a special interactive feature designed to complement the exhibit: an online tour (really an overview) of the show's eight galleries. This allows us to follow the stages in the development of Leonardo's mind through 34 representative drawings. Each of these can be enlarged several times thanks to a zoom feature. Artcyclopedia 02/03

Libeskind Chosen For WTC The proposed design by Daniel Libeskind for the World Trade Center site has been chosen. "The new building is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which briefly stood as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet. Libeskind's tower also would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world." CNN (AP) 02/26/03

• WTC: Focus On The Memorial "The Libeskind design was considered the front-runner for weeks, although a rival plan by an architecture team called Think, which featured two soaring latticework towers called the World Cultural Center, collected strong support as the decision neared. Ultimately, however, rebuilding officials voted in favor of Mr. Libeskind's somber treatment of the memorial and the incorporation of an active street life in the commercial portions of the site." The New York Times 02/27/03

Beijing Goes On Museum-Building Spree Beijing is investing $854 million in building and renovating museums in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. "By 2008, Beijing will have 130 museums," said a government official.
People's Daily (China) 02/26/03

Big Cuts At SFMOMA "The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art plans to cut its exhibitions by as much as 25 percent in the wake of an expected $1 million budget deficit for 2003 and stock market losses that have left its endowment fund $13.9 million in the red. SFMOMA, which has built an international reputation in the past decade, will gradually reduce its exhibits from about 25 per year to perhaps 18 to bring its spending in line with the shrinking economy and the realities of the museum business." San Francisco Chronicle 02/26/03

Marketing A Memorial Let it never be said that the two finalists in the Ground Zero sweepstakes were content to sit back and let others decide the fate of their designs. Both Daniel Libeskind and Rafael Viñoly have been working overtime in an effort to make their respective proposals attractive to New York's political and artistic bigwigs. "With talk of truth and beauty, memory and monument, these architects have been selling themselves like movie stars... Not since Gary Cooper appeared in The Fountainhead has the public been so riveted by architecture and architects." The New York Times 02/26/03

• Freezing Time In A Memorial - Is It Such A Good Idea? Like many critics, Christopher Hawthorne was impressed with the emotional punch of Daniel Libeskind's plans for the World Trade Center site. But like some others, he's cooled to the idea with time. "What's really happened is that the passing of time has offered the chance to imagine how the various schemes first unveiled months ago might strike us in 2013 or 2053, rather than 2003. And in that test, Libeskind's doesn't fare so well. The ruling above-ground gesture of Libeskind's plan, seen especially in the towers that would ring the site, is that of the shard, the sharp fragment unleashed by shattering or explosion. Combined with the idea of keeping the pit as open as a fresh wound, the shards seem to aestheticize the violence of Sept. 11. And the further we get from that day, the more misguided it seems to fix the site's violent history in glass and steel." Slate 02/25/03

War Is Expensive, Even On Exhibit "The new Canadian War Museum appears to be headed for tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns, partly the result of unexpected water problems at the LeBreton Flats work site, but also due to a fast-paced construction schedule aimed at completing the building while many of the veterans it honours are still alive." Ottawa Citizen 02/26/03

NZ Art Thief Leaves Evidence Behind - Part Of His Finger "An art thief left behind part of his finger after cutting it off while stealing a $65,000 Frances Hodgkins painting from an Auckland gallery yesterday in what is being called a theft to order. It was the second time in a week and a half that Ferner Galleries in Parnell have been the target of burglars." New Zealand Herald 02/25/03

In Praise Of Good Design "We might think of design as a marriage of form and function. Yet the ratios often shift to produce the absurdity of, say, a Philippe Starck lemon squeezer - great styling, but the juice goes everywhere. Design has a job to do, and now more than ever. We are learning to integrate it into our lives with a greater sophistication and understanding. And the more the consumer responds to the product, the better designed it becomes." London Evening Standard 02/25/03

History Through London's Statuary For hundreds of years Central London was the center of public sculpture. More recently, of course, "many people, including some serious art historians, have thought it’s artistically retrograde and uninteresting." A new book maintains that the statuary tells the history of the city. “What is incredible about the sculpture in the Square Mile is its sheer diversity. It reflects the different roles of the City: the preoccupation with the sea because London was a major world port and the heart of the Empire; journalism, publishing and the media because of Fleet Street; the trades because of all the markets; finance because of the banks and the Stock Market." The Times (UK) 02/25/03

The Decline And Fall Of A Major Artist Twenty-five years ago Graham Sutherland was one of the most-praised artists in Britain. "At that point Sutherland was undeniably top of the heap. So why is the centenary of his birth, which falls this year, being celebrated in such a niggardly fashion? How did this disastrous decline come about? The first answer is that he died at the wrong time. At his death in 1982, at the age of 79, preparations were well advanced for a major retrospective at the Tate. It became his memorial show and was given surprisingly short shrift by most critics. You could see why. It was undeniable that Sutherland had been rather resting on his laurels in his final years..." The Times (UK) 02/25/03

Philadelphia Museum Of Art Expands The Philadelphia Museum of Art is starting construction of phase I of a long-range $200 million expansion which will take 15 years. The first phase expansion, when it opens in 2006, will, in essence, become a new wing of the city's largest museum." The museum hopes its long-term expansion will "boost its attendance from around 800,000 visitors each year to more than 1 million. The museum has raised $171 million of a $200 million capital campaign to pay for the construction, increase its endowment, and expand its programs. It hopes to raise the rest within 18 months." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/25/03

Terrorism Fears Limit Museum Artwork Loans Fears of terrorism are affecting museums' willingness to loan artwork for exhibitions. "Since 9/11, European institutions have become reluctant to lend their prize works of art to New York museums without new assurances of beefed-up security and increased terrorism insurance. For places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the cost of such insurance has escalated so dramatically that it threatens to break budgets just as these institutions are struggling with dwindling sponsorships and cutbacks in public funds." The New York Times 02/25/03

Iraq War Would Imperil Archaeological Treasures Archaeologists worry that a war in Iraq will stop digs across the Middle East. "Researchers with long experience in Iraq say they are worried that postwar looting could cause even more damage to the antiquities than combat. They also fear that some art dealers and collectors might try to take advantage of any postwar disarray and change in government to gain access to more of Iraq's archaeological treasures." The New York Times 02/25/03

• Iraq War = Certain Destruction Of Artifacts Of Human History Iraq is rich in important historical sites and artifacts. "The country is one of the prime centers of Islamic art and culture. It is home to some of the earliest surviving examples of Islamic architecture — the Great Mosque at Samarra and the desert palace of Ukhaidar — and it is also a magnet for religious pilgrimage. The tombs of Imam Ali and his son Husein, founders of the Shiite branch of Islam, at Najaf and Karbala, are two of the most revered in the Muslim world." A war will surely damage some of it. The New York Times 02/25/03

Great Art Without Need Of A Story The Museum of Modern Art's Matisse Picasso show gathers up lots of great paintings. "With sixty-seven mostly top-drawer paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Picasso and sixty-six by Matisse, the show hardly needs a pretext, but it has one: a running dialogue of mutual attractions and abrasions between the twin godheads of modern painting. But to extract the story—an elliptical tale, full of hints, puzzles, and fine discriminations—while looking at so much stupendous art is like trying to check the oil in a speeding truck." The New Yorker 02/24/03

Battle Of WTC Design Criticism A few weeks ago New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp attacked Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site. A number of observers were amazed at the attack and protested. The Times' response? "This past Sunday the Times published an attack on the THINK design [the other design finalist] by New York University Art History Professor Marvin Trachtenberg - and in the space usually reserved for Muschamp, no less. Trachtenberg, in a thinly concealed response to the besieged Times critic, dismissed the THINK design as 'an architectural Frankenstein monster' and went on to praise Libeskind's in glowing terms. '[I]t is in a class by itself in its deeply creative, organic relationship to the specificity of ground zero and its environment and meaning'." The New Republic 02/24/03

Fire Stations Meant To Look Like Something Else "London's fire stations were once splendid buildings. Designed and built to the very highest standards of the Arts and Crafts Movement inspired by John Ruskin and William Morris, they were the work of the London County Council's fire brigade department. The proposed 'community fire station and safety centre' at Canary Wharf is something else. It promises to look like a cross between an office block and a block of flats." Why? That's how public funding in the "new" England works. The Guardian (UK) 02/24/03

New Melbourne Museum A Top Draw Melbourne's new Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square has become one of the world's most popular galleries, says the National Gallery of Victoria director Gerard Vaughan. In its first three months of operation, the museum has attracted 750,000 visitors. "It has to be one of the most visited art museums in the world just now. We can't compete with the world's top group of super galleries, which also includes New York's Metropolitan and the Uffizi in Florence, but we are right up there compared to anywhere else." He said the Pompidou Centre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris receive up to 4000 visitors a day - the Ian Potter Centre was getting about 8000. The Age (Melbourne) 02/24/03

Going Wild Over Van Gogh In Japan It was to be an ordinary auction in Tokyo, until a work for sale was revealed as a forgotten Van Gogh. “The ensuing media frenzy in Japan ensured that the auction in Ginza was mobbed. Over 500 buyers registered and those who couldn’t squeeze into the main auction room had to be seated on another floor, connected to the action by a television screen. When the Van Gogh portrait now known as “Peasant Woman” appeared, bidding was frenzied.” The Art Newspaper 02/21/03

National Gallery Gains A Boticelli London’s National Gallery has a new Boticelli. Well, not new exactly. The museum has reattributed a picture that had previously been attributed to one of the master’s followers. “The picture, 'St Francis with Musical Angels', is extremely unusual for a mid-15th century Florentine painting in its patterned, stamped gold background. The painting was purchased (as a Filippino Lippi) by the the National Gallery's greatest director, Sir Charles Eastlake in 1858 from the Costabili collection.” The Art Newspaper 02/21/03

Libeskind To Win Out At Ground Zero Sources indicate that Daniel Libeskind will shortly be named the winner of the competition to design a replacement for the World Trade Center towers in New York, but some elements of his design will be scrapped in the building process. Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg both favor the Libeskind design, and his "plans have also gained favour with the New York port authority, which owns the World Trade Centre site, and the Lower Manhattan development corporation (LMDC), which is overseeing the rebuilding." The announcement could come as early as this week. The Guardian (UK) 02/22/03

So How Is Anyone Supposed To Know You Exist? "For today's artists there's no shame in being market-savvy. In the post-Warhol era, licensing agreements, movie deals and publicity campaigns are increasingly regarded as legitimate extensions of the art-making process. But one corner of the art world still embraces the ideal of art uncorrupted by commerce. In the field of outsider art, creators who show too much interest in marketing are likely to find their work devalued, if not shunned altogether." The New York Times 02/23/03

MacGregor Toes A Hard Line "The Elgin marbles will never be returned to Greece, even on loan, the director of the British Museum has told The Telegraph. In a ruling which will infuriate the Greek authorities, Neil MacGregor - who took over as director of the museum last August - said that the marbles could 'do most good' in their current home, where they are seen in a broader historical context... Mr MacGregor's decision ends any hopes that the marbles could be loaned to the Greeks for the Athens Olympics next year and will outrage campaigners who hoped that his appointment marked a change in the museum's attitude to ownership of the friezes." The Telegraph (UK) 02/23/03

Wright House, Wrong Time An architecturally significant house in Chicago designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is being threatened. By a baby. The house's owners are about to see their family expand, and have been looking to sell the four-bedroom home so that they can move to a larger place. But so far, only one bid has come close to the asking price, and that was from a man who wants to tear the home down and erect his own newfangled mansion on the property. The owner rejected the offer, and says he wants to preserve the house, but time is running out, and it appears that unless a more preservation-minded buyer comes forward soon, the house could be demolished by this summer. Chicago Tribune 02/23/03

Vivendi To Sell Off Art Holdings "Vivendi Universal has chosen two New York auction houses to sell its modern art and photography collection - valued at about $15 million - this spring as part of an effort to decrease the Paris-based entertainment conglomerate's multibillion-dollar debt. Christie's will offer the modern art holding, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Mark Rothko, at an auction that has yet to be scheduled. Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg will put the collection of photographs on the block April 25-26." Los Angeles Times 02/21/03

The Ax Falls In Detroit "Facing a revenue shortfall and a bleak economy, the Detroit Institute of Arts will eliminate 55 jobs - 13 percent of its 416-member workforce - and close both its satellite mall shops in moves designed to cut costs and restructure operations. The layoffs, which will go into effect in the next two weeks, will result in an immediate saving of $1 million." Detroit Free Press 02/21/03

• Previously: Staff Cuts Coming At Detroit Museum "The Detroit Institute of Arts could announce staff layoffs as early as Thursday as the economic shock waves rippling through Michigan arrive at the doorstep of the state's premier cultural museum... Though the museum - with an annual $40-million budget - reported no deficit for last year and projected none for the ongoing fiscal period, some employees were reminded of the dire cuts in 1991.That was the year state arts funds were eliminated, resulting in 84 layoffs and a reduction of hours." Detroit Free Press 02/19/03

Blake Paintings Fetch Five-Spot A small collection of watercolors by William Blake has fetched £5 million at auction in the UK, the most money ever paid for a work by the British poet and artist. The paintings were commissioned to accompany Robert Blair's poem "The Grave," and while the fact of their existence was known to scholars, they had been missing since 1836. Two Yorkshire dealers discovered the paintings in a Glasgow bookshop last year, and acquired them without telling the bookstore of their significance. A bit of legal wrangling followed, and the upshot is that this week's auction will leave both the dealers and the shop quite a bit richer. BBC 02/19/03

Critics: More Must Be Done To Keep British Art Treasures Home Britain is losing some its important art to foreign buyers, the the current laws only delay export, not keep it permanently in the country. "The objects that have been temporarily kept here, but then exported, invariably through lack of funds, greatly outnumber those that have been saved. Several important pieces of art currently under temporary export ban are expected to end up overseas." BBC 02/20/03

"Brilliant" Art Collection To Be Split Up The Potamkin collection of American art, "one of the best of its kind in private hands," is being split up after the death of Vivian and Meyer "Pat" Potamkin's collection. The collection includes an "estimated several hundred paintings, sculptures, and works on paper" and most will be sold at auction by the couple's heirs. "The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which was widely expected to be the major recipient, gets just a small portion, but it is the choicest and most valuable - eight paintings, one pastel drawing and a sculpture, which are estimated to be worth from $18 million to $22 million." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/20/03

Venice's New Logo - License It And Pay The city of Venice has a new logo, a "rather severe-looking winged lion superimposed over a V. Winged lions, dating to Assyrian times, have been a symbol of Venice for hundreds of years." But the city wants merchants to pay for the logo. "We don't want to raise money just by selling T-shirts. Anyone who now uses Venice for private reasons to make private money, we're asking them to add our logo and pay a fee. This way they will state that they are participating in a worldwide campaign to save Venice — and to preserve its heritage." The New York Times 02/20/03

Staff Cuts Coming At Detroit Museum "The Detroit Institute of Arts could announce staff layoffs as early as Thursday as the economic shock waves rippling through Michigan arrive at the doorstep of the state's premier cultural museum... Though the museum - with an annual $40-million budget - reported no deficit for last year and projected none for the ongoing fiscal period, some employees were reminded of the dire cuts in 1991.That was the year state arts funds were eliminated, resulting in 84 layoffs and a reduction of hours." Detroit Free Press 02/19/03

Paris Museums Moving Art Paris museums have begun moving about 100,000 works of art from underground storage rooms. "The decision to move this art to an undisclosed location north of Paris followed the floods that swept Central Europe last summer, damaging museums and other cultural institutions, notably in Dresden, Germany, and in Prague. Although French art collections were not seriously affected by the 1910 floods, the French government concluded that Paris museums were more vulnerable today." The New York Times 02/19/03

Art Auctions - Waiting For The Law Of Diminishing Returns This season's art auction sales held up. But there are ominous signs. "The law of diminishing returns suggests we are coming to the end of the back-toback, buy-to-sell cycle. The best of the "turning" and profit-taking has gone, and the contemporary collectors have stocked up on the prizes they missed first time round. This does not produce the growth the market needs. Not only are we looking for a new generation of artists, we're desperate for a new wave of collectors." London Evening Standard 02/18/03

Using Satellites To Catch Graffiti Taggers A company in Southern California has developed a system of satellites and high-tech sensors to catch graffiti taggers. "TaggerTrap, a graffiti eradication system being tested in several California cities, uses global positioning system technology, cell phones and sensors that recognize the ultrasonic pitch of spray cans to alert police when vandals begin their work." Village Voice (Reuters) 02/18/03

End Of The Line For Detroit's MONA? Detroit's Museum of New Art (MONA) has never had an easy road to follow. The very definition of a grassroots arts organization, MONA was founded in an abandoned suburban storefront in 1996, and moved to downtown Detroit in 2001. But the museum has had its share of recent turmoil at the top, and now, it faces eviction from its home in Detroit's Book Building, amid bizarre charges of vandalism from the landlord, and accusations of mismanagement from several resigned directors. Detroit News 02/15/03

The Secret Behind Van Dyck The Van Dyck painting that hung in Scotland's National Gallery for more than 100 years, was keeping a secret. "After a year of restoration and investigation, staff at the Edinburgh gallery have been able to shed light on a work Van Dyck wanted no one to see. Underneath the canvas of St Sebastian Bound for Martyrdom is a previous work, also of St Sebastian and almost an exact copy of a Van Dyck that hangs in the Louvre." The Guardian (UK) 02/18/03

Subjecting Leonardo To Science Dspite the small number of Leonardo da Vinci paintings there, they have never been studied with modern scientific instruments. So "the Universal Leonardo Project is being set up to coordinate the first scientific examination of all the artist’s paintings. Scholars are still unable to agree on which paintings should be attributed to Leonardo, with the number accepted by individual specialists varying from one dozen to two dozen. 'Even the Mona Lisa has not been subjected to a sustained technical examination'.” The Art Newspaper 02/14/03

Looted Art Sale The family of Eugene Gutman has recently recovered 233 works of art worth about £2 million .from the Dutch government, and will sell 90 of them at auction. The art was looted by the Nazis 60 years ago, and includes silver, Old Master paintings, furniture and other antiques. The sale will be one of the biggest of war-looted art ever. The Telegraph (UK) 02/17/03

Storage Problem: Dresden's Museums Are Angry "Six months after the dramatic rescue of Dresden's art treasures from incalculable flood damage, the mood in this city's leading museums is sour. Heralded for their heroic salvage effort, museum administrators and curators are now complaining that Saxony's regional government has refused to provide them with a safe place to store their art." The New York Times 02/17/03

Contemporary Art Is Art Market's Big Winner With tough economic times, what art is selling? Surprise - contemporary art is hottest. "The Zurich-Art Market Research Art and Antiques Index reveals that contemporary art has been by far the best performer, with prices for a sample group of artists increasing by 126 per cent since 1995 and by 26 per cent during the past year." The Telegraph (UK) 02/17/03

Important Mies Home For Sale The state of Illinois has declined to purchase a house designed by Mies van der Rohe that changed the way people looked at architecture a half-century ago. Now the house is up for sale. "Designed by Mies as a weekend retreat for the late Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a Chicago
nephrologist, the house is one of the finest realizations of Mies' philosophy that less is more - a one-story structure, raised on white piers that frame a single room sheathed almost entirely in glass. The proportions are exquisite and, as Mies' biographer Franz Schulze has written, the house recalls a Greek temple, standing in perfect, manmade counterpoint to its wooded natural setting." Chicago Tribune 02/16/03

From The People Who Brought You Crappy Radio The explosion of 'blockbuster' museum exhibits designed to draw in thousands upon thousands of art lovers has been well-documented. But what you may not know is that, more often than ever, the museum experience is little more than a bought-and-paid-for package distributed to your local gallery by giant for-profit corporations like the omnipresent Clear Channel. "Just as it changed Broadway theater roadshows and the concert business, so Clear Channel is changing the economics -- some would say the soul -- of a museum culture that traditionally has built its own shows or borrowed them from peers. It's making some institutions look too much like theaters for hire. And it's a trend that has many old-line museum people worried." Chicago Tribune 02/16/03

Melbourne May Lose Fair The 15-year-old Melbourne Art Fair, one of Australia's largest and most successful showcases of contemporary art, is in danger of being cancelled due to lack of funds. The problem is partly one of perception: the fair's wild success over the past decade is seen as proof by many that it no longer requires public funding, but the truth is that the fair's budget is quite tight, and disruptions to regular revenue streams could prove deadly. Such a disruption is currently underway in the form of an impasse on the city council, which has chosen not to make its usual contribution to the event. The Age (Melbourne) 02/17/03

Decision Time At Ground Zero "The time has come to make a fateful choice about the future of the devastated place in Lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center towers used to stand." So says Benjamin Forgey, in making his official endorsement of Daniel Libeskind's haunting yet elegant proposal. The New York authorities won't issue their final decision for a few weeks yet, but Forgey says that while both finalists have created worthy (if flawed) designs, the Libeskind proposal "opens a path. It foresees meaningful public spaces shaped by moving architecture." Washington Post 02/15/03

Cutbacks Cut Museum Hours To Five Hours/Month Museums everywhere are facing funding crunches. But none so bad perhaps, as Copenhagen's Royal Cast Museum, which holds "the world's second-largest collection of plaster casts, and a rich selection of works representing the past 3300 years of art history from ancient Egypt to the 19th century." The Royal Cast's problem is not how to get more visitors, but how to keep them away - funding cuts have shrunk the museum's hours to five a month - the "last Wednesday of every month between the hours of 10.00-15.00." Copenhagen Post 02/14/03

The Art Of Dating "Art museums across the country are beginning to realize that they are the hip new version of a lonely hearts club. Scrambling to fill the role they didn't know they had, they are increasingly open at night and making space for dining and dancing. In Seattle, all of the area's major museums are open till at least 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and nearly all are trying to enlarge their piece of the seeking-soul-mates market." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 02/14/03

Did Courtauld Take Cash For Paintings? That's The Charge The Getty Museum in LA gave London's Courtauld Institute $10 million towards its endowment. Then the Getty "asked the institute to lend it some of its world-class collection of old masters, Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings and sculptures." Some of the paintings are covered by a bequest that prohibits lending them outside of London, so the Courtauld applied to change the bequest. "The request has upset many leaders of the London art world." Some charghe that "the Courtauld was accepting cash for paintings. 'There has to be a connection between the two things'." The New York Times 02/14/03

Officials Order Islamic-Themed Art Removed Officials in the English town of Walsall have ordered two artworks that reference Islamic themes to be removed from an exhibition. "The digitally manipulated images show a veiled Statue of Liberty clutching the Koran and the Houses of Parliament converted into a mosque. The authority issued a statement saying that, during a period of "heightened sensitivity", and following the events of September 11, the artworks could be viewed as "reinforcing controversy, fear and prejudice".
BBC 02/13/03

Sotheby's/Christie's Class Action Settlement Deadline Approaching Believe you might be owed money from the settlement of the $512 million settlement of the Christie's/Sotheby's price-fixing suit? Time's running out to get in on the settlement... Chicago Clearing 02/13/03

Barnes Collection Future Begins In Court Legal wrangling over the future of the Barnes Collection outside Philadelphia has begun. The foundation is trying to move to Philadelphia, but is being challenged by Lincoln University, which currently appoints board members to oversee the Barnes. The university wants to keep control of the board, and objects to the move. Tuesday a judge granted Lincoln full status in the case, denying the same to other parties that have interests in the Barnes. The Barnes says it will go bankrupt if it is not allowed to move. Philadelphia Inquirer 02/13/03

The First Titian Show In 400 Years (In Britain) Titian was one of the great painters of the Renaissance. The great biographer Vasari concluded that "Titian had invented a new form of art 'made up of bold strokes and blobs, beautiful and astonishing because it makes paintings seem alive." Every painter that has followed him has been influenced by his work in some way. So why, in 400 year, has there never been a British exhibition of his work? Now London's National Gallery has managed to beg and borrow more than 40 of Titian's finest paintings for an exhibition of his work. The Telegraph (UK) 02/13/03

Hot Pictures - Photography makes Its Move Photography is not only what Richard Woodward of the New York Times last year called the 'New New Thing in the art market,' but it is also, says Peter Galassi, chief photography curator at the Museum of Modern Art, 'the medium of the moment.' Despite a slowing economy, auctions continue to see record prices for classic blue-chip images." ArtNews 02/03

Miami Cops Sting Art Thieves A Renoir and a Monet stolen from a Florida mansion in December have been recovered by Miami police. The police used their acting talents as much as their investigative skills to recover the art. "A Miami-Dade officer posed as a seedy high-roller with a penchant for gold jewelry. A private investigator, hired by an insurance company, adopted the role of an Eastern European businessman with a professorial air and an appetite for boosted art treasures. Another Miami-Dade officer posed as a chauffeur-body guard to the artistic impersonator, driving him to the decidedly unswanky Hialeah hotel in a pricey Lincoln..." And the sting was on... Miami Herald 02/12/03

Hamilton Gets Tanenbaum Collection "Real-estate and steel magnate Joey Tanenbaum and his wife Toby have announced an immense donation of 211 European 19th-century works to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, a gift that will make the Southern Ontario city a destination for scholars of the period." The collection is valued at as much as CAN$90 million, and includes works by Gustave Doré, Jean Léon Gérôme, and Eugene Carrière. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/12/03

Phillips Collection To Expand Washington's Phillips Collection is expanding. "The Phillips has bought an adjoining four-story, 15-unit apartment house on 21st Street NW fashioned in the early 20th century out of two town houses. The museum will keep that building's cream-colored facade while gutting the interior. The museum bought the apartment house for $1.4 million two years ago, and it has budgeted $20 million for the expansion, a figure that museum officials expect to rise." The New York Times 02/12/03

2002's Most Popular Museum Shows What were the most popular art exhibitions of 2002? The Art Newspaper does its annual survey. This year "Van Gogh and Gauguin" was the top show on both sides of the Atlantic. At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam the show drew almost 7000 visitors a day - for a total of 739,117. The Art Newspaper ([pdf file] 02/07/03

Fixing The 70s...What To Do With Those Ugly Buildings? What to do with all those ugly (usually) concrete buildings of the 1960s and 70s? "Demolition is cathartic and the idea of a blank piece of paper seductive. But though developers can make a profit tearing down 1960s office buildings, elsewhere comprehensive redevelopment has proved hellishly expensive. That sort of money is never going to be available for the arts, though," so how to make arts buildings of that period work? The Telegraph (UK) 02/12/03

Melbourne Museum Proposes Free Admission The Melbourne Museum is asking the state government to eliminate the museum's admission fee. "The museum raises $10 million a year from admission fees but visitor numbers have consistently fallen below expectations. The museum faces a $6 million deficit by June 2004, if nothing is done, despite a management shake-up in December when three senior executives lost their jobs." Museum officials believe if the museum is free it will attract more visitors and customers to the cafes and gift shops. The Age (Melbourne) 02/12/02

Chicago Art Institute Shrinks Plans The Chicago Art Institute is shrinking its plans for an addition designed by Renzo Piano. "When museum officials announced plans for the wing in 2001, they envisioned a five-level structure of about 290,000 square feet, with 75,000 square feet of galleries. But the latest plans, approved Monday, foresee a slimmed-down structure of 220,000 square feet, with 60,000 square feet of galleries. Museum officials said they have raised $100 million. The project's construction cost is now placed at $198 million." Chicago Tribune 02/11/03

4000-Year-Old Body Giving Up Clues To Stonehenge A man buried near Stonehenge 4000 years ago is giving a number of clues about the monument. "The first scientific results, from a burial already regarded as astonishing, are bewildering archaeologists but give clues which could solve the continuing mystery, despite innumerable theories and experiments, of how Stonehenge's four-tonne bluestones were transported 240 miles from Preseli in the Welsh mountains." The Guardian (UK) 02/11/03

Picasso And Matisse Come To Queens... This week's opening of the Museum of Modern Arts' blockbuster Picasso/Matisse show has people wondering how MoMA's temporary home in Queens will show itself. The blocks around the museum have been cleaned up, and the museum is anticipating large crowds. “Seeing fine art changes the way you look at the world. I hope that seeing the show here changes the way hundreds of thousands of people look at Queens.” New York Magazine 02/10/03

Reports Of My Death Are... Why do critics so often rush to declare the "death" of painting? "The supposed death of painting springs in part from another misbegotten belief that each new art movement or technology renders earlier ones obsolete, that it is impossible to go backward once something has gone forward. Among the many holes in this theory is its simple defiance of history. The arts long have been cyclical, not just a forward unbroken continuum, and artists frequently look to the past for inspiration and reinvigoration." Denver Post 02/09/03

Tycoon Gives Hamilton Museum $50 Million Art Collection Toronto tycoon Joey Tanenbaum is donating $50 million worth of 19th Century European art to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. "Tanenbaum, a contrarian investor in art as in business, has amassed a flamboyant collection that probes some of the more eccentric corners of art production in that period. Since the 1980s, the pendulum has swung in art scholarship of the period, with interest turning from the well-known work of the Impressionists to the works of French academic and salon painters such as Jean Léon Gérôme and William Bouguereau, as well as Symbolists Odilon Redon and Gustave Doré, and the marketplace has followed suit." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/10/03

Manchester And Liverpool Pull Ahead On Museum Spending After a decade of big spending on museum spending in London, last year the northwest pulled ahead. "Manchester and Liverpool profited to the tune of £100m with the money spent on two new culture palaces, one extension and one revamp, in a year when just £33.7m was spent on new or updated buildings in the capital." The Guardian (UK) 02/08/03

Painting Lost In Crash Of Space Shuttle "One of the treasured objects lost in the Columbia space shuttle disaster was a painting of the Earth as it might look from the moon, created 61 years ago by a Jewish teenager in a Nazi concentration camp." Los Angeles Times 02/09/03

A Rebirth Of Roman Architecture Rome is so full of classic architecture, modern Romans have mostly shrugged their shoulders and said - can't top that. "So it may be a surprise to learn that Rome is regaining its creative momentum. Over the past several years, the city has seen the launch of a series of major building projects designed to update its cultural profile. The first of these, a $157-million complex of three concert halls by celebrated Italian architect Renzo Piano, was unveiled in December. Two major civic projects by American Modernist Richard Meier are under construction." Los Angeles Times 02/09/03

Compromises On The Way To A Design For Lower Manhattan These are serious architects vying to design a replacement for the World Trade Center. "But the selection also underscores the degree to which commercial considerations and political maneuverings will determine what the final master plan will look like. What the Libeskind and Think designs share, to different degrees, is an ability to bend to the political needs of the various interests that control the site's future, in particular downtown's commercial power brokers. And in that sense, the designs say less about our collective ideals than about the limits of the democratic process when it comes to building in New York." Los Angeles Times 02/10/03

• WTC - Questions Of Design/Process "In light of the emerging power struggle that will determine how much of the grand designs for ground zero get built, any effort to assess the finalists may come off like an exercise in aesthetic hairsplitting. But as the redevelopment officials who sponsored the competition vie with real estate developers and others who remain intent on overstuffing the 16-acre site with commercial space, such an analysis becomes essential, if only because it reminds us what this exercise is all about." Chicago Tribune 02/09/03

Spanish Government Refuses to Talk About Painting Looted By Nazis An American citizen claims that a Pissarro painting in a Spanish museum was stolen from his family by the Nazis. "But despite a persistent claim to the Pissarro painting, the Spanish authorities say that the museum is the legal owner and that any claim should be made in the courts, a response that has drawn criticism from American lawyers familiar with the claim. 'The reaction of the Spanish government is quite astonishing. Why should a government that already has a law relating to the return of Holocaust property refuse to have a discussion on the issue'?" The New York Times 02/10/03

Double Down - Curators Play Cards To Get Art To convince collectors of important Picasso and Matisse art to loan their work for a show, curators started playing cards with them. "The object of the game? To create sparks for a three-city show in which the two artists would face off on the gallery walls. Collectors got to shuffle the deck, juxtaposing the cards in various ways. But the game always ended the same way: the collectors were asked to part with their card, their art, for a year. It worked." The New York Times 02/09/03

Cleveland Museum's $225 Million Addition Even when you're spending $225 million for an "extension" of a museum, there are trade-offs. Will the Cleveland Museum get its money's worth? "For me, the answer at this point is a resounding yes. Rafael Vinoly's design, which would cost $225 million to build, is undergirded by a precise, diamond- hard logic that mar ries dramatic physical changes with a new vi sion about the muse um's potential. The key is whether Vinoly can follow through with details big and small that will make all the difference in the final product. This is no minor question."
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 02/09/03

Architects Buzzing Over Muschamp's Flip-Flop On Libeskind Last December New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp wrote of Daniel Libeskind's plan for the World Trade Center site that "If you are looking for the marvelous, here's where you will find it. Daniel Libeskind's project attains a perfect balance between aggression and desire. It will provoke many viewers to exclaim that yes, this design is actually better than what was there before." Then this past Friday he wrote that "It [Libeskind's idea] is an astonishingly tasteless idea. It has produced a predictably kitsch result." Architectrue watchers are wondering what happened, and some are angry... Archlog 02/07/03

• A Poll On The Finalists Says... So which of the two competing finalists to design a replacement for the World Trade Center do people like? Hmmmmn...one poll says neither (by a wide margin). NY1 02/09/03

Painting Confirmed As Van Gogh Sells For $500,000 A painting thought to be anonymous, but revealed to have been by Van Gogh has sold for $500,000. A Japanese auction company was "planning to auction off the small portrait of a peasant woman for between 10,000 and 20,000 yen ($83 to $167) after struggling to establish the identity of the artist. But a last-minute fax from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam confirmed that the picture was an early work by the Dutch impressionist master." BBC 02/08/03

Curry Kicker Cancels Project A British performance artist was paid £12,000 to kick a carton of curry through the middle of the town of Bedford. But the event was canceled today for "fear of too much interest" and large crowds. The proposed stunt got a lot of publicity this week after controversy when some declared the idea a "waste of taxpayers money." The concept behind the take-away box performance was "to highlight rowdy Saturday night behaviour" and "destabilise and question this revelry by kicking a take away curry and carton from one end of the High Street to the other." BBC 02/09/03

Artist Mails Himself To Tate An unemployed actor had himself sealed up in a box and mailed to the Tate Museum. He said he had "turned himself into living art to explore the way that artists are seen as objects." A number of people from the Tate came out and applauded as the box was opened. The Times (UK) 02/07/03

Art Thief Sentenced To Four Years The French waiter who stole millions of dollars worth of art over six years has been sentenced to four years in prison for the thefts by a Swiss court. Why did he take the art? "He believed he was one of the very few people sensitive enough to appreciate the true beauty of works of art." BBC 02/07/03

Who Gets To Decide The WTC Job The competition between the two remaining design proposals for the World Trade Center site is also a contest between who gets to decide the shape of the project. "Two views of what comes next are now contending, pitting Roland W. Betts, a director of the development corporation with strong personal ties to the White House, against Charles A. Gargano, the state's top economic development official, some Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executives, developers and others." The New York Times 02/07/03

Instant Messaging - Why UN Covered Its Guernica Reproduction? So the UN covered up Guernica this week. Was it sensitive to the message? "The continuing sensitivity to Guernica exemplified by the U.N. cover-up may remind us that modern art is poor in images glorifying just military action, though rich in images of the horrors and injustices of war. Further back in history, of course, there are numerous celebrations of the triumph of righteous might." Slate 02/06/03

The "Third Rail" Of Art History? After Lawrence Weschler wrote about David Hockney's theory about how Old Master painters might have used optical devices as aids in their work, he got an avalanche of protests. "I write about all sorts of things–hell, I write about relations between Jews and Poles, for God’s sake – so I’m used to getting letters. But I’d never found myself on the receiving end of anything like this. It turns out that the question of technical assistance may be the Third Rail of popular art history. Most people, it seems, prefer to envision their artistic heroes as superhuman draftsmen, capable of rendering ravishingly accurate anatomies or landscapes or townscapes through sheer inborn or God-given talent." ArtKrush 12/02

Matisse Book Stolen From Greek Museum A rare book featuring illustrations by Matisse has been stolen from a Greek museum. "The book's cover was left behind and replaced with an art magazine that contained images of the French master. Because of its identifying number and missing cover, the stolen material would be difficult to sell at auction." New Jersey Online (AP) 02/05/03

Evaluating The WTC Finalists Critic Herbert Muschamp writes that the choices are clear. "Daniel Libeskind's project for the World Trade Center site is a startlingly aggressive tour de force, a war memorial to a looming conflict that has scarcely begun. The Think team's proposal, on the other hand, offers an image of peacetime aspirations so idealistic as to seem nearly unrealizable.Compared with Think's proposal, Mr. Libeskind's design looks stunted. Had the competition been intended to capture the fractured state of shock felt soon after 9/11, this plan would probably deserve first place. But why, after all, should a large piece of Manhattan be permanently dedicated to an artistic representation of enemy assault? It is an astonishingly tasteless idea. It has produced a predictably kitsch result." The New York Times 02/06/03

• WTC Choices On Target There seems to be general satisfaction with the choice of finalists for the World Trade Center site. "The process of deciding what will replace the destroyed World Trade Center has produced a unique cultural moment. In previous years, when there has been a major cultural issue playing itself out in public, people largely rallied to make clear what they didn't want. The debate about the World Trade Center site has turned all that on its head. Not surprisingly, there is an unprecedented level of public engagement with and emotional investment in this project. And that involvement has driven the project forward but led it to embrace the most 'cutting edge' designs - Mr. Libeskind's and THINK's." OpinionJournal.com 02/06/03

• Made To Order (But Whose Orders?) A good building is the result not just of a good architect, but a good client. The two finalists for the WTC site have interesting proposals, but whether or not either one is able to actually build what they propose over the next decade will be complicated by just exactly who the client is - and there are competing jurisdictions... New York Observer 02/05/03

Cleveland Museum To Get Big Upgrade The Cleveland Museum of Art will unveil a major expansion plan this week, as designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, whose proposal "calls for demolishing nearly half of the museum's existing complex before rebuilding and expanding the museum's "footprint" and gallery space." The renovation will cost $225 million and is scheduled to be completed in 2008. But the museum will have to delay the project if it cannot raise at least half of the money by the end of next year. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 02/05/03

And Then There Were Two Two finalists have been named in the competition to determine what will be done with the space known as Ground Zero. Architect Daniel Libeskind, whose proposal includes much use of concrete and preservation of the Ground Zero site as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, is one finalist. The other final slot goes to the THINK Team, headed by Rafael Viñoly, which proposes to construct an elaborate complex of glass and steel, dominated by two transparent latticework towers where the original Twin Towers once stood. The winning design will be announced by the end of the month. The New York Times 02/05/03

Time To Move On - Is London Stuck On Its Past Glories? "Emerging from London art schools, the BritArtists brought glamour, hype and excitement to the capital and revitalised its arts scene in the 1990s. But now London has become a victim of its own success. In cities that have witnessed less global attention for their artists, such as Los Angeles or Berlin, there are thriving scenes, and new movements emerge every couple of years. London, however, has remained stagnant, while commercial galleries trawl through the dregs of Goldsmiths' Class of 1990 for the one-that-got-away and focus is diverted from what's really new." London Evening Standard 02/04/03

Waiter/Art Thief Faces Prison For Art Theft Spree A waiter who stole paintings worth tens of millions of dollars over a six-year period, faces a ten-year prison term. "Stéphane Breitwieser targeted mostly small museums in France and Switzerland, but he has admitted to dipping into collections in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Austria.Among the vandalised canvasses were works by Antoine Watteau and Peter Bruegel. About 110 objects, valued at more than £6m, have been recovered including glassware, china, and musical instruments. But up to 60 paintings have not been found, and investigators fear they were destroyed" by the man's mother. The Guardian (UK) 02/05/03

Getty Passes On Masterpiece For years the J Paul Getty Museum in LA has been able to buy whatever art it wanted - and has. But at the recent Old Master auctions in December the Getty failed to even bid on an important work that would have been a natural for its collection. "The decision of the world’s richest museum not to even bid on one of the last great narrative pictures of the Renaissance (one arguably of even greater rarity and importance than the $50 million Northumberland Raphael) is incomprehensible." The Art Newspaper 02/1/03

UN Covers Up "Guernica" Reproduction The United Nations has covered up a reproduction of Picasso's "Guernica" that has hung outside the UN Security Council since 1985. "U.N. officials said last week that it is more appropriate for dignitaries to be photographed in front of the blue backdrop and some flags than the impressionist image of shattered villagers and livestock. 'It's only temporary. We're only doing this until the cameras leave'." Washington Times 02/04/03

Model Attraction - This Year's Best NY Art Show This week, the competition for designs for the World Trade Center site is expected to be narrowed to two finalists. Regardless of which plans make the cut, the models of the proposed plans has been the hit art event of the season in New York. "Some days, the place gets so jammed—with people chattering in every language from Japanese to Italian—you have to rubberneck to get a decent glimpse. The models are like magical toys, some with moving parts and lights, others with stunning video displays providing a virtual-reality trip into the future." Newsweek 02/10/03

Into Every "Painter Of Light" A Little Darkness Must Fall Thomas Kinkade, the self-styled "Painter of Light" was a phenomenon, selling millions of dollars worth of sentimental paintings out of mall-front stores. But lately business has been bad, and Kinkade dealers are furious. "The dealers have their own ideas about why sales have slowed: Media Arts has been flooding the market with cheap reproductions of the same art for which they're forced to charge top dollar. Although dealers are prohibited by contract from discounting the paintings by even a dime, Kinkades have been showing up at national discount chains, puncturing the carefully wrought myth that they are collectibles with a generous scarcity premium." Los Angeles Times 02/03/03

Phillips Auction House Sold - Will Downsize Phillips' forray into the high-end art auction business has come to an end. French billionaire Phillipe Arnault has sold his stake in the company, and it is laying off workers and downsizing. Arnault bought Phillips in 1999 and "spent tens of millions of pounds on guaranteeing money to vendors, regardless of how their works of art performed in the saleroom, in an attempt to raise the company's profile and win market share from rivals." The Telegraph (UK) 01/29/03

• The Downfall Of Phillips - So Unnecessary Phillips was founded in 1796, and did fine until four years ago when the push to compete with Sotheby's and Christie's turned serious. "Phillips, which was supposed to become a major force in the art market, is left with just half a dozen departments and some 85 employees. This journey to disaster started out sensibly enough. Arnault's LVMH group has made a fortune from marketing scent, champagne and suitcases and Arnault believed that selling art would be no different..." The Telegraph (UK) 02/03/03

Feminist Art - Three Decades Later "How does feminist art of the 1970s hold up? Does it seem historically significant or merely transiently faddish?" Feminist artists' "demands for parity, for an end to being patronized, and for acknowledgment that art should accommodate a distinctly female consciousness made headlines at the time." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/02/03

Get The Picture? Supersize It! "Like S.U.V.'s and television screens, photographs throughout the 90's swelled to almost irrational dimensions. As technology allowed huge color prints to be processed with ease and buyers paid top prices for them, big became the norm. Younger photographers and students, when asking themselves how large an image should be, often opted for the McDonald's answer: supersize it." The New York Times 02/01/03

Robert Hughes Recalls His Afternoon With Albert Speer "Who was Roosevelt's architect? Nobody we can remember. Stalin's? No one cares. Churchill's? Silly question. But there is no doubt who Hitler's architect was: Albert Speer. Almost nothing of his buildings survives, either because they were not built or because they were demolished after 1945. Modern art has never had much political power, but modern architecture is a different matter. Architecture is the only art that moulds the world directly. Of all the arts, it is the supreme expression of politics and ideology. It marshals resources and organises substance in a way that music, painting and literature cannot. It is an art that lives from power." The Guardian (UK) 02/01/03

The V&A - A Prayer Not To Screw It Up As the Victoria & Albert Museum prepares to redo its Medieval and Renaissance galleries, one critic hopes planners don't botch the job like they did the new British galleries a few years ago. "If the faults of the British galleries were caused through inadvertence (by mistake, a remarkable bust is shown looking into a corner) that would be bad enough. But most of these faults are faults of policy: the downgrading of the individual object - whether in the fine or the decorative arts - is a matter of policy. It must have been, to be so systematic. So let's hope the policy has already had its day." The Guardian (UK) 02/01/03

Ousting Your Museum Director When You're Building A New Home - A Good Idea? Newfoundland is building a huge new cultural complex in St. John's that eventually will house the archives, museum and art gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador. But in a strange move, the province has ousted the "well-regarded" director of the museum who's had the job 20 years. She was told she could reapply for her job when a national search got underway, but in the meantime the government appointed the provincial archivist to run the place. "The institution has no real Crown corporation or arms-length status, and its day-to-day administration is being handled by someone without experience in the visual arts..." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/01/03