More Drama At The Riopelle Estate "A Montreal auctioneer reached an out-of-court settlement yesterday with the estate of legendary Quebec painter Jean-Paul Riopelle after the auctioneer had sued to recover costs associated with an aborted sale of the late artist's work. Iégor de Saint-Hippolyte had been hired last fall by Huguette Vachon, Riopelle's widow and primary executor of his estate, to host a sale of about 50 works by the artist who died in 2002. The sale, scheduled for mid-November last year, was opposed by two of Riopelle's daughters who obtained an injunction against it. Total presale value of the paintings and sculpture was estimated at $13-million." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/30/04

• Previously: Legacy And Profit: The Riopelle Battle "Jean-Paul Riopelle's three children fear some of their father's key works of art will be sold at the same fire-sale prices that purchased his beloved vintage cars... Yseult, Sylvie and Yann, the three children of the noted abstract artist, are asking the [Quebec Superior Court] for an injunction to stop what they describe as an unnecessary, amateurish auction. They say if so many Riopelles are sold at once on short notice, the value of Riopelle's art will diminish." Montreal Gazette 11/11/03

Too Secure For Its Own Good When Toronto artist John Coburn prepared to ship a half-dozen of his paintings to London for an important exhibition, he took no chances. Coburn carefully sealed the paintings in a plywood crate, and sent them via a globally respected courier. The crate arrived in London in plenty of time, at which point the Brits realized that they had no idea how to open the damn thing. "The screws used to fasten the crate were Robertson square drives -- a circular screw with a recessed square made to receive a matching hand driver. Quite common in Canada, the make is all but unheard of across the pond." Informed of the problem, Coburn had just enough time to pocket the correct screwdriver before leaving Canada. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/30/04

Barnes Can't Move Yet "The Barnes Foundation has not yet proved that it needs to move its multibillion-dollar art gallery from Lower Merion to Center City, a judge ruled yesterday, delaying his final decision until the foundation provided more evidence." The judge also criticized both sides in the case for a lack of hard numbers to back up their arguments. The Barnes needs the court's permission to move, since the will of its founder stipulates that the collection must remain in Lower Merion. The plan to move to Philadelphia has been quite controversial, but has the support of multiple area foundations. Philadelphia Inquirer 01/30/04

• Scolding From The Bench In addition to delaying his ruling on the Barnes move, Judge Stanley Ott yesterday issued a blistering critique of the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, accusing the state's counsel of being little more than a cheerleader for the Barnes proposal, and "[preventing] the court from seeing a balanced, objective presentation of the situation." According to the judge, the attorney general's duty is to assess the situation objectively, and be sure that all the numbers add up in a demonstrable way. Instead, said Judge Ott, "it was left to the court to raise questions relating to the finances of the proposed move and the plan's financial viability." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/30/04

• Is The Barnes Move Dead? Tyler Green sees some important subtext in Judge Ott's decision to delay ruling on the Barnes move. "In a backhanded way he acknowledged that the Barnes' management has underwhelmed him. If they couldn't do the right and obvious thing the first time, does Ott really think they'll get it right now? Ott chose not to simply rule against the Barnes, but I wonder if (instead) Ott is giving the Barnes leadership the rope with which to hang itself..." Modern Art Notes (AJ Blogs) 01/30/04

Location, Location, Loca... Wait, Weren't We Just Here? New York being the trendy city that it is, it can be all a gallery owner can do to stay on the cutting edge of such important matters as what neighborhood your business needs to be in in order to attract your better customers. Of late, the hot gallery location has been the West Chelsea neighborhood, but now, there appears to be a retro movement afoot, with several prominent art dealers moving their galleries back to the old "traditional" art neighborhoods of Midtown and the Upper East Side. The New York Times 01/28/04

As Opposed To All Those Unimportant Representations Of Griffins "An antiquities dealer with offices in New York and Geneva has been arrested for illegally importing an Iranian object, described as 'the most important representation of a griffin in antiquity,' and facilitating its sale to a private collector. The dealer, Hicham Aboutaam, a principal in Phoenix Ancient Art, S.A., was arrested on 13 December, following an investigation by the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The antiquity is alleged to have been part of the plundered Iranian Western Cave Treasure, much of which, the government says, is said to have been looted and dispersed since 1992 around the world." The Art Newspaper 01/29/04

Gehry Comes Home Frank Gehry grew up in the same Toronto neighborhood which houses the Art Gallery of Ontario, and this week, he returned home to present the AGO with his plans for the museum's latest expansion. "Mr. Gehry's design includes a frontal promenade covered by a tilted 60-foot-high glass window the length of two football fields. There will be multistory light blue titanium walls intended to fade into the sky and turn gold on cloudy days. A grand glass roof will cover the museum's central Walker Court. And a giant winged spiral staircase made of Douglas fir will double as a piece of interior sculpture that soars into the court's glass ceiling." The New York Times 01/29/04

• Subtle, But Sincere, Just Like Us Martin Knelman sees a great deal of Frank Gehry's own past, as well as Toronto's cultural progression, in the AGO design. "Rather than showing off, it makes connections, weaving together threads of its own past, its roots in an eccentric neighbourhood, and the ambitions symbolized by its increasingly impressive art collection. Like Toronto itself, Gehry's AGO refuses to call attention to itself. Rather it whispers and entices, draws you in, and reveals its secrets only to those willing to explore hidden pathways. It's the perfect articulation for a city whose essence is not skyscrapers but almost invisible ravines that tourists often fail to notice." Toronto Star 01/29/04

• $195 Million May Not Be Enough To Let Gehry Be Gehry To Lisa Rochon, the new AGO design looks as if someone told Frank Gehry that he needed to tone down his act a bit. The 600-foot canopy lacks the swoop and sense of motion we've come to associate with Gehry, and "his deft meshing of volumes is nowhere to be found in the big, hulking box that rises 140 feet... at the southern back of the gallery." Many of the design's limitations seem to have been budget-driven, but Rochon is buoyed by Gehry's declaration that the design is still, at some level, a work in progress. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/29/04

Attendance Down In Chicago "Blaming 'the economy and the Xbox,' officials said Wednesday that more than half of Chicago's biggest museums suffered attendance drops last year, with the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry down by double digits." Some museums which saw increases in attendance could trace the surge to one or more 'blockbuster' exhibitions it put on in the last year. Most museum officials seem to agree that the central problem for arts organizations is that people are given so many entertainment choices today that no one organization can count on luring in huge numbers of patrons. Chicago Sun-Times 01/29/04

For When Your Art Has Be There Right Now An East London gallery is soliciting art from graphic artists, designers, and filmmakers for a new exhibition. Anyone who responds to the request will likely have his/her work displayed, but only if the art is sent, as requested, by e-mail or CD. Not surprisingly, a computer company is sponsoring the project, and recently installed thousands of dollars of printers, projectors, and other equipment there. "When a piece of art is received, via e-mail or on a CD, it is printed out on huge machines, mounted, then hung on the wall for all to enjoy." BBC 01/28/04

Saving The Whitney, Holistically When Adam Weinberg was announced as the new head of the Whitney Museum of American Art, observers could only wonder at the task ahead of the soft-spoken man who had just accepted the top job at one of the world's most tumultuous museums. "After more than a decade of crises and turmoil... the Whitney has entered what Mr. Weinberg said was a 'period of healing.' And while he said he did not want to appear to be a 'New Age director,' curators say his two favorite words are holistic and synergy." Still, Weinberg can't play Mr. Nice Guy forever, and most expect that some major personnel changes are in the offing. The New York Times 01/29/04

• The Whitney Biennial: Now With Sunshine! "When the 2004 Biennial opens this spring, the often controversial survey of contemporary art will extend well beyond the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art. There will be art from one end of Central Park to the other, including grotesque sculptures of werewolf heads, a ferocious life-size tiger, a bronze bust of Michael Jackson and a 50-foot-tall inflatable pink rubber ketchup bottle topped with a snowmanlike head." The New York Times 01/29/04

Please Hand Cancel This Art The Post Office is generally not considered a federal agency to be trifled with. But Chicago artists Michael Thompson and Michael Hernandez de Luna just couldn't resist, after reading about Doonesbury readers who had been trying to mail letters with fake stamps published in the famous comic strip attached, and frequently succeeding. Thompson began cranking out his own satirical stamps a decade ago, and his works have included such classics as a May Day stamp with a picture of an airline crash, and a portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a gun visible behind him. But the game turned serious two years ago, when Hernandez de Luna tried to use a stamp emblazoned with a skull and crossbones and a single word: "anthrax." Reason 01/04

Dollar's Woes Helping US Art Market "The US dollar's decline has boosted the US art market, with collectors increasingly inclined to buy at the big New York auctions where they can pick up pieces more cheaply... Because of the strong euro, works from European collections that would normally fuel the US market are now more costly for a New York investor. On top of this, insurance costs have rocketed. Both factors are tending to choke off the transfer of artworks to the US, although demand there remains strong." Financial Times 01/26/04

When Art Attacks (Or Is Attacked) The Swedish prime minister's office has been deluged with thousands of e-mails protesting a Stockholm art exhibition which includes an installation piece the e-mailers view as anti-Semitic. The work, which features a photo of a Palestinian suicide bomber floating in a sea of blood, was vandalized by the Israeli ambassador to Sweden last week, and ever since, Israeli organizations around the world have been blasting the Swedish government for allowing the exhibition to proceed. The latest group to join the fray is the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization which has been urging its supporters to send the protest e-mails. CNN 01/28/04

• Previously: Art & The Politics of Diplomacy It all began when the Israeli ambassador to Sweden came across an installation at the National Historical Museum in Stockholm which features a pristine photograph of a recent Palestinian suicide bomber floating freely in a partially frozen sea of blood. Interpreting the work as an endorsement of anti-Israeli terrorism, the ambassador demanded its removal, and then hurled a nearby spotlight into the pool. Shortly thereafter, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the ambassador to congratulate him.  The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04

Did Politics Kill SFMOMA's Party? The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has abruptly cancelled its annual $1000-per-ticket Valentine Ball fundraiser, stunning many area arts patrons who had already bought tickets. The ball, which would have been 28 years old this year, was apparently the victim of financial considerations, with museum officials saying that the event would not have raised enough money to be worthwhile. But "at SFMOMA, where the loyalties of key donors are divided and squabbles among trustees are not uncommon, some patrons privately question whether there is more to the story. Word is that those involved with the preparations knew months ago that the party was seriously underfunded and should have been canceled then." San Francisco Chronicle 01/28/04

Nothing's Ever Easy At AGO When your museum is unveiling a major expansion plan with Frank Gehry at the controls, it is supposed to be an unabashedly celebratory occasion. But for the Art Gallery of Ontario, today's news conference will be a decidedly mixed bag of architectural grandeur and political damage control. The Gehry design will doubtless wow the critics with "a spectacular multi-story tower extending the AGO into Grange Park on its south side and bringing the park visually into the gallery." But questions about the AGO's decision to completely scrap its last expansion plan, as well as charges that the gallery is unilaterally pulling out of a 1989 agreement that it would never again expand, are sure to overshadow the proceedings. Toronto Star 01/28/04

• When Is A Museum Really Done? No one should expect that the Art Gallery of Ontario's near-constant metamorphosing will come to an end with the realization of Frank Gehry's vision. "The Toronto gallery has been a work in progress for most of its 104 years, and it likely will continue to be," says James Adams. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/28/04

Looking For History In A Single Photo "A horrific photograph of an execution in eastern Europe during the second world war can be seen in Holocaust archives and museums around the world. But who are the killers, who are the victims, who took it - and why?" The date and location given for the photo are misleading, for there were supposedly no Jews left in the identified town at the time, and in fact, no historian has been able to positively identify the victims as Jews, or their tormentors as Nazis. One researcher has devoted years to finding the answers, and all she has discovered is that the Holocaust remains simultaneously one of the most well-documented and murkiest events in human history. The Guardian (UK) 01/27/04

Maybe It's Time To Start Searching Toronto Frat Houses The ivory miniatures stolen from the Art Gallery of Ontario ten days ago are now the subject of an international police alert, and the company which insures them is offering 10% of their considerable value in return for information leading to their recovery. The ivories were on loan to the AGO from UK publishing magnate Lord Thomson, who is one of the wealthiest private art collectors in the world. Investigators now believe that the theft may not have been a professional job, but "a student prank which went too far." The Guardian (UK) 01/28/04

• Previously: On The Trail Of Stolen Ivories (Not So Glamorous) What will become of the le Marchand ivory cameos stolen last week from the Art Gallery of Ontario? "The image of big illicit business in freshly harvested antiquities, theft to order, the encouragement of site looting for profit, and money laundering is today mainly restricted to the pages of improbable detective novels." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/21/04

C'mon In And Set A Spell James Cuno will doubtless take some time to decide how to put his unique stamp on the Art Institute of Chicago, but there's one improvement he'd like to make right away: minimizing "museum fatigue" by adding more benches and chairs for patrons to take a load off while admiring the collection. It seems like an obvious idea, but many museum directors are opposed to having seating in their galleries, saying it distracts from the art. Nonsense, says Cuno. Museumgoers tend to "rush their way through and they don't see as much as we'd like them to see. You want people to sit down and feel comfortable and sort of pace themselves." Chicago Sun-Times 01/27/04

Who Can Own A Kiss? When the Tate Modern's new exhibition of Brancusi sculptures opens this week in London, it will be one major work short of what the museum had planned. "It will have Constantin Brancusi's The Kiss (1908) and The Kiss (1916). But it will be without its most starry exhibit, The Kiss (1907-1908) because its Romanian owners see a risk that someone in Britain might claim ownership of it." The Tate says that it doesn't know of any potential UK claimants, and the statue has been exhibited abroad before, but Romanian officials say that they were concerned that they would not have been able to protect the statue in the event of an ownership claim. The Guardian (UK) 01/27/04

Faking It How good are today's art forgers? So good that some of them make quite a nice living selling their work to collectors who are fully aware that they aren't buying the original painting. "The pursuit of authenticity can encounter nasty opposition," as many would-be whistleblowers have discovered, and after all, isn't the desire to own "the real thing" nothing more than a greedy desire for prestige? "A beautiful artwork does not cease to be beautiful once its authorship is cast in doubt, but it can cease to be precious." Newsday 01/25/04

Everybody Wants A Bilbao Frank Gehry will unveil his plans for the Art Gallery of Ontario this week, and the pressure is mounting. "Unlike any of Gehry's other projects, the Art Gallery of Ontario is a two-headed client: There's AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum and then there's the publishing magnate Kenneth Thomson, who has donated not only his massive collection of art but also $70-million in cash to a reinvented art gallery. Added to the froth is a residual expectation that maybe, if everybody tries a little harder, $200-million -- the estimated budget for the project -- will buy the architectural ecstasy of Bilbao." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/24/04

Thinking Small(er) Some days, it seems as if every museum in America is mounting a major expansion, or at least talking about it. But at The Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, the desire for more space is tempered by the realities of the marketplace, and the museum's directors are anxious to do more with less. Rather than attempt a massive new building project, MOCAD is planning a modest expansion with a price tag of less than $4 million, which it hopes will generate buzz without endangering the institution financially, or alienating the public with demands for government subsidies in a notoriously conservative state. Denver Post 01/25/04

The Whitney's New Direction The Whitney Museum is undergoing a dramatic behind-the-scenes makeover, with new director Adam Weinberg restructuring the administration, creating a "council of wise persons" to advise him, and shaking up the curatorial designations put in place by his predecessor, Maxwell Anderson. Weinberg is still interested in looking at expansion options for the Whitney, which famously cancelled a recent planned expansion designed by architect Rem Koolhaas, but his short-term goals lie in the stabilization of an institution which has been perceived as chaotic and directionless for some time. The Art Newspaper 01/25/04

Stolen Goods? Maybe. But You're Not Allowed To Ask "An El Greco painting displayed recently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was returned Thursday to the Greek museum that owns it after a state judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming it had been stolen by Nazis at the end of World War II... The suit sought to keep the painting in the United States pending further investigation of its provenance. It was rejected under a federal statute that says a lawsuit cannot be used to seize or control a cultural object brought into this country by a nonprofit institution like a museum for temporary exhibition." The New York Times 01/24/04

The Museum As Art: Have We Forgotten About the Art Inside? As more and more architects gain celebrity status, the buildings they design are becoming decidedly larger than life, and the design of the exterior shell is beginning to overshadow whatever is supposed to be going on inside the walls. In Bellevue, Washington, a museum hailed as an architectural breakthrough closed its doors this past fall, and part of the reason was said to be that the interior was simply ill-suited to house art collections. The disconnect between form and function in Bellevue is being viewed with alarm throughout the industry, and many observers are rethinking the role of the architect in such projects. The New York Times 01/25/04

• Gehry and the Tyranny Of Form When Frank Gehry unveils his plans for the new Art Gallery of Ontario building later this week, the usual debate of form vs. function will surely ensue. "What has the success of the Guggenheim Bilbao done to the discipline of museum design, detractors ask? Has the need for the spectacular rendered the discipline of architecture more superficial, when every urban centre must boast its own curving titanium mothership to feel world class? One can't help but notice that Gehry has become the architect of someplace wanting to be someplace better." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/24/04

Defining El Greco "In 16th-century Italy, art was an instrument of faith and Michelangelo its divine master, unassailable until El Greco appeared on the scene. But was he a puritan on a mission to clean up wicked Rome, or simply an arrogant young artist?" Where Michelangelo had begun to stray into vaguely secular realms, (exemplified by his masterpiece, The Last Judgment, based on the themes of Dante,) El Greco represented a calculated and forceful return to faith-based art which strove to keep the public servile to its Christian masters, rather than to encourage independent thought on Christian themes. Today, few would doubt that "El Greco is a great artist - but what kind of a great artist?" The Guardian (UK) 01/24/04

Smithsonian Gets Martial "Officials at the National Museum of American History yesterday announced plans to open a $19 million permanent exhibit exploring an oft-times fervently debated topic: the depiction of the nation's military history, beginning with the French and Indian War in the 1750s, running through World War II and Vietnam, and culminating with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan... It will be the first time the museum has taken a panoramic view of the U.S. military experience." Washington Post 01/23/04

So He Cut Off The Ear Just For Fun, Then? "A recently discovered letter by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time speaks of a tiny grave and his father's grief over the loss of his first child — a boy also named Vincent who was stillborn. The letter, the first authenticated one by van Gogh to surface since 1990, is the only known reference by the artist to the family tragedy, said Leo Jansen, a researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, which added the letter to its exhibition yesterday. He and other experts say its passionless tone contradicts theories by some biographers that van Gogh may have suffered from alienation as a 'replacement child.'" Toronto Star (AP) 01/23/04

Wings, Rails, and Light: Ground Zero's Train Station "Where there was darkness on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the architect Santiago Calatrava would bring a flood of light in the form of a winged railway station, draped in glass, suffused with natural illumination and, on occasion, open to the clear skies above. Mr. Calatrava's design for the permanent World Trade Center PATH terminal, which was unveiled yesterday, is a soaring, sculptural, steel-and-glass shell covering a cathedral-like concourse." The New York Times 01/23/04

• PATH to Recovery The new plan unveiled for the PATH station at Ground Zero seems to have dazzled the New Yorkers who saw it to the point that many are wondering why the design for the skyscraper and memorial at the same site could not have been as grand. "In place of a wedge (in reality, an inglorious traffic intersection), there will arise what Mr. Calatrava envisions as a bird, most likely a dove, released from the hands of a child. No more second-hand Statues of Liberty here, in other words. Rather, a prayer for peace." The New York Times 01/23/04

The New Breed of Chelsea Galleries A new era is blossoming in New York's venerable Chelsea neighborhood, as personified by a slew of new galleries owned and run by "a group of enterprising young dealers who are shaking up a corner of the New York art scene." The youngsters have a name for themselves - the New Art Dealers Alliance - and they have a mission, as well: to provide a stage for emerging artists who wouldn't have a prayer of being exhibited at Chelsea's more established galleries, and to make money doing it. NADA is also a sign of the growing trend towards the reemergence of the artists' collectives which dominated the 1960s and '70s. The New York Times 01/23/03

Art & The Politics of Diplomacy It all began when the Israeli ambassador to Sweden came across an installation at the National Historical Museum in Stockholm which features a pristine photograph of a recent Palestinian suicide bomber floating freely in a partially frozen sea of blood. Interpreting the work as an endorsement of anti-Israeli terrorism, the ambassador demanded its removal, and then hurled a nearby spotlight into the pool. Shortly thereafter, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the ambassador to congratulate him, and Jerusalem's leading newspaper editorialized that the ambassador's vandalism was a greater work of art than the original. The museum director is incensed, and believes the act was premeditated, in response to the director's criticisms of Israeli policy. The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04

• No Glorification Here Veteran journalist Larry Defner is exasperated by the outcry against the Swedish artwork seen by some to be an anti-Semitic endorsement of suicide bombings. "Snow White and the Madness of Truth makes Palestinian terrorism – and Israeli repression, too, but mainly Palestinian terrorism – so graphic and immediate as to be nauseating, which is the effect terrorism and repression should, but unfortunately don't, have on people at large. The Jewish reaction to the artwork and to Ambassador Zvi Mazel's trashing of it show how... as soon as the cry of anti-Semitism goes up loudly enough, there is no discussion in Israel or the Diaspora about whether or not it was justified." Jerusalem Post 01/22/04

The Music's Great, But What About Those Bare Walls? Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts has been up and running for two years now, but something's still missing. The Kimmel, home to the Philadelphia Orchestra and various other groups, "was supposed to be accessorized with art selected and funded under provisions of the city's Percent for Art program. However, a number of problems slowed the project considerably, to the point where the seven-member jury tasked with choosing the art is just now entering the final phase of the process." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/22/04

Denver Science Museum CEO Resigns "Raylene Decatur, president and chief executive of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, resigned Wednesday after almost nine years of overseeing major and sometimes controversial changes at the 104-year-old institution... More than 30 full-time and part-time employees lost their jobs there in 2002 and 2003 as the museum struggled with the shrinking attendance and a reduction in contributions from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District... Decatur heard harsh criticism from some former employees and volunteers for the layoffs and the less than pure-science exhibits created during her tenure." Denver Post 01/22/04

Just Don't Lick The Walls When your city's national image is best summed up as "the American answer to Siberia," how exactly do you go about drawing a crowd of out-of-towners to take notice of your thriving community and impressive cultural scene? Well, if you're St. Paul, Minnesota, you first arrange to host the National Hockey League's All-Star Game during the dead of winter. Then, just before the cameras roll, you build an enormous palace out of 27,000 bathtub-sized blocks of ice, right smack in the middle of downtown, and just across the street from the hockey arena. The 2004 Ice Palace is a marvel of art and engineering, and it opens to the public tonight. Oh, and just for the record: the temperature in the Twin Cities this morning was a crisp 13 below zero. Minneapolis Star Tribune 01/22/04

Cuno Named To Head Art Institute Of Chicago James Cuno, currently director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, has been named director of the Art Institute of Chicago. "For nearly 12 years Mr. Cuno was director of the Harvard University Art Museums, a complex that under his leadership doubled the size of its staff and budget and emerged as one of the best smaller museums in the United States. At Harvard in the 1990's he directed a $37 million capital campaign that ended up raising $55 million." The New York Times 01/22/04

Stockholm - All In The Interpretation Everyone likes a controversy story, and that's why the Israeli ambassador's vandalism of artwork in Stockholm gets attention. But this is a silly story. "It's horrible, it's sick, but I can't for one moment accept that it is an apology for a suicide bomber. Everyone interprets art differently. That's what makes it art. If this were a propaganda work, the museum would have a case to answer - maybe. But it's not. It's in very poor taste, if you like, but is there a tasteful way to talk about terrorism? About people disintegrating into bits of flesh? Which is what, to me, that chunky pool suggests." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04

BritArt (Carefully Chosen) Goes To Iran A show of contemporary British art is being shown in Iran. The art has been carefully chosen in hopes of not offending Iranians. "The exhibition is being held at the invitation of Hamid Reza Sami-Azar, the director of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, established by the Shah before the founding of the Islamic republic. Among his collection are some works, including a Francis Bacon, which have never been exhibited. In the more relaxed atmosphere that followed the election of the reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, in 1997, the museum has become a popular meeting place for young artists and students." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04

On The Moral Justification For Attacking Art Roger Kimball sympathizes with the Israeli ambassador to Sweden who attacked a piece of art in Stockholm last weekend. But was he justified in attacking it? "I think not. His outrage at "Snow White" was understandable, even exemplary, but he should not have destroyed or defaced the exhibition. There were many steps open to him short of violence. To vandalize an art work--even a bad art work, even a morally reprehensible art work--is to adopt the tactics of the enemies of culture." OpinionJournal.com 01/22/04

On The Trail Of Stolen Ivories (Not So Glamorous) What will become of the le Marchand ivory cameos stolen last week from the Art Gallery of Ontario? "The image of big illicit business in freshly harvested antiquities, theft to order, the encouragement of site looting for profit, and money laundering is today mainly restricted to the pages of improbable detective novels." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/21/04

Return the Elgin Marbles? To What? It's a romantic notion, the idea that the Parthenon Marbles could be returned to the Acropolis, writes Richard Dorment. "Credulous, idealistic or simply out of touch with reality, many are romantics smitten with the idea that the marbles can somehow be "returned" to the Parthenon, which is in fact a total ruin. Not perhaps realising that half of the Parthenon sculptures have been lost for ever, and that surviving sections are now in 10 museums in eight countries, they imagine that, if only Britain would co-operate with Greece, the frieze could somehow be reconstructed." They are wrong. The Telegraph (UK) 01/21/04

BritArt In Teheran The British Council is on a cultural offensive in Iran. The Brits are putting together a show of art. "Contentious works, including a Hirst sculpture incorporating a human skeleton never exhibited before, will go on show in Tehran next month, just after elections that have already caused bitter tensions between Islamic hard-liners and liberals. Other works were held back by the British Council, however, including body casts by Antony Gormley and a wheelchair with knives by Mona Hatoum." The Independent (UK) 01/20/04

Ivories Stolen From Ontario Museum Five le Marchand ivory cameos were stolen from the Art Gallery of Ontario this week. The pieces are so well-known, it's likely the thieves will have difficulty selling them. Art theft is said to be rare in Canada. "Observers say it's likely about 150 art works, antiques or artifacts are stolen or reported stolen each year in Canada from galleries and homes. The return rate tends to be less than 20 per cent." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/20/04

London Art Fair Spruces Up Where are the new collectors? "Finding them has proved more difficult in an age when collecting is less fashionable than it was and there are plenty of alternative ways of spending disposable income. But last week, London's first major art fair of 2004 underwent a radical overhaul in an attempt to bring in new, younger buyers." The Telegraph (UK) 01/20/04

Tate Gets Bacon Studio The Tate has acquired the contents of Francis Bacon's chaotic studio, after a decade of controversy about it. "Art world legend insists that when Bacon died in 1992 the Tate was offered the studio by his heir and last companion, John Edwards, who died in Thailand last year. The gallery is said to have rejected the offer and the room, with every scrap of paper and cigarette stub forensically recorded, went to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, where it is a popular exhibit. The history of the material donated to the Tate is as eccentric as the artist." The Guardian (UK) 01/20/04

Israel/Sweden Harden Stands Over Attacked Artwork The row between Sweden and Israel over the Israeli ambassador's attack on artwork in Stockholm is escalating. "The artistic director of the museum, which is keeping the work on display, has reportedly been attacked. Artist Dror Feiler, who is also said to have been threatened, said the envoy's actions made reconciliation harder. He told the BBC World Service that his work was "absolutely not" a glorification of suicide bombers as had been claimed and criticised Zvi Mazel for a "stupid act". BBC 01/19/04

French Government Considers Giving Monuments To Local Governments The French government is considering whether to turn over ownership of half of its monuments to regional governments. "The move is part of a wider trend towards decentralisation. Almost 400 monuments throughout France are owned by the ministry; many were nationalised following the French Revolution." The Art Newspaper 01/19/04

US Customs Stolen Art Unit Is No More The US Customs unit set up in 2000 to investigate stolen art has been subsumed into the Department of Homeland Security. "The agents who had concentrated exclusively on tracking and seizing smuggled art have now been redeployed to investigate cases related to the war on terrorism and financial fraud. Although cases of stolen art will still be investigated by Customs agents, no employees will work exclusively on art investigations." The Art Newspaper 01/19/04

GroupThink - Choosing The WTC Memorial Plan Choosing a plan for the WTC memorial was an arduous task for the project's jury. "With 5,201 entries to consider, the original strategy was for the submissions to be divided among three groups of jurors. The jury decided, though, that every juror would look at every board, including some 400 that had been disqualified on technicalities." The New York Times 01/19/04

Returning Marbles To Greece Would "Distort" History Salvatore Settis argues that returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece would distort history and shouldn't be considered. "The Acropolis is the result of an operation that eliminated its Christian and Ottoman past. In order to reconstruct what is only one of the various possible forms of the Acropolis, all other forms are negated; this process would be crowned and legitimised by the return of the marbles. It would sanction the idea that of all the history that has flowed through the Acropolis (in fact, the history of Europe), only one moment matters and all others must be suppressed." The Guardian (UK) 01/19/04

Dali, In Retrospect As celebrations of Salvador Dali's 100th birthday gear up in Spain, it's interesting to note how he and his work are now perceived. "The truth is that the savage visions of Dali, once considered genuinely disturbing, have been comfortably absorbed into the cultural mainstream. This has meant, inevitably, a partial sanitisation of the artist's more excessive expressions." Financial Times 01/16/04

Dave Barry: I'm "Clueless" About Art Dave Barry willingly acknowledges he's a "clueless idiot" when it comes to art. But he doesn't understand some of the art he saw recently at Art Basel Miami: "Anyway, in the corner of one container there was a ratty old collapsed armchair - worn, dirty, leaking stuffing, possibly housing active vermin colonies. I asked the gallery person if the chair was art, and she said yes, it was a work titled "Chair." I asked her what role the artist had played in creating "Chair." She said: "He found it." She noted that "Chair" had been professionally crated and shipped to the art show." Denver Post 01/18/04

A Barnes Conundrum Should a judge allow the Barnes Collection to move from its current suburban home to Philadelphia? There's been little evidence to convince critic Edward Sozanski that the move would work out for the best. The judge "can't let the Barnes perish, and he must also contend with two situations, over which he hasn't any control, that militate against staying put." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/18/04

Trying To Love The WTC Memorial (It's Difficult) James Russell is trying very hard not to hate the design for the WTC memorial - even after the revisions. "What it takes to make a commemorative work of design meaningful can be quite subtle—and quite hard to evaluate before it’s built, even in slick computer-produced images. But aspects of the revised Ground Zero memorial raise questions, lots of them." Sticks & Stones (AJBlogs) 01/17/04

Ancient City Found Under Naples A port city dating back to the 2nd Century has been found under Naples. "Extending into the heart of present-day Naples, the second-century port was found 13 meters (43 feet) beneath one of the city's main squares, not far from the 13th-century Maschio Angioino fortress. Evidence for the ancient Mediterranean port included a 10-meter (33-foot) ship, wooden pieces belonging to piers, and various items." Discovery 01/15/04

Acropolis Museum - Epicenter Of Controversy Greece has built a new museum in hopes of getting the Parthenon Marbles back from London. "But the structure intended to settle a controversy has become an object of controversy itself. The design clashes with the setting, some critics say. It jeopardizes an archaeological site, others claim. And perhaps most dispiritingly, the Olympic deadline is hopelessly out of reach. Like an athlete who trains for a lifetime and then sprains her ankle the week before the games, the New Acropolis Museum may have missed its best chance to make an impression. When the Olympic torch is lighted on Aug. 13, the museum will look like something that Athens already has plenty of: a giant excavation." The New York Times 01/18/04

WTC - Making The Aesthetic Arguments Revisions to the WTC memorial are creating an interesting conversation on design function. "When the site is complete, it will form the backdrop for aesthetic conversations between youth and experience; between the logic of the corporate world and that of the avant-garde; and, we found out this week, between minimalist abstraction and literal narrative." Slate 01/15/04

American Indian Museum To Open The National Museum of the American Indian will open on the National Mall in Washington DC in nine months. The Smithsonian's newest outpost will have "an unmatched collection of artifacts and displays designed to set the record straight on the history and contributions of native peoples. That will culminate a 20-year push to establish a museum on the Mall that would enshrine 10,000 years of Native American life and culture as a central chapter of history." Washington Post 01/16/04

Tax Breaks For UK Art Donors? Britain's museums are struggling financially since they dropped admission charges last year. So ho can the government help? One idea is to "introduce tax breaks for individuals and companies who donate to national and regional museums, which could cost the Treasury £30m a year in lost tax revenue." The Guardian (UK) 01/16/04

Is Picasso The World's Most Expensive Painting? "Pablo Picasso's Boy with a Pipe, painted in 1905 when he was 24, could become the world's most expensive painting at an auction at Sotherby's in New York. The painting is estimated to sell for $70m (£38m) at the auction in May, but could easily outstrip Van Gogh's portrait of Dr Gachet, which had a before-commission price tag of $75m in 1990." The Guardian (UK) 01/15/04

Revised WTC Memorial Unveiled A revised design for the World Trade Center Memorial is unveiled. "They have proposed an underground space called the Memorial Center, perhaps two acres or more in extent, according to those who have seen the design. It is there that the twisted, resilient, evocative vestiges of the attack, fire trucks, steel columns, maybe even Fritz Koenig's sculpture `Sphere for Plaza Fountain' can finally return." The New York Times 01/15/04

• Looks Good On Paper The revised 9/11 memorial is promising, says Benjamin Forgey, because it demonstrates a clear willingness on the part of the designers to be responsive to public concerns, and on the part of certain New York politicians to create a monument to human tragedy without making the experience of visiting it too bleak to attract visitors. But the design is still a major departure from Freedom Tower architect Daniel Libeskind's vision for the site, and whether the actual memorial fulfills the promise of its redesign is still an open question. Washington Post 01/15/04

Cleveland Museum Expansion Delayed "The Cleveland Museum of Art is delaying by four or five months a decision about whether to go ahead with a proposed $225 million expansion and renovation... The reason for the slowdown, museum officials said, is that construction documents prepared by New York architect Rafael Viñoly won't be complete by March, when the museum had hoped to put them out for bids by contractors. The museum now expects the blueprints to be ready for bids in August, about a month after the museum decides whether it has enough money to go ahead." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 01/15/04

What Is The Future For Recovered Iraqi/Afghan Treasures? Two major collections, not seen for years, have been uncovered in Afghanistan and Iraq. "But when will these astonishing objects next be seen, and where? That, too, is highly controversial. In neither Baghdad nor Kabul is the security position good enough to allow museums to reopen - and the Kabul Museum is a ruin. It has been mooted that both the Bactrian and Nimrud treasures should go on international tour to museums in America. The Musée Guimet in Paris - which has a magnificent Afghan collection - has expressed interest in the Bactrian gold. But these are highly sensitive proposals. To parade the Nimrud jewellery around the USA, would 'not be at all a tactful thing to do. Let the Iraqi people see their treasures first'." The Telegraph (UK) 01/15/04

Is There Too Much Art-Fairing In Miami? Miami now has three big commercial art fairs on its annual schedule. "A community that just a few years ago wondered if it would ever develop a commercial art market now finds itself grappling with the possibility that it may be saddled with too much of a good thing. After all, these waves of art dealers winging into town aren't coming simply to enrich our cultural lives, as welcome as that may be. They're coming to ring up sales. And one has to wonder if there are enough art-hungry customers to go around." Miami New Times 01/14/04

New Campaign To Return Parthenon Marbles A campaign to persuade the British government to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece has been mouted. "Run by umbrella organisation Marbles Reunited, it is based on research suggesting three out of every four British people want them returned. The group wants them put alongside the other surviving Parthenon sculptures in a museum being specially built for the start of the Athens Olympics." BBC 01/13/04

• Slick Campaign For Marbles As Public Attitude Changes "An increasing number of Britons believe that it is wrong to keep the Parthenon marbles in the British Museum in London. A new video, sent yesterday to 1,000 parliamentarians, opinion formers and television companies, begins a new, slicker phase in the longstanding campaign to return the Parthenon stones, formerly known as the Elgin marbles, to Athens." The Guardian (UK) 01/15/04

• Jenkins: Why Marbles Should Stay In Britain Tiffany Jenkins argues that the Parthenon Marbles belong where they are. "It is vital that the marbles remain in the British Museum. Not because the marbles look better there, because the British Museum owns them, or because the Greeks can't look after them. Quite simply, the marbles take on a higher meaning in Bloomsbury than they ever could in Athens. In the British Museum the marbles can be seen among the artefacts of human history." Spiked-Online 01/13/04

Whitney Sale To Bring $140 Million? The sale of 44 paintings once owned by the Whitney family is expected to bring $140 million. It's the highest pre-sale estimate ever - the collectioncludes work by Picasso, Manet, and major works by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Sir Alfred J. Munnings and John Singer Sargent. "The paintings are the property of the New York-based Greentree Foundation founded in 1982 by Betsey Whitney after the death of her husband, John Hay Whitney, to promote human rights, peace and international cooperation. Betsey Whitney died in 1998." ABCNews (Reuters) 01/13/04

The Politics Of Cleaning David The "cleaning" of Michelangelo's David is more about politics than aesthetics, claims one critic. "Fundamentally this is about money. The actual restoration itself may cost relatively little - a few hundred thousand dollars, maybe a million. But in terms of the increase in the number of admission tickets sold, the number of books, videos and toys purchased at the museum store, the reproduction rights - you're probably talking billions. Why do you think the city of Florence and the Italian state are arguing over who owns David? The science they use to defend their decisions is irrelevant, it's just window dressing to disguise a power struggle. New Scientist 01/14/04

Waiting For A Facelift The Walker Art Center is arguably the dominant institution in Minnesota's arts scene, which is quite an accomplishment for a relatively small, quirky modern art museum housed in a decidedly dated modernist building. There are more glamorous museums in the Twin Cities, but Minnesotans love the Walker, with its claustrophobic stairwells, leaking skylights, and bare, unadorned concrete decor. On Valentine's Day, the Walker will close for a year-long renovation and addition which will forever change its distinctive look and cramped feel. The renovation is a good thing, says Mary Abbe, but she'll miss the old Walker. Minneapolis Star Tribune 01/16/04

Dali Rights Dispute Salvator Dali's biographer claims that he owns the rights to Dali's commercial work. But the Dali Foundation disputes the claim, and the row hangs like a cloud over celebrations of the surrealist's 100th birthday. "Dalí has turned out to be as much of a cash generator since his death as he was during his money-obsessed career. The foundation, which runs a museum in his birthplace, Figueres in north-east Spain, expects to earn more than €1m a year." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/04

Painter Attacks Contemporary Art(ists) Sir Kyffin Williams, one of the UK's leading painters, attacks contemporary art and artists. "Speaking at the opening of the Oriel Gwyngyll gallery in Llanfairpwll, north Wales, on Monday night, he blamed the art establishment, including the arts councils and competitions like the Turner Prize and the Welsh-funded Artes Mundi. "Nobody ever likes the work in the Turner Prize. Conceptual installation art is worthless and people don't want it. Galleries are desperately trying to find young artists who can draw - even in places like Cardiff and London'." BBC 01/13/04

WTC: Barren Memorial Inga Saffron writes that the World Trade Center memorial is a major misstep. "Launched a bare two years after terrorists pulverized the twin towers - which were themselves a compendium of dehumanizing architectural features - the competition demanded that architects distill meaning from that historic event while the rest of us are still reeling. The result is a design so generic and so sanitized that it drains the site of its sound and fury, signifying nothing." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/13/04

Saving Spiral Jetty The Dia Foundation is discussing whether to restore Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in Utah's Great Salt Lake. The work is Smithson's masterpiece, but as the lake has receded, it has exposed the earthwork to environmental damage. "To ensure that "Spiral Jetty" is accessible to future generations, Dia, which exhibits and preserves art made since the 1960's, has discussed raising it by adding more rocks. Dia is also studying whether nature will restore the contrast the "Jetty" originally had with its surroundings by dissolving some of the salt crystals when the lake's waters rise, or whether the foundation needs to do something more." The New York Times 01/12/04

English Cathedrals May Close As Tourists Stay Away "A cash crisis, caused by an acute drop in American tourists visiting the UK, will soon force many of England's 42 Anglican cathedrals to bolt their doors to the public for part of the week as they lay off staff." The Guardian (UK) 01/13/04

Here Come The Russians Russian art is hot right now. "This dramatic change has been brought about by the Russians who made fortunes in the economic free-for-all that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The market for Russian silver and decorative arts has always been international, but the hunger for paintings is driven by buyers from Moscow and St Petersburg, and the long-term problem for Western auction houses is that the pictures that are so eagerly snapped up are almost all going back to Russia." The Telegraph (UK) 01/13/04

The Most Popular Artist The Artworld Doesn't Like Jack Vettriano is the most popular contemporary artist in Britain. He's" sold more than three million poster reproductions around the world and earns an estimated £500,000 a year from the royalties. The works themselves disappear from public view into the hands of private collectors, with buyers including Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, composer Sir Tim Rice and British actor Robbie Coltrane." So why is his work unloved and uncollected in "official" art world circles? The Guardian (UK) 01/12/04

A History Of Art Restoration "Unlike other institutions—hospitals, universities, libraries—whose origins can boast roots dating back centuries, the museum is a “new” invention. Its growth and development, through the course of the nineteenth century, was conditioned by a mixture of local traditions, expediency, and idealism. Restoration remained a craft practiced by independent, secretive private entrepreneurs who were able to maintain a delicate balance between their private and public clientele." The New Criterion 01/04

Faberge Riches Nine Faberge eggs from the Forbes collection are to be auctioned. "The last Imperial Easter Egg sold at auction - the 1913 Winter Egg -went for more than $9.5 million to an anonymous buyer in 2002. In 1994, the same egg sold at auction for just over $5.5 million. The czar had paid Fabergé the equivalent of $250,000 in 1994 dollars, back in 1913. Our analysis of 16 Fabergé eggs, which have appeared on the auction market since 1934, shows an annual appreciation of 7% to 22.5% in the investment. These prices are a combination of buyers' desire for the very best, of rarity of product, and of limited accessibility: The eggs infrequently come on the open market."

Options For The Barnes Why Does the Barnes Collection need to move to Philadelphia? There are other options, writes Lee Rosenbaum. "The foundation could begin by selling unused or little-used assets. Chief among these: the foundation's 137-acre property in Chester County, for which the Barnes was recently offered $12 million. Auctioning off some of the foundation's ancillary collections — some 5,200 objects and documents — could also generate cash. The Barnes provenance would give these objects market cachet far in excess of their artistic or historic importance. While art museums are supposed to use sale proceeds solely for acquisitions, not operations, the Barnes considers itself an educational institution (and it doesn't acquire new works). In addition, legal strictures against selling the Barnes Foundation's holdings apply only to works on view in the galleries." The New York Times 01/10/04

A Revised WTC Memorial Plan "Michael Arad, the designer who proposed the winning memorial with reflecting pools in the tower footprints, has been refining drawings for a final design expected to be unveiled on Wednesday. He is working with Peter Walker, a landscape architect who joined him during the jury selection process. 'It is impossible to please everyone. Everybody can't weigh in on this.' But since the designs were announced last month and Arad's was chosen last Tuesday, it seems that nearly everyone has." Newsday (AP) 01/11/04

A Showpiece Stadium Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have broken ground on their biggest project yet. "On Christmas Eve, construction began on its biggest project yet: the Olympic Stadium, which will form the centrepiece of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The 100,000 capacity arena promises to be the most remarkable stadium since Gunter Behnisch's 1972 Olympic Stadium in Munich. It looks like a giant bird's nest, with a mass of structural members intertwined to form its huge basket." The Guardian (UK) 01/10/04

Edinburgh - City Of Change Edinburgh's skyline is changing. "The pendulum having swung from destruction to timidity, there is now the fervent hope that it might have settled in a happy middle position where we value the past, and look to continue it into an optimistic future." The Scotsman 01/09/04

The UK's New Law Against Illegal Trade In Antiquities The UK has a new law to try to slow the trade of illegal antiquities through London. "The Dealing in Cultural Objects Offences Act outlaws the handling of an item knowing that it was illegally removed from a site anywhere in the world after 2003." The Art Newspaper 01/09/04

A Canadian City Courts Gehry It's been a mating dance of four years between the Art Gallery of Ontarion (which has a new $300 million collection it wants to display) and architect Frank Gehry. Finally plans for the museum's expansion are about to be revealed. "What took so long? Well, it was a complicated courtship involving negotiating strategies on both sides. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. There were endless brilliant ideas that were eventually discarded. There were plane trips, and there were bonding experiences, including hockey games. There were problems that sometimes seemed insurmountable, and for a while, a division of opinion within the AGO board. And always, there were money issues." Toronto Star 01/10/04

The Man Who Chooses Architects "Reed Kroloff is one of a small coterie of competition advisers who organize and administer the bake-offs so often used to determine which architecture firms will design which coveted projects. These advisers are both catalysts for — and beneficiaries of — an upsurge in interest in how architects are chosen. Competitions that only five years ago would have been local affairs now draw thousands of entries from around the world, partly because the Internet makes the rules available to any architect with a computer and modem." The New York Times 01/11/04

Oldest Figurative Art Ever Discovered The oldest figurative carvings ever found have been discovered in a cave in Southeast Germany. "While precise dates for the objects are unknown, an analysis of related deposits indicates that the artists lived from 30,000 to 35,000 years ago. The three small ivory carvings suggest a high level of artistic skill among craftspeople living at this time, experts claim." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/09/04

The Barnes: Doing The Numbers "Could a new Barnes thrive in a $100 million building with a $10 million annual budget, two figures floated in court? Yes, observers believe. There would be new revenue opportunities, and the Barnes would be more attractive to prestige-seeking but cautious donors. In the worst case, though, donations and attendance might drop off after an initial rush, and expenses could spiral." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/04/04

O'Keeffe Stolen, Then Recovered A painting was stolen from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe early Thursday but was quickly recovered, and a security guard who reported the theft has emerged as a suspect, police said. ABCNews (AP) 01/08/04

Taking Vermeer To The Screen A film is soon to be released about the painter Vermeer. But there's a problem. "It's not only the man but his art that is tantalisingly silent: just as no pithy quotes from Vermeer or anecdotes about the time he punched Pieter de Hooch in the face survive, nothing is known about the women in his paintings, or the stories they seem to hint at. And there's the rub. In fact it makes film-makers of us all as we mentally complete the hints of narrative in his paintings, picturing scenarios, possibilities suggested by his inscrutable glimpses. Vermeer painted more than two centuries before the invention of cinema, but he anticipated the way films make a world and fill it with light." The Guardian (UK) 01/09/04

Tate Considers Selling Art To Trade Up The Tate is considering selling some of its art to upgrade its collection. "Works by living artists, such as David Hockney, could be sold to allow the Tate to buy better or more appropriate items by the same person. Despite Hockney's stature, the most recent of his pieces in the Tate's collection dates back to 1977." BBC 01/07/04

WTC Memorial Design Chosen The memorial at the site of the World Trade Center has been chosen. It will be a teeming grove of trees above two deep reflecting pools within the outlines of the twin towers. "The announcement followed weeks of contentious debate in a city whose citizenry quickly scrutinized the eight finalists' plans. The discussion underscored the difficulty of choosing one from the total of 5,201 entrants in the competition for a memorial that would encompass heroic sacrifice and unfathomable loss." The New York Times 01/06/04

After 18 Years: New Sydney Theatre After 18 years of planning, the new Sydney Theatre opens. "Snuggled into one of Sydney's most artificial topographies is a new house of artifice. Its facade, dominated by that huge romanesque proscenium, declares up front a commitment to reality remade. Yet, at the same time, Walsh Bay's new Sydney Theatre, opening on Saturday, is profoundly shaped by intimacy. You can call it ironic. Or you can relax in the knowledge that probing this truth-illusion relationship is theatre's core business." Sydney Morning Herald 01/07/04

Fans Flock To New Smithsonian Air/Space Museum Annex The Smithsonian's new National Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles Airport has attracted 250,000 visitors since it opened three weeks ago. "The facility houses 81 air- and spacecraft, including the space shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, an Air France Concorde and the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay." Washington Post 01/06/04

Shanghai Museums Being Forced Out Shanghai has more than 60 private museums. But "after some 20 rough years, many private museums are now facing serious hardships in Shanghai, the birthplace of private museums. In the 1990s, the country had about 80 private museums. The figureincreased to 200 by 1996. But behind the glorious image of private museums, balancing thesheets is becoming a common problem facing almost all private museum owners. Insiders predicted that half of the private museums in Shanghai now have such problem." China Daily 01/07/04

Director: London Museum Should Rebury 20,000 Skeletons The Museum of London has a collection of 20,000 skeletons, and its director says he believes they should be reburied. "The skeletons' fate has prompted debate among academics. Many of whom have previously said they should be held back for research into human origins and history. But Jack Lohman, the museum's director, said it was an 'ethical issue' and that artefacts found alongside them suggested 70% of the skeletons unearthed in London in the past three decades had received Christian burials." The Guardian (UK) 01/06/04

Glasgow Art School Starving For Support "The Glasgow School of Art could be forced to move after a review of its buildings found it would cost several million pounds to bring them up to standard. Even the main building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and internationally renowned, could close." The Herald (Glasgow) 01/06/04

The 2 Columbus Circle Debate All this angst about what to do with the peculiar building at 2 Columbus Circle in New York. Ada Louise Huxtable weighs in: "The most basic preservation question is not being asked at all. What will be lost, and what will be gained? The proposal being rejected out of hand is a promising solution by a talented young American practitioner that will reclaim an abandoned building of debatable merit for a desirable cultural facility. We do not lose the building; everything that is good about it will be retained - its size, its scale, and its intimate relationship to the street. What is bad about the building - the dark, cramped and virtually useless interior and those faux harem walls that close off spectacular views - will be changed." OpinionJournal 01/07/04

Independent Review Of WTC Plans Plans for the World Trade Center site are being reviewed by preservationists. "As stipulated by the National Historic Preservation Act, the so-called Section 106 review requires that the site's historical significance be officially evaluated before federal money can be used to rebuild it. For the first time, in other words, independent scholars will have the opportunity to address publicly the historical meaning of ground zero and its value to future generations. This is welcome news indeed. Not since the milestone Supreme Court decision that upheld the preservation of Grand Central Terminal has there been a landmarks issue of comparable importance to the future of urban America," writes Herbert Muschamp. The New York Times 01/06/04

A New Super-Museum For Thailand Thailand has plans to build a large Smithsonian-style museum. "The project is intended to bring various kinds of museums under one roof - the new museum would have exhibits in eight fields _ science and technology, history, archaeology, art, anthropology, ethnicity, geography and environment." Bangkok Post 01/05/03

A Pirate Museum For Key West An entrepreneur has announced plans to open a pirate museum in Key West (once the base to pirates). "The museum will feature items from his pirate collection, including a treasure chest from Capt. Thomas Tew and the last journal from Capt. William Kidd, a 17th Century pirate who was executed for his crimes. 'I want people to say, 'Wow!' when they see it. We'll take them back in time'." Florida Times-Union 01/05/03

Artist Jailed For Selling Basquiat Fakes Finds Career Rolls Along Alfredo Martinez was jailed in June 2002 for faking drawings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and and he's serving a sentence of three years. "But that has hardly affected his artistic productivity: The work he has made in the pen has been in four shows, including solo exhibitions in New York and Paris..." New York Magazine 01/05/03

Scot Finds Lost Renaissance Painting In Louvre Sir Timothy Clifford, director of the National Galleries of Scotland, has found what he believes is a work by the 16th century artist Francesco Maria Mazzola, known as Parmigianino in the vaults at the Louvre in Paris... The Scotsman 01/05/04

Restored To What? "Many conservators no longer restore objects to approximate their original condition as fine arts museums do, preferring instead to maintain the way they looked when acquired. The aim is to extend their life while retaining the evidence of what made them important, even if it means presenting tattered artifacts with blood stains, bullet holes and burnt edges. Now new techniques and a new emphasis on less varnished truth in history museums are transforming the staid exhibitions of the past." The New York Times 01/05/04

The Rise Of Raunchy Art Sex sells. No surprise there. But nudity and sex have been incresingly making the scene in the contemporary art world. "With the Internet and cable TV making pornography widely available on an anytime-of-day basis, it was probably inevitable that artists would find their own ways to channel it into their work and that galleries would show the results. Consider the New York exhibition season just past, most notable not for nudity, which now sells tickets only on Broadway, but for the number of phalluses in plain view." ARTnews 01/04

Making Up History For London Buildings London has not always been good about preserving its best buildings. As a consequence, "London's older buildings are often invested with associations that do not belong to them. For instance, there is a 17th-century house just upstream of Shakespeare's Globe that is commonly said - on no evidence at all - to have been the home of Sir Christopher Wren while St Paul's Cathedral was being built across the water..." The Guardian (UK) 01/04/04

Search Is On For New Australian Museum Director "A top public servant, rather than a scientist or curator, is tipped to replace Mike Archer as the director of the Australian Museum. Professor Archer finished his controversial four-year reign at the Australian museum on Friday. This followed an ICAC investigation into the loss of thousands of valuable items in its collection." Sydney Morning Herald 01/05/04

Framed (Lucratively) It wasn't too long ago that old picture frames were regarded as junk with little or no value. "Today the same frames that dealers once gave away sell for $10,000 to $35,000. (The record for a single sale is $947,000, for a 17th-century amber frame auctioned at Sotheby's in 1991.) Eli Wilner & Company has grown to 17 employees and does roughly $3 million a year in business. His collection has expanded to 3,000 frames, mostly 19th-century, but some dating back to the 1600's." The New York Times 01/04/04

Germany's Fragmented Art Scene Most countries have a cultural center, where the major business of art is conducted. "Germany, however, has several centers. From north to south, these are Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Munich. This situation has disadvantages, since there is no “scene“ in which everything culminates. However, the decentralized country also has its advantages, because its auction locations live with and from their respective clienteles and their mentality, which is also reflected in their art purchases. Similarly, the international public, which focuses its attention on art auctions in Germany, (still) follows these paths." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/02/04

A Business Approach To Italy's Museums Ten years ago, Italy's museums were run haphazardly and were difficult to navigate. Then someone got the idea that m useums should be run more like businesses. "When I got here the idea was that money is dirty, art is sacred and the two things should not be mixed. It took a while, but that attitude has changed." The New York Times 01/01/04

Sotheby's Rules The Canadian Auction Roost "Sotheby's Canada returned to the top of the heap in 2003 as the country's premiere live auctioneer of fine Canadian art, grossing a total of almost $11-million from sales it held in May and November in Toronto. In recent years the company, which has run a Canadian operation for more than 30 years, has ceded its pre-eminence to the other two big players in the fine-art resale market, Toronto's Joyner Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers and Vancouver-based Heffel Fine Art... Sotheby's return to form flows out of the decision by its New York parent in early 2001 to bring two high-powered Canadians into its Toronto office." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/02/04