Once the sole obsession of film buffs, collecting vintage film posters has become a big business over the last 10 years. Christie’s is holding its vintage film poster auction Monday, and fans – “who get their kicks from having a slice of cinema history on their living room walls” – are already speculating about record-breaking prices. “The undoubted highlight is the chance to bid for rare original ‘Casablanca’ posters, including Pierre Pigeot’s steamy exotic 1942 design.” – The Guardian 03/24/00
Author: Douglas McLennan
CAN’T GET NO RESPECT
Seems the Oscars have a category for everything – this year there’s even “Best Publicist.” So why no prize for best animated film? As usual, not one animated movie was nominated this year, despite some strong work. Critics object on the grounds that, since the advent of computer-generated imagery, feature films with digital effects and feature-length cartoons basically use the same techniques. “By that rationale, Buzz Lightyear and Woody the cowboy from “Toy Story 2” could be considered cousins to Jar-Jar Binks in “the Phantom Menace” and the dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park.” – Times of India (AP) 03/24/00
LET THE FUNDING SEASON BEGIN
Heads of the national arts and humanities endowments testify that they desperately need the funding increases proposed by the Clinton administration. “We have a dramatic inability to fund projects,” they said before the appropriations committee. – Washington Post
YANKEE ART BOOM
A new survey of the art markets shows that the United States is on the verge of exceeding Europe in art sales. While European art sales rose 26 percent between 1994-1998, the American market increased 81 percent in the same period. – The Art Newspaper
DELAYED RESPONSE
Trustees of The Boston Museum of Fine Art met last night to approve a plan to which would reveal which pieces of artwork in its collection may have been stolen by the Nazis during WWII. While the “plan” is still a mystery to the public, the MFA is expected to make a statement sometime today, and may announce some of the names of the questionable pieces as early as next month. – Boston Herald
TAKE THAT, MILLENNIUM DOME
No, it wasn’t the mega-expensive tribute to vanity that walked off with the honors in this year’s London Civic Trust awards for excellence and innovation in urban design, architecture, and restoration. The big prize went to architect Roland Paoletti and a civic work infinitely more practical – his extension of the London Underground’s Jubilee Line. – The Times (UK)
ART BY COMMITTEE
So what did you expect, already? This year’s Whitney Biennial is the product of a committee of curators, and the results are – BORING. (this isn’t good). – New York Times
- Whitney Biennial: more for tourists than art lovers. – Los Angeles Times
- AND WHERE IS MR HAACKE? In a small room on the third floor, and not making much of a fuss. Given all the controversy surrounding Hans Haacke’s piece about the New York mayor, it doesn’t come close to setting the tone for this biennial. – New York Times
- Non-radical chic – Slate
ART SCRUM
No, it’s not a pretty sight at all. Australia’s top auction houses are elbowing one another out of the way for the right to sell the $10 million Mertz collection of Australian art which will return to its homeland after 35 years in the U.S. “It’s an extraordinary collection of iconic Australian images,” said Sotheby’s Managing Director Paul Sumner. The sale’s expected to be the most lucrative art auction Australia has ever seen: “Whichever firm wins will not only earn more than $1 million in commissions but will have the chance to sell the last big collection of Australian art still in ‘private’ hands.” – Sydney Morning Herald
THOU SHALT NOT…
A stone sculpture by Berlin artist Alexander Polzin is at the center of a fiery debate in Israel. The culmination of seven months as an artist-in-residence working on a massive block of red Sinai granite, his sculpture “Der Steinhändler” (the trader of stones) has been attacked repeatedly. The attacks are presumed to be religiously motivated, by Orthodox Jews opposed to Polzin’s violation of the commandment, “Thou shalt not make for yourself a graven image.” – Die Welt (Germany)
VINTAGE MANIA
Once the sole obsession of film buffs, collecting vintage film posters has become a big business over the last 10 years. Christie’s is holding its vintage film poster auction Monday, and fans – “who get their kicks from having a slice of cinema history on their living room walls” – are already speculating about record-breaking prices. “The undoubted highlight is the chance to bid for rare original ‘Casablanca’ posters, including Pierre Pigeot’s steamy exotic 1942 design.” – The Guardian