Category: visual

“Was [he] a collaborator or an artist? Or both? And if he was a genius, what was his genius? His ability to trick people? Or was he able to trick people because he was an artist of genius?” Errol Morris begins a seven-part investigation of Han van Meegeren, the WWII-era painter who forged Old Dutch Master canvases.

“[He] is a scholar of North American art and architecture, 19th-century French art and the history of photography. … In San Diego, Cartwright is credited with building the Balboa Park museum’s international reputation, reaching out to a diverse community and enhancing the exhibitions and publications programs.”

“Consisting of pieces that function like supersize Legos, these sets make it easy to construct a room divider, home office, or sensory-deprivation pod on a lazy Sunday afternoon. And if your first attempt comes out looking more like a primitive shelter than the Guggenheim Bilbao, just redo it: All the pieces can be pulled apart and reconfigured endlessly.”

“The Sistine Chapel may be the granddaddy of the ceiling world, but it’s far from the only one worth straining your neck to see. As proof, the editors and members of VirtualTourist.com have compiled a list of the World’s Top 10 Greatest Ceilings.” (But they forgot the Palau de la Música Catalana.)

“Months away from its grand opening, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture is shaping up into a handsome building whose interior spaces have dramatic, panoramic views of the many historic structures in its neighborhood.” Its “signature element” will be “a four-story, metal-and-glass ‘sail’ … inspired by the Swahili trading ships that carried the culture of East Africa to distant shores.”

“An artist will be unveiled as Manchester Museum’s first resident hermit, and will live in its Victorian Gothic tower for 40 days and 40 nights alone except for a computer modem connecting him to the virtual world. Ansuman Biswas fears, however, that it may be too comfortable a gig.”

“Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the civic area will span 260,000 square feet and comprise pavilions, plazas, canals and alleyways. (About 65,000 square feet will be dedicated to exhibitions.) A dome 590 feet in diameter will hover over much of the complex. Completion is set for 2012 or 2013.”

France’s President and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi “officially opened an exhibition at the Emirates Palace hotel that includes 19 works of art bought over the last 18 months for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, as well as loans from the French national museums. Acquired for what is being billed as the first universal museum in the Middle East, the works range from a Greek ceramic figure from around 520 B.C. to two 1862 canvases by Edouard Manet.”

“Effective last week, the University of Utah museum cut three of its 15 full-time positions and reduced the working hours of remaining full-time staff by 20 percent, said Gretchen Dietrich, the museum’s interim director.”