Category: visual

“For sale (still): one Old Master painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated 1518, which found no takers five weeks ago when it went on the block in New York. Details available from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which, according to a spokeswoman, has since put it on consignment for a private sale.”

“More than 1,000 murals are on view across San Francisco, addressing subjects like the plight of immigrants and farm workers, the impact of the political wars in Central America in the 1980s, AIDS in Africa, gentrification… and the joys of bicycling and buying locally grown produce.” But what happens when political street art moves indoors, into a museum?

“The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach has received a big boost to its long-term financial outlook with a $25-million endowment from the estate of its founder.”

Christopher Knight: “The show [‘Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night’] is said to have been a success because 437,000 people came to see it during its 15-week run. I was among them, but I remember things somewhat differently… [The exhibition] ranks high among the most embarrassing shows I’ve seen in a major art museum.”

“The Armory Show, which is on through Sunday, has always been closely watched for what it has to say about the health of the art market. Scrutiny will be particularly intense this year. And while sales tallies can’t be known for some days, observers may perceive advance indicators of distress.”

Jen Graves attempts a list of the “25 Greatest Works of Art Ever Made in Seattle.” Commenters weigh in…

“Faced with a dramatic drop in revenue, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts took steps Wednesday to cut its staff and budget by 6 percent, and reduce exhibitions and programs by as much as 20 percent next year.” Director Kaywin Feldman, who took a 10 percent pay cut, said the museum will not do away with free admission, which she called “a core value.”

“MoMA’s new site, which makes its debut on Friday, is an almost complete reconstruction of how the museum presents itself online” as well as an attempt “to transform how the public interacts with an institution that can sometimes seem forbidding and monolithic.” Among other things, it will “include what its designers call a ‘social bar’ at the bottom, which when clicked will expand to show images and other information that users can ‘collect’ and share.”

“Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills announced today that Saturday’s opening of a new work by Chris Burden, ‘One Ton, One Kilo,’ has been postponed indefinitely while the search continues for 220 pounds — or about $3.3 million worth — of gold bars needed to assemble the piece.”

“The job tracking down abstract expressionists is an unintended consequence of a little-known 1977 [California] law designed to cut artists in on the profits from the resale of their works. … In theory, the law is a boon for artists. In practice, it means [Patty] Milich sometimes must spend months trying to deliver paltry sums to people who have faded into obscurity, moved abroad or simply don’t want to be bothered.”