Category: visual

“Adam Lerner has been named director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Lerner was previously director of the Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado, which will merge with the Denver museum as part of the hiring.”

“The biggest auction ever held in Europe ended last night with Yves Saint Laurent’s two Qing bronzes as the star lots, after objections from the Chinese government and a legal challenge failed to halt their sale. Christie’s International’s six-session sale in the Art Nouveau exhibition hall of Paris’s Grand Palais raised a combined 374.4 million euros with fees ($477 million), beating estimates….” Dealers naturally hope this has positive implications for the market in general.

“The name Brutalism – from the French béton brut, the raw concrete used by Le Corbusier and favored by modernists – is more commonly used today as a term of opprobrium by a public that profoundly dislikes the style’s rough textures and powerful forms,” says Ada Louise Huxtable. She considers two Brutalist landmarks: Yale’s Paul Rudolph Building, now restored, and Boston’s City Hall, merely reviled.

“Bacon’s early life as a rugmaker is almost forgotten, and his output so small that an example held by the Victoria and Albert Museum was thought to be one of only three to exist. His rug oeuvre has suddenly increased, however, after an Iranian carpet dealer cleaned out one of her storerooms and took a pile of rugs to an auction house in Wiltshire.”

“It’s hardly a surprise that gallery hopping has slowed during the recession. People are focused more on the necessities of life and less on what some might call extravagances. But for collectors, who see paintings and sculptures as both culturally important as well as an investment that will increase in value, the downturn is presenting a rare opportunity.”

“An elderly artist whose huge inflatable ‘dream machine’ broke loose from home-made moorings at a summer fair, killing two women trapped inside, was convicted of breaching health and safety rules yesterday. A jury found Maurice Agis, 77, guilty after two days’ deliberation, before retiring to consider two further charge[s] of manslaughter of the victims through gross negligence.”

“Facing a dramatic downturn in its endowment and waning city support, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is cutting staff, delaying exhibitions, curtailing programs, trimming salaries and – subject to city approval – increasing admission fees.”

Faced with demand in the doldrums, dealers at the Armory Art Show in New York are treating their displays more like curated exhibits than trade-show booths. “In other words, dealers want to make art precious again – not just pricey. Galleries that look like museums help do that and, when Wall Street woes have scared off buyers anyway, why not? […] Instead of encouraging people who speculate in art, treating it like a stock, these shows aim to develop true collectors, who buy and hold for years.”

“Artists John Baldessari and Yoko Ono will be awarded Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s Venice Biennale. Cited as ‘two of the most important artists of our time,’ they will be honored on June 6 at the opening of the 53rd edition of the international contemporary art exhibition in Italy.”

“An inmate serving a life sentence for murder asserts that just before his friend died 18 years ago, he confided that he was involved in the 1990 theft of more than $300 million worth of artwork from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and had stashed the masterpieces at an undisclosed ‘safe house’ in Maine, according to his lawyer.” But so far, the FBI and the museum say, the tip has led nowhere.