Category: visual

“Since September, four [Manhattan] galleries have shut their doors: Roebling Hall and Cohan and Leslie in Chelsea; Rivington Arms in the East Village and 31 Grand on the Lower East Side. More established galleries are hurting, too. They’re firing staff, dropping out of art fairs and extending their shows for months in an attempt to cut expenses.”

“China is to get its first major exhibition of JMW Turner’s work after Tate Britain agreed to lend the country 80 paintings from its collection. The loan, announced by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, includes key works The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire and Norham Castle, Sunrise.”

“The director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University has issued a scathing response to the university’s plans to close the museum and sell off its $350 million art collection, saying he feels ‘shame and deep regret over the shortsightedness of this decision.’ ‘I want you to know from me some basic facts,’ Michael Rush wrote in a statement posted over the weekend on the museum’s website.”

“The Brandeis vote was an act of breathtaking stealth and presumption: a raid on a museum that supports itself, raises its own funds and has consistently planned wisely for its own future without leaning on the university. The trustees treated it nonetheless as a disposable asset.”

“If there is an art market equivalent of a blue-chip stock, it is a major impressionist painting. History suggests that there will be a reliable return on it over the years. It is a lesson not lost on today’s buyers.”

“Parisians, who are legendarily allergic to queuing, waited patiently into the early hours over the weekend to see the final, all-night sessions of a triumphantly successful exhibition of Picasso paintings. Despite sub-zero temperatures, crowds besieged the Grand Palais, just off the Champs Elysées, until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights – part of a recessionary boom in demand for cultural activities which is puzzling, and delighting, the French arts industry.”

“The person rewarded was not a suspect in the heist, meaning the money was not an incentive to the perpetrator or perpetrators of the crime to ensure the safe return of the Haida artist’s works.”

“The Pasadena City Council has voted to reject a recommendation by the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission to install controversial public artworks of light tubes and giant caps on the plaza in front of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.” Arts commissioner Sasha Anawalt quits the commission in protest.

“Like banks, auto manufacturers and insurance companies that are struggling to stay afloat, however, Sotheby’s and Christie’s are laying off scores of employees in their offices around the world, restructuring departments and cutting costs in every area.”

Despite a public campaign, almost all the money has come from public funds, with a substantial donation from the Scottish Government – £17.5m, according to some sources. Ian Davidson, MP for Glasgow South West, said: “They are closing schools in Glasgow because they can’t afford to repair them, yet we can find millions to give to one of Britain’s richest men.”