Category: visual

“Culture-seekers have one day left to visit the UK’s oldest public museum – Oxford University’s Ashmolean – before it closes its doors for nearly a year. The 325-year-old visitor attraction will be shut to the public from 23 December for a £61m revamp.”

Jacopo Tintoretto’s awkward “Nativity,” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, has been hiding something. “In the Renaissance equivalent of a cut-and-paste job, it appears that Tintoretto changed his mind about the subject, cut the original canvas to rearrange the pieces he didn’t like, then – perhaps two decades later – painted over parts of the result to come up with an entirely new composition. The painting that is now a horizontal nativity was once a vertical crucifixion.”

“The 183-year-old academy, a museum and school that played a pathbreaking role in fostering a New York art scene in the 19th century, is in serious trouble. Having sold two important Hudson River School paintings from its collection this month to pay bills, the institution was recently branded a pariah by the Association of Art Museum Directors.” Artist members have rejected the notion of selling the academy’s Fifth Avenue museum and other properties.

“Ahead of its scheduled visit to London, Chanel has cancelled its travelling Mobile Art tour, the fashion house announced over the weekend. Karl Lagerfeld’s ambitious art-meets-luxury project sees twenty artworks based on Chanel’s iconic 2.55 quilted handbag … displayed in a Space Age-inspired structure created by Zaha Hadid, which is currently in situ in New York’s Central Park.”

“Christie’s International will announce a ‘reorganization’ in January, the auction house said yesterday in an e-mailed statement, as the financial crisis continued to dampen demand for art.”

“The venerable Hôtel Lambert, a 17th-century mini-mansion in the heart of Paris, was recently sold to the Gulf royals, but the change is more than one of atmosphere. The new foreign owners plan a massive refurbishment – and have walked into a row on the scale of their £70m property’s painted ceilings.”

As an initial step, the director has laid off 18 researchers, though some may stay if grant money can be found to cover their salaries. “We were living beyond our means,” said Director Richard Hodges. He said the museum’s finances are unsustainable, and that the museum must refurbish its exhibits and “get its income up.”

“Lovers of Dan Brown novels will be salivating at the discovery of three previously unknown drawings on the back of one of Leonardo’s major works. A curator spotted the sketches on the back of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne when it was taken down in September for restoration.”

“In politics [in 2008] the old order was voted out. In the art world money is running out. Auctions are iffy. Galleries are closing. Museums are in slash-back mode. So 2009 could be 1989 all over again. Important to remember: The last crash opened the art world’s tightly guarded gates to a wave of upstart talent and radical new ways of thinking. That was great. It could happen again.”

The mayor of Los Angeles has weighed in on the MOCA mess. “His letter to board co-chairmen Tom Unterman and David Johnson asks that the board take time to thoroughly review its options and set aside 30 days to allow the public an opportunity to provide input before a decision is made.”