Category: visual

“Peter England, chief executive officer of the Chicago Children’s Museum for the last seven years, is retiring effective the end of April. England, 63, said Friday that his departure from the Navy Pier museum is the culmination of a succession plan, with his duties gradually transferred to Jennifer Farrington.”

“Only nine months after taking over, Jeffrey Weiss has resigned as director of the Dia Art Foundation, saying he had realized he was not cut out for the job… His exit will not come as a surprise to many in the art world. Some thought Dia and Mr. Weiss were a mismatch from the start.”

“This 74th incarnation promises to be more than the usual love-it-or-hate-it survey of contemporary art. Occupying all but one floor of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Madison Avenue home, the show will also spill over into the Park Avenue Armory on 67th Street for several weeks.”

“We are honestly thinking outside of the box. Let’s not forget that when Tom became foundation director, he was a professor at Williams and had been involved in starting the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a big leap for him.”

“Art paralysis: It is a widespread and often crippling malady, striking everyone from the new college grad in his or her first apartment to the super-rich banker, lasting anywhere from a few months to a lifetime. How many are affected is not known, perhaps because the victims are often too embarrassed to come forth.”

Guggenheim director Thomas Krens has big shoes. “At times this inconsistent, even wacky, programming was a lot of fun. For one thing, it showed that Krens was not shy about taking chances. After all, you don’t see many museums attempt to cram 5,000 years worth of Chinese art into one small building, as Krens did in 1998, then turn around the same year and put on a display of Harley-Davidsons.”

“Despite rumours of a downturn in the contemporary art market, as well as disappointing results at a Christie’s post-war and contemporary art auction earlier this month, the sale exceeded its £72m estimate and set a record for contemporary art auctions in Europe.”

There is no city on earth where art is more prestigious, and yet this fizz of excitement obscures sloppy curating – curating that is addicted to short cuts, allergic to the years of research and negotiations it takes to put on a really good exhibition.

“Up to now, if a museum or other owner of Holocaust art could show a credible chain of ownership (provenance), its title was presumed to be good and unassailable. Adding a new twist to Holocaust-looted art cases, the ‘forced sale’ issue casts doubt on this long-held presumption.”

“Nicholas Penny, the new director of the National Gallery, said yesterday that the 184-year-old institution had a duty to display art with which the public is unfamiliar rather than yet another parade of a famous artist’s greatest hits.”