Category: visual

“Sotheby’s shares declined 11.2 percent in two days amid concern that the worldwide stock-market drop will deter the wealthy from buying art.” An analyst says the extreme wealth of Sotheby’s clients makes that highly unlikely.

“The Israel Museum is one of the finest in the Middle East — if you can figure out how to get in and find the art.” Museum director James S. Snyder sees an $80 million expansion and renovation project, due to be completed in 2009, “as the solution to deep irritation over how the Israel Museum’s rich and varied collections … seem almost to be hidden in a maze of different entryways. Yet the original architecture is itself an admired work of art that no one wanted to mar.”

Visual arts will be getting some unusual exposure as part of this fall’s Toronto International Film Festival. “A new program called Future Projections will present a series of nine far-reaching installations, interactive projects and other film-related artwork at locations around the city… Eight of the nine exhibitions will be free, non-ticketed events.”

Two men suspected of having stolen two paintings and a drawing by Pablo Picasso from an apartment belonging to the artist’s granddaughter remain in police custody following their first court appearance yesterday. A third man is being held as a “supervised witness,” and prosecutors expect to issue charges in the coming days. “The paintings – Portrait of Jacqueline and Maya with Doll – were found this week, along with the drawing Marie-Therese at Age 21. They were apparently in good condition and were recovered following a tip-off from a contact in the art world.”

“It is difficult to imagine that anything remains unknown about Claude Monet, whose life and career have been picked over by scholars and bright-eyed doctoral candidates. But a revelatory exhibition [in Massachusetts] unfurls a new look at the role of drawing in the creative process of an artist whom we have always thought of as a painter, not a draftsman.”

An exhibition of paintings by folksinger Bob Dylan will go on display this fall at a German museum. “Dylan has produced more than 200 sketches and watercolours over the years… The collection, entitled The Drawn Blank Series, will hang in an exhibition alongside works by various European masters, including Picasso.”

Frank Gehry’s glittering new office building on the Hudson River in Manhattan is the superstar architect’s first New York edifice, and the first in what will shortly be an impressive lineup of new buildings by high-profile architects in the same location. The Gehry tower “rises up from the old brick and rusting iron that is the meat-packing district of Chelsea like a shimmering white yacht, its sails puffed out in a gentle breeze. Viewed from the north, it really does appear to move, sailing southwards alongside the Hudson.”

“The [Washington, D.C.-based] Corcoran Gallery of Art, testing new ways to regain its foothold as a high-profile Washington exhibition space, drew modest crowds to its recent sprawling exhibition on modernism. [But] the Corcoran increased its admission from $8 [to $14] for the show. The numbers… suggest that local residents and tourists are accustomed to free first-class shows. No matter how exquisite the exhibitions, museums that charge struggle to find a broad audience.”

“In a move that seems sure to offend art world purists, [L.A.’s] Museum of Contemporary Art will merge the worlds of art and commerce this fall by including a fully operational Louis Vuitton boutique as part of a retrospective of the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.”

“Auction house Sotheby’s yesterday posted record results after bumper sales in the first six months of this year. The auctioneer generated income of $132m (about £65m) in the first half, 92% higher than a year earlier and more than any full year in its history.”