Category: visual

“An original work by artists and national treasures Gilbert and George would normally set you back many thousands of pounds. But from 11.30pm tonight a piece is being made available to anyone who wants it – for free. The work, called Planed, can be downloaded from the Guardian and BBC websites from 11.30pm, for 48 hours only. It will be the first time that artists of this stature have made work available in this way.”

“Artists need a very strong incentive to go through the Turner Prize mill of media attention a second time. They would need to think that they not only could, but would win. Otherwise, why bother? At this stage in their careers neither Mike Nelson (a nominee in 2001) nor Mark Wallinger (previously nominated in 1995) really need the Turner Prize in the way they once did. They certainly don’t need the exposure.”

“Mark Wallinger, whose anti-war protest installation is on show at Tate Britain, was selected for the shortlist of four artists announced today for the Turner Prize. Mike Nelson, Zarina Bhimji and Nathan Coley are also on the 2007 list for the award, given to the best British artist under 50 years old for an exhibition in the previous year, said the organizers. Wallinger, one of the major figures of Britart in the 1990s, is the most celebrated and senior of those on the shortlist.”

As Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” turns 100, Thomas Hoving confesses his own ambivalence about it and muses that the painting “is a deliberate throw of the gauntlet, a ‘screw you’ to the entire history of art. … Every aspect of the painting is at war with every preceding work of art. A more complete denunciation of accepted humanity, accepted beauty and every artistic style that preceded the work cannot be imagined.”

“An auction of new art by major living artists — part of an ongoing effort by the Metropolitan Opera’s General Manager Peter Gelb to combine the visual and vocal arts while keeping his house humming along financially — raised more than $1.8 million for future productions.”

Norway is a country that seems to work. “To make a modern economy thrive in extreme climatic and geographical conditions, Norwegian architects, engineers and designers have had to be resourceful, matter-of-fact and highly inventive.”

Neil MacGregor “left the National Gallery to take over the BM in 2002. It was on its knees. Now it can fairly claim to be the best museum in the world, and its visitor numbers – almost 5m a year – are the highest they have ever been. And it’s all down to this jacketless, giggly bloke in his gloomy and very chilly office – he says he likes it that way – overlooking Robert Smirke’s cold, colossal but loveable facade. So, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, what’s it all about, then?”

“The company said income from continuing operations was 37 cents a share, compared with a loss a year earlier of $3.94 million, or 7 cents a share, Sotheby’s said today in a statement. Revenue rose 54 percent to $147.4 million.”

A researcher has “identified her as Lisa Gherardini, a member of a minor noble family of rural origins. She later married a wealthy Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. Giuseppe Pallanti’s 25-year investigation supports a claim first made in 1550 by Giorgio Vasari. In his work, “Lives of the Artists,” the 16th-century painter and art historian named Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo as the subject of the portrait.”

“Not since New York’s Museum of Modern Art doubled its exhibition space in 1984 with the help of a 44-story condo tower next door has any art museum leveraged its land so effectively. And few museums in modern history have created a long-term master plan so thoughtfully and dynamically.”