Category: visual

“The art world is surfing on an international wave of money arguably higher and wider than any seen before. Art fairs — which have changed the market, drastically speeding it up and super-sizing it — are proliferating, from Shanghai to Istanbul to Dubai. And artists, even those still in graduate school, are more aware than ever of the market’s insatiable hunger.” And now – a show of work whose artists decided not to sell.

They include Barbra Streisand. “Since 2000, 27 new trustees have joined the museum’s board, bringing the total to 57. Other recent additions include author and producer Michael Crichton, philanthropist and technology entrepreneur David Bohnett and Terry Semel, chairman and chief executive of Yahoo Inc.”

“What happened to ‘The Battle of Anghiari,’ a grimacing crunch of men and horses considered by some experts to be Leonardo’s greatest painting? Maurizio Seracini thinks he knows, and he was recently given permission to restart his search, which involves using the most modern detecting equipment to peer through a 500-year-old wall in the Palazzo Vecchio.”

“Ultimately though, the aim of the museum is diametrically opposite to that of the market, no matter how cordial contact between them may otherwise be. The markets exist to sell, and would be content selling the same things over and over again. The museum’s aim is to buy something and take it out of circulation once and for all.”

The French are debating the seemliness of the Louvre renting out its collections around the world. But “the truth is that the Louvre has to raise a lot of money if it is to be run according to the standard of public service that the great American and British museums have set. If the Louvre wants to re-display a gallery it has to find the money itself, and that is exactly what the nine long loan exhibitions to the High Museum in Atlanta will pay for.”

“It has many times been said–mostly by people outside the art world who favor ostentation, or those within it who do not–that curators are the new rock stars. Over the past decade, there has been a major infusion of capital, in all its precious metaphors, into the art world. Curators are often the brokers and handlers of this currency, moving among different worlds, drawing from one to complement the other.”

Neighbors of the Barnes Collection outside of Philadelphia are mounting a campaign to stop the Collection’s art for being relocated to Philadelphia. “In a quiet, passionate – but probably futile – campaign, neighbors of the Barnes Foundation soldier on in their battle to keep the world-famous art collection in Merion.”

New York’s Museum for Africa Art is 22 years old, but it’s lived a nomadic existence. “With 90,000 square feet, including 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, the building will give the Museum for African Art a long-coveted base. Officials hope to break ground in the spring of 2008 and complete construction by the end of 2009. The estimated cost is $80 million, of which $49 million has been raised, including $12 million from the city.”

“The installation – and vandalism – of a series of sculptures in Sarasota has raised questions of taste, art, and local identity.” The sculptures are of 6-foot-tall clowns decorated by local artists, and they were controversial before they even went up. “The reasons for the exhibit’s woes remain a subject of fierce debate here. But most people blame some combination of poor planning, clown phobia, and a growing population of affluent retirees with less of a soft spot for the city’s circus past.”

British Museum director Neil MacGregor says he’s not in line to be the next director of the Metropolitan Museum. “Met Director Philippe de Montebello turns 71 in May, raising questions about who will succeed him when he decides to retire. MacGregor, who took over the British Museum in 2002, previously ran London’s National Gallery for 15 years.”