Category: visual

“In retrospect it may yet come to seem a pity that the Austrians declined to buy all five works for about the same amount that Mr. Lauder paid for Adele, saying the price was too high. At least the works would all have remained on public view.”

He had agreed in principle to the loan, but when his tough terms proved unacceptable, the V&A’s request was dropped.

AJBlogger Tyler Green takes issue with NY Times critic Michael Kimmelman’s story about selling off Klimt paintings recovered many years after being stolen by Nazis. “He views the Bloch-Bauer heirs selling of four Klimts as emblematic of greed, as sad examples of what happens in a booming art market. He thinks it’s too bad the paintings could go into private collections… if you want to be angry at someone for not ensuring that the Klimts ended up in private collections, what about the wealthy trustees at major museums?”

“The Museum of Fine Arts announced yesterday that George D. Behrakis, with a gift of more than $10 million, has become the biggest identified contributor yet to the MFA’s planned $500 million expansion campaign. … Museum officials praised Behrakis for being willing to publicize his contribution. In the past, they’ve been frustrated by the insistence of many of Boston’s biggest arts donors on anonymity. By agreeing to be named, officials said, Behrakis makes it easier for the museum to recruit donors.”

Lee Rosenbaum defends Michael Kimmelman’s view that heirs who get restitution of Nazi-looted art ought to consider making it possible for museums to acquire them. “A public-spirited disposition of such art would underscore the point that righting the wrongs of the Holocaust is, above all, an issue of principle, not personal gain.”

“At least half the 10th International Architecture Biennale, held in various locations in La Serenissima this autumn, comes as a disappointment. The main exhibition – held in the old naval dockyard, the Arsenale – raises questions of world importance; but the solutions by architects, displayed in the national pavilions in the nearby Public Gardens, are, for the most part, weak, flippant and severely lacking in imagination. There is little here that might have excited Calvino’s Marco Polo.”

The Tate releases a list of prices it has paid for recent purchases. “If the public wants to have transparency, they have to recognize that there may be additional costs to the public purse. I still believe it’s probably the right thing to be doing.”

Tate Britain has had its biggest year at the box office since Tate Modern opened. “A record 1.7 million people visited the original Tate gallery at Millbank, partly thanks to a promotion of its free collection. BP, which has sponsored regular re-hangs of Tate Britain’s displays, has now renewed its support until 2012.”

The largest collection of ancient art rock in the world is under threat, says a new report. “The carvings are 6,000 to 30,000 years old and chronicle the cultural heritage of ancient Aboriginal societies. The petroglyphs are under threat because of acid rain from existing petrochemical plants in the region, and projects that involve blasting to clear the way for development, the report said.”

Writing that is 3000 years old in a language not known before now has been found on a stone in Mexico. “Scholars are tantalized by a message in stone in a script unlike any other and a text they cannot read. They are excited by the prospect of finding more of this writing, and eventually deciphering it, to crack open a window on one of the most enigmatic ancient civilizations.”