Category: visual

There are plenty of examples throughout history of artists who wound up making a pile of money from their work, but Jonathan Jones suggests that when extravagant financial success comes too soon, an artist can quickly lose his/her edge, or at least the perspective needed to relate to the audience.

The 18-ton statue of Lord Nelson that stands atop the huge granite column in London’s Trafalgar Square has been through a lot over the years. “When Edward Baily’s statue was displayed at ground level before being winched into place in three enormous sections it was a sensation: more than 100,000 people came to see it.” But now, the elements have had more than 150 years to wear on Baily’s design, and a major conservation effort is underway.

Art conservation has become such an intricate and well-understood science that it sometimes seems as if there is no damage a skilled professional cannot undo, no work that cannot be perfectly preserved. But the paintings of Jackson Pollock present a unique challenge for restorers, with the famous spatters subject to cracking and other deterioration. A new restoration job on one of Pollock’s more famous works points up how conservators’ techniques have changed over the decades.

“Gardens at the two Getty Museum campuses could not be more different. California artist Robert Irwin’s central garden at the Brentwood Center is a constantly changing, off-balance geometric splash of color and texture. It’s a stark contrast to the beige classicism of the towering, marble buildings above it. Conversely, the elegant Mediterranean-style landscaping of the newly reopened Getty Villa in nearby Malibu is an understated partner to the estate it surrounds. Nonetheless, the two gardens share a dramatic spirit: One is a work of living sculpture, the other a piece of horticultural theater.”

There’s an outstanding new Van Gogh exhibition at a suburban London museum, but to some in the UK art world, such chances to view the work of a French master only serve as a reminder of how previous generations of Brits managed to almost completely ignore important developments taking place on the European continent. “Were we really the only nation to turn its collective back on each new movement in art as it arose, from Impressionism and Post-Impressionism to Fauvism and Cubism? … with a few exceptions, English collectors lacked the courage to purchase modern paintings, and that is why there are relatively few of these pictures in our national galleries as compared to Russia or the US.”

Frank Gehry’s plans for a $1.8 billion downtown development in Los Angeles are impressive, yes, but Christopher Hawthorne says that the first draft’s “attitude toward the city is laid bare in these models, and, stripped of architectural flourish, they reveal a project a good deal less public-minded than many of us had hoped… Particularly on its lower levels, the design is clogged with retail space — 250,000 square feet of it in total above a labyrinth of underground parking. As a result, the project is shaping up as something of a commercial cul-de-sac: a place that’s designed, like a casino or a mall, to make getting in easier than getting out or walking through.”

The challenge of creating a dynamic and thriving downtown center in Los Angeles is not limited to the pursuit of high-profile architecture and pedestrian-friendly plazas. “The developers must lure back the kind of high-end retailers who began abandoning downtown Los Angeles 50 years ago… Throughout downtown, developers are finding it is a lot easier to lure well-heeled condo buyers to the urban core than businesses. In what some see as an ominous sign, some of the historic bank buildings converted into lofts have filled their upper floors with new residents but have failed to find retail tenants for the street-level spaces.”

Having received accolades for his design of Los Angeles’s Disney Concert Hall, architect Frank Gehry is now planning to transform the look of America’s second-largest city further, with the aim of creating a viable downtown on LA’s Grand Avenue. “The $750 million project, which includes the first high-rises he has ever designed for his hometown, is the first phase of a $1.8 billion development plan by the Related Companies that will remake Grand Avenue as a pedestrian-based gathering point.”

A world-famous photography collection owned by the bankrupt brokerage firm Refco is to be auctioned off at Christie’s New York. “Photographs in the Refco collection, known to art experts worldwide, have had pride of place on the walls of the company’s New York and Chicago offices for decades… Highlights include Richard Avedon’s photograph Andy Warhol, Artist, New York City, August 20, 1969, which has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. And William Eggleston’s Memphis, from 1969-70 has an estimated price of $40,000 to $60,000 on it.”

The Akron Art Museum is more than halfway finished with a $30 million expansion and renovation. “The project is already full of dramatic contrasts between jutting steel beams, shimmering metal and the rugged concrete. But most exciting is the way Coop Himmelb(l)au has juxtaposed an unapologetically futuristic expansion next to an older, more traditional building.”