Category: visual

Tate Britain had the “highest rise in visitor numbers among the country’s leading tourist attractions. The total number of visitors that passed through the Millbank gallery was 1,733,120 – up 58 per cent in 12 months. By contrast, almost all other leading attractions in London slumped after the 7 July bombings. The National Gallery had 15 per cent fewer visitors, the London Eye was down 12 per cent and the Tower of London by 9 per cent.”

One of architect Louis Sullivan’s Chicago masterpieces is being restores. “For architecture lovers, the restoration is a revelation, like hearing the finale of a Beethoven symphony for which the music was long lost. But the job has implications that reach far beyond the southeast corner of State and Madison Streets. It proves that sensitive preservation architects and skilled craftsmen still can do this kind of thing, even though skeptics claim otherwise.”

Metropolitan Museum director Philippe de Montebello on returning artwork to countries of origin:”Perhaps those countries will realize that the tougher their patrimony laws, the more they are victims of illicit looting. Are you suggesting that allowing countries to prohibit the export of artwork they deem to be part of their national heritage needs to be re-examined? Of course. Can you imagine if every Rembrandt were in Holland and every Poussin in Paris? It is safe to diversify a stock portfolio; it is also safe to diversify the shared heritage of mankind.”

A few weeks ago a scientific study of a set of paintings said to be by Jackson Pollock was released, contending that the paintings were not authentic. But other experts disagree with the findings. “By authorizing only journalistic summaries of Taylor’s work, the Pollock Krasner Foundation has prevented disinterested scholars from reviewing his analysis. Instead, it has bolstered a negative view of the newly discovered paintings without giving anyone else a fair shot at critiquing.”

“Over the past two decades, Ohio has become an important venue for innovative buildings by star architects from around the world. Public agencies, museums and universities have used edgy, forward-looking buildings to change perceptions, to erase regional isolation and to broadcast optimism about the future. The newest sign of the trend is the nearly completed Campus Recreation Center at the University of Cincinnati.”

Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover is to give £10 million to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the largest donation ever made to a UK museum or gallery outside London.

“When Sotheby’s announced this week that ‘The Pond — Moonlight,’ a platinum print by Edward Steichen owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had sold for almost $3 million to an anonymous buyer, it was as if continents had shifted in the photography world.”

Many museums have depictions of Muhammad in their collections. So what to do now that the cartoon controversy has escalated?

Los Angeles art dealers say they’re under-represented in the annual New York Armory Show. “This year, a group of L.A. dealers have had enough. They’ve organized their own show — called L.A. Art — in New York the same days as the Armory Show, March 9-13. The organizer of the show, says the bias against L.A. dealers left them with no choice. ‘Absolutely, Los Angeles is underrepresented’.”

London’s Hayward Gallery, part of the prestigious South Bank Arts Centre, has plucked its new director from San Francisco’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. Ralph Rugoff, who is “known for organizing unorthodox group exhibitions and writing provocative essays on contemporary art,” will take up the post in late spring.