Category: visual

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Dali show earlier this year “generated $55 million for the Philadelphia region, including $4.46 million in state and local taxes,” says a new study.

“Canadian architect Frank Gehry has been hired by Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods group LVMH, to produce designs for a new museum in Paris. If the project goes forward, the new museum would house works from the French billionaire’s contemporary art collection.”

Hours after police in Denmark recovered a $40 million Rembrandt stolen five years ago from Sweden’s National Museum, it was revealed that the other major work stolen from the museum in that infamous raid, Renoir’s portrait entitled A Young Parisienne, had been recovered months ago by American authorities. The Renoir recovery was kept quiet so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of the Rembrandt. Four men are in custody and will likely be charged in the crime.

The Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University was architect Peter Eisenman’s first large-scale work, a renowned 1989 building. But it leaked. And the temperature inside swung wildly during the day. Eventually the museum had to close for a redo. “That leaks and zigzagging temperatures would plague such an experimental building is not so surprising, some architects say, given that the design elements would have been challenging for any structural engineer. But, inevitably, the setbacks of celebrated architects seem to draw attention.”

It was a painting by a mediocre artist. But there was something under the top layers of paint. “What lies beneath is a Titian, a unique double portrait of a mother and daughter whose subjects remain an intriguing mystery. Christie’s yesterday announced it was auctioning Portrait of a Lady and Her Daughter in December for an estimated £5 million.”

The currently missing Scream may be Edvard Munch’s best-known painting, but the bleak, horrible emotion running through that work is a good representation of the artist’s overall body of work. In fact, Munch was arguably the world’s most skilled artist at inspiring a feeling of utter dread in those who view his work. “His relentless and self-absorbed despair makes everyone else’s spleen look almost kittenish. Hell, you realise, could be defined as being locked in a small room with Edvard Munch for all eternity; and certainly it seemed that way to Munch himself.”

“A self-portrait by Rembrandt has been recovered by Danish police, nearly five years after it was stolen in a daring raid on Sweden’s National Museum. It was retrieved on Thursday during an operation at a Copenhagen hotel that resulted in the arrest of four people… The artwork – which was reportedly undamaged and still in its original frame – is worth an estimated £34m.”

Not every museum can afford to bring in the so-called blockbuster shows that have increasingly come to be the financial backbone of the visual arts industry, but smaller institutions do have another option for drawing a crowd: a single, spectacular, and (most importantly) high-profile work borrowed or bought to get bodies in the door. These “destination pictures” not only serve as a draw unto themselves, but unlike a blockbuster show, they sit well in the midst of the museum’s larger collection, inviting patrons to experience all the museum has to offer.

The Freedom Tower may be looking ever more like a lost cause, but “four years on, there is an architectural renaissance in New York that would have been difficult to imagine in the weeks that followed 9/11. Since the 1960s, the shape of New York’s skyline has been under the control of savvy developers who made fortunes erecting uniform brick apartment towers and boxy office buildings. Architects wanting to do something new had little choice but to look to Europe or Asia. This is changing: New York is once again becoming a city where adventurous architecture can happen.”

“Some of the Chicago area’s most important architectural treasures are in danger, and because of various pressures — including the opposition of local developers, corporations, municipal governments, aldermen and planning commissions — they may soon be altered beyond all recognition or completely demolished.”