Category: visual

One of Norways political parties proposed that the Munch Museum rent out some of its paintings to help raise money. “One can raise money to take care of these great paintings and bring art to the Norwegian people. Today some of these works are in storage and this would make them available for viewing at firms or at public facilities,”

Plans for a “freedom museum” on the site of the World Trade Center have changed. The museum will now focus more on victims of the 9/11 attack. “Some victims’ relatives have protested for weeks that the International Freedom Center museum would be anti-American and disrespectful to the dead. The museum, criticized for its intent to focus on global freedom movements, now will place the victims of Sept. 11 alongside the ‘freedom heroes of history’ in its main concourse.”

“A painting by Italian master Canaletto has set a world record for the artist after being sold for £11m – twice its expected price – at auction in London. The painting shows the Doge of Venice’s barge, the Bucintoro, with crowds on what is thought to be Ascension Day, when the Doge blessed the city. An anonymous telephone bidder bought the work, which had been owned by a Portuguese billionaire.”

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is certainly not the only American museum to recognize the economic potential of blockbuster exhibitions that come with massive corporate sponsorship, but Holly Myers worries about the museum’s soul, and wonders where all its curators have gone. “LACMA’s flirtation with corporate production is lamentable in relation to Tut. More distressing, however, is the fact that many of the same problems also plague… a comparatively low-profile exhibition that doesn’t involve extraordinarily precious artifacts and isn’t likely to draw record-breaking crowds — suggesting that LACMA’s problem goes deeper than the necessary indulgence of an occasional blockbuster.”

A sculpture by Canadian artist Haydn Davies was torn down and dumped in a field last week by an Ontario college, infuriating the sculptor and his family, who were not consulted before demolition. “Officials said the sculpture, commissioned by the college in the early 1970s for $10,000, had deteriorated so much that its lack of stability made it a safety hazard, especially to young children who liked to play around and under it.” But the family disputes the safety claim, and says that the rough manner in which the removal was conducted (a bulldozer was involved) damaged the sculpture beyond repair.

“A painting by Italian master Canaletto is expected to fetch between £4-6m at auction in London. Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day is part of a £15m auction of items owned by Portuguese businessman Antonio Champalimaud, who died last year. The painting shows the Doge’s barge, the Bucintoro, with crowds on what is thought to be Ascension Day, when the Doge blessed the city.”

When the Victoria & Albert Museum finally decided to bag Daniel Libeskind’s controversial “spiral” addition, the museum started over. “This time round the museum started by asking the question, “What do we really need?” or rather, “What does the visitor need?” It commissioned a masterplan, re-thought the whole way the museum is organised, realised the heart of this new vision was the garden, and then brought in designers to suggest what might be done to make what had become a dank and unloved space, dominated by brooding cypress trees, work.”

It’s been ten years since Denver’s new airport opened and along with it some very ambitious public art. A decade later it’s instructive to see what art has succeeded and why. “Some remain popular favorites. Some that were delayed have turned out to be hits. Some do not work, or show damage from construction mishaps more than a decade ago, or are difficult to see.”

Armed with a new US Supreme Court precedent, Americans are taking on foreign governments to “force the return of artwork. But the plaintiffs face big obstacles, ranging from resistant museums and murky ownership records to less-than-sympathetic European law. And then there’s the matter of enforcement: if you win a lawsuit against Austria or the city of Amsterdam – both defendants in current cases – how do you collect?”