Category: visual

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the owner of a provocative painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, objects to the image’s use to stir up nationalist fear. – The Art Newspaper

“Dozens of works of art from the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be lent over the next three years to a network of … eight regional museums, from Allentown to Erie, in an initiative art officials say is one of the largest in-state sharing programs in the nation.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

“[1,169] leading conservators, curators, academics, architects and engineers” — among them former Met Museum director Philippe de Montebello and Delphine Christophe, chief conservator at France’s Centre des Monuments Nationaux — “have signed an open letter urging the French president Emmanuel Macron not to bypass experts in his rush to rebuild Nôtre-Dame-de-Paris after it was ravaged by fire on 15 April.” – The Art Newspaper

Could anyone in Dundee have imagined how the V&A project would have helped transform perceptions of the city? It has been hard to keep pace with the plaudits and accolades that have been heaped on Dundee in the last couple of years and, somewhat remarkably, there is no sign of them slowing down. – The Scotsman

Curator Ralph Rugoff: “Now that we live in a world in which you can go online and find out in two minutes that there never was a curse brings up interesting issues that seem relevant to this time.” – The Art Newspaper

It represented the future when it was first switched on early in the century. By mid-century it signalled decline more than it did excitement… – The Atlantic

Now come the trickier questions. Should the cathedral be restored to look as it did before?  Or should some modern changes acknowledge the fire? Hardly had the fire died down when French prime minister Édouard Philippe announced an international architectural competition to design a replacement spire “suited to the techniques and challenges of our time.” – Dallas News

The lack of almost any original ideas, a true understanding of the history of festival structures – other than at Do Lab — and experimentation with new images, forms, or structures seems to preclude anything but a giant trash heap, where the remains of these designs will join the millions of plastic water bottles and other detritus left behind by the event in just burdening our planet even further. – Dezeen

The Canadian-American architect hopes the project will “recapture that feeling of old Hollywood splendour” that existed during its early years. “Once upon a time, Hollywood Studios had an important architectural presence in the city – they were like monuments to the movie-making process,” said Gehry. – Dezeen