Category: visual

“One of the most recognizable portraits of William Shakespeare is a fake, experts say. According to Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, the image – commonly known as the “Flower portrait” – was actually painted in the 1800s, not while the Bard was alive.”

The Barnes Collection is doubling its admission price to $10 in June. “The increase, the Barnes’ first since 1995, puts its ticket prices at or below those of other major art institutions in Philadelphia and nationally. The Barnes said the price increase was necessary because of its ‘precarious financial situation, inflation, and the rising costs associated with operating our facilities and maintaining the collection’…”

The museum world was shocked when the Bellevue Art Museum (in a suburb of Seattle) suddenly closed two years ago, only a couple of years after it had opened a fancy new Steven Holl building. Now the museum has reconsidered its mission and is reopening as a crafts museum. Will it work?

The leading candidate to replace Deborah Gribbon as director of the Getty Museum has said he doesn’t want the job. William Griswold has been the museum’s acting director. “The news has been the talk of the Los Angeles art world, as well as among Getty staff members, who would not speak for attribution. Mr. Griswold also declined to comment.”

The Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver has raised $7 million of the $12-to-$15 million it needs for construction of its proposed new home. The museum is hoping to break ground for the 26,000-square foot building later this year, but must still do some additional fundraising before construction can begin. In particular, MCA/D is still looking for a lead donor to step up with $5 million.

Charles Saatchi has sold Marc Quinn’s Self, a cast of the artist’s head in nine pints of his own frozen blood, one of the works most fiercely emblematic of Britart.

“There are a lot of good things you can say about the [Minneapolis-based Walker Art Center’s] reopening–not the least of which is that it has reopened. This past Walker-less winter was a reminder of just how much a world-class arts institution adds to the life of our little metropolis; without it, Minneapolis might as well be Houston. And it’s worth mentioning that, with a price tag of a mere $70 million… the Walker’s new addition was a relative steal. [But] everything in this new wing seems to be sponsored by some corporation or another. You walk from the General Mills Lounge to the Best Buy Arcade to the U.S. Bank Orientation Lounge. In its proliferation of corporate sponsorship, the Walker is less MoMA than [Mall Of America].”

“The late Hollywood power broker and producer Ray Stark and his wife have donated 28 masterpiece sculptures to the J. Paul Getty Trust to establish a sculpture garden at the Getty Center. The 20th-century sculptures include the works of Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Barbara Hepworth, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Aristide Maillol, Joan Miro, Henry Moore and Isamu Noguchi.”

A major architectural treasure has reopened a year after a damaging fire. “Built in just six months in 1817 under the orders of Czar Alexander I for the fifth anniversary of Russia’s victory over Napoleon, Manege was considered architecturally unique from the start. Its recognizable neo-classical yellow facades and majestic white pillars were designed by the Russian architect Ossip Bovet, while its 150-foot-wide interior and triangular wooden roof were created by the French engineer Augustin Bétancourt. This hall could hold a regiment of 2,000 in addition to visitors and audiences. It was said to be the largest uncolumned interior space in the world.”

A pension scheme for artists was unveiled in London Monday. Money for the fund would be generated by artists contributing artworks. “The UK trust would aim to cover 250 working artists, vetted by experts before they join the scheme. They would contribute 20 artworks over 20 years, to be sold when prices are judged to be right.”