Category: visual

Dallas may be better known than Fort Worth, but until recently, if you wanted to see great art in the Texas Metroplex, you had to head west, to Fort Worth’s impressive museum district. But that was before Raymond Nasher decided to keep his extensive sculpture collection at home, and put it to good use in downtown Dallas. “As I strolled through the Nasher’s light-filled galleries, this new urban shrine to modern sculpture seemed remarkably understated, unusual in image-conscious Dallas… Finally, Dallas can claim, without the braggadocio the city is famous for, that it too is an art destination.”

“In June 1929 a squad of embarrassed policemen raided the Warren gallery in London, and seized 13 paintings by DH Lawrence. They were spared from being burned on condition that they were never exhibited in Britain again.” Guess what – here they are…

As the process of selecting the architect who will design and build the memorial to the victims of 9/11 progresses, other architects are weighing in on the finalists. Some say all the designs are too complex, while others complain that minimalism is too dominant across the board. “Many of the architects had practical questions: What happens to all those water features in case of drought? Can such vast spaces underground be free of columns? How many people can cross a narrow bridge at one time?”

Millions of new visitors have been streaming into the UK’s museums since admission fees were abolished two years ago. So the free admission policy has been a big success, right? Maybe not. Museums are broke. They don’t get enough money to pay for operations. “Times are indeed so hard for our national museums – who have never had so many visitors – that they are being forced to go cap in hand to pay for bog-standard two-ply tissue.” Yes, that’s toilet paper…

Grayson Perry is the hottest British potter ever. But “what is it about Grayson Perry that makes critics rummage in their tool boxes for monkey wrenches and lump hammers? Partly, it is because he is a potter. What, say critics down their noses, are ceramics doing in an art gallery? People don’t seem to have a problem with Picasso’s ceramic art, but they do with Perry’s.”

Is Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum $120 million expansion still on track? Museum officials aren’t saying for sure. “One can understand why some people at the museum have been a little testy the past year. You would be cranky, too, if you had lost one museum director, one board president, and five trustees in a matter of weeks because of conflicts over the direction of the capital-endowment drive.”

Can a private art museum make money? Charles Saatchi’s new London galleryseems to be doing well. “The gallery has had 320,000 visitors since relocating to its new premises in County Hall and opening to the public on 17 April. Ticket prices are £8.50 for adults, £6.50 for concessions and £5 for pre-booked groups. Assuming that just over half pay full price and the remainder pay an average of £6, then, according to our estimate, this adds up to an income of around £4 million a year.”

“For the past 100 years, countless pictures in Van Gogh’s style have surfaced in the Breda [Netherlands] area, but except for those bought in the very early years, none have been accepted as authentic by specialists. Now, for the first time, a museum is bringing together 40 of the most important questionable works to give both experts and the public an opportunity to see them and pass judgement.”

The Smithsonian will not remove beer ads adorning a famous plane when it goes on display. “Twenty members of the House of Representatives had complained in a letter to the Smithsonian’s museum that the beer logos represented commercialization and alcohol advertising.”

“A Dutch museum opens an exhibition this weekend of what it claims is a previously unknown painting by Vincent van Gogh, and says there may be more among a collection of 250 works once regarded as worthless.”