Category: visual

Why were Frank Lloyd Wright’s plans for Baghdad not accepted in the 1950s when he drew them up for the King of Iraq? “Wright’s plans were deemed ‘rather grandiose’ by the revolutionary government and were not built. The simpler and cheaper university plan conceived by Gropius was built, as was Gio Ponti’s design for a Ministry of Development building. In 1981, a portion of Le Corbusier’s design for a sports complex was completed. The building was dedicated as Saddam Hussein Gymnasium.”

These are not good times for the corporate art collection. “Many companies – including Reader’s Digest, CBS, IBM and Time Warner – sold off expensive collections in the late 1990s when the economy was good and they could turn a profit on the art. Others, such as Chicago-based accounting firm Andersen, have liquidated collections during economic crises. The commitment to corporate art has been shrinking since the boom years of collecting in the 1980s.”

Greeks are building a museum in Athens they hope will someday house the Elgin Marbles. “But paradoxically, those behind the museum – which is being built to house priceless ancient artefacts – stand accused of destroying many such artefacts in the process. Greek heritage is being lost from the building site, say critics. And the complaints are coming from the Greeks themselves. They are not part of some underhand British plot to scupper the mounting pressure for the return of the marbles within the next 12 months.”

“There’s nothing like the art market for bringing a glint of piggish excitement to an investor’s eye. Trouble is, only the savviest – or luckiest – can hope to make a penny out of it. If you believe what art dealers tell you, times are hard.”

In 1957, the King of Iraq asked architect Frank Lloyd Wright to come up with a grand master plan for Baghdad. “Now, half a century and a ‘war of liberation’ later, some Islamic scholars think it’s time for Iraq to take another look at the American architect’s vision for the narrow, sun-bleached streets of low-rise 1950s Baghdad. If built, his plans, which included an opera house, university campus and post and telegraph building, could, they say, do much to disabuse Iraqis of the view that Uncle Sam is intent on erasing Islamic culture.”

Animal rights groups are furious at artist Damien Hirst, who is using the wings of thousands of butterflies for his new project. “The man who made his name sawing up cows, pickling sheep and suspending sharks in tanks of formaldehyde has been busy over the summer plucking the wings off thousands of tropical butterflies. Animal rights activists, who have previously taken a dim view of his stark meditations on life and death, are not amused.”

Toronto, like many cities, is caught up in the big museum-building craze. But what about what goes on inside, wonders Philip Marchand. “For the past 10 years, at least, there has been a drastic decline in such research and expertise in museums throughout Ontario. This decline has hit historical and regional museums the hardest, but it has also affected institutions such as the AGO. Libeskind’s Crystal and Gehry’s AGO expansion will not solve this problem, and may, in fact, aggravate it.”

San Diego Museum of Art director Don Bacigalupi has been named director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. Bacigalupi is said to have rejuvenated the San Diego Museum in the four years he has been there.