Actually, you’ll need to understand Keats, and his theory of negative capability, first – Twombly certainly did. – Los Angeles Review of Books
Category: visual
The Fight Over Repatriating African Skulls From European Museums
And not just skulls, but also entire skeletons: “For centuries, African bones have lay in boxes all across Europe, placed under microscopes or displayed in some attempt to better understand the role of humans through scientific endeavours.” – VICE Canada
That Shredded Banksy Will Rotate Through Galleries In A German Museum
Despite the fact that the shredding didn’t work as planned, the buyer agreed to purchase it – and now it’s going to the Stuttgart Staatsgalerie. But “Banksy being Banksy, it would not do for the work to simply hang on the wall where anyone can see it! … The museum plans to continually move the location of the Banksy work throughout the Old Masters and Modern masterworks collection.” – Hyperallergic
Artist Activist Group Urges Artists To Withhold Work From Upcoming Whitney Biennial
“The group, which advocates for sustainable economic relationships between artists and institutions, is urging the artists who will be invited to participate in the 2019 Whitney Biennial to withhold their works in solidarity with the museum’s staff and to demand compensation for the labor that went into making the pieces that will be included in the exhibition.” – Artforum
This Really Was An Evil Plot By The Patriarchy: Art Dealers Erased Female Old Masters And Sold Their Paintings As Works By Men
Jordana Pomeroy, director of the Frost Art Museum in Miami and a specialist in the history of women artists, says that some dealers went so far as to paint over a female artist’s signature and replace it with that of a male one “so that you can ask more money for a Frans Hals than you could for a Judith Leyster. And this kind of thing went on for many, many years.” — The Art Newspaper (podcast)
Ten-Year Restoration Of Tutankhamen’s Tomb Is Finally Complete
“In 2009, with help from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the [Getty Conservation Institute] brought in a team of environmental engineers, architects and designers to improve the tomb’s infrastructure, an Egyptologist to conduct background research, microbiologists to study the brown spots, and conservators to treat the walls. Together, they carried out the most intensive study and restoration of the tomb since [Howard Carter discovered it in 1922].” — Hyperallergic
At Manhattan’s New Museum, Workers Vote To Unionize
Associate curators, art handlers, and staff at the front desk, gift shop, and museum bookstore will now be represented by the United Auto Workers. The vote was 38 to 8. — The New York Times
Long-Stalled Plans For New Vancouver Art Gallery Back On Track With $40M Gift; Herzog And De Meuron Design Revealed
The project for a new building for the museum, first launched in 2008, has been revived from the Chan family, prominent Vancouver philanthropists who gave the anchor donation for what’s now the Chan Center for the Performing Arts. This new gift is the largest private one for arts and culture in the history of British Columbia. At the announcement, updated designs by Herzog & de Meuron were presented, showing a building clad in vertical glass logs and wood. — Vancouver Sun
What Museums Are Learning From Children’s Museums About Engaging People
“Children’s museums have led the way in the museum field regarding play and its positive effects on brain development – and now all types of museums are using play and touch to engage children and adults in interactive learning.” – Christian Science Monitor
U.S. Government Shutdown Could Torpedo Tintoretto Show At National Gallery
“The exhibition of 16th-century Italian master Tintoretto — one of the most anticipated art shows of the year — is set to open March 10, along with two complementary exhibits on Venetian prints and drawings. Preparations for the shows are weeks behind schedule because of the prolonged shutdown, the longest in history.” Three other Smithsonian museums have already had to postpone exhibitions due to the shutdown. — The Washington Post