The some 100,000 plaintiffs in the class action suits against Sotheby’s and Christie’s reveal how they propose to split the $512 million settlement with the companies. – New York Times
Category: visual
SISTER WENDY DOES AMERICA
Sister Wendy has a new book out featuring her visits to six museums in the United States. While she can usually spot the best artwork, “it is difficult to dispel an air of humbug surrounding the whole Sister Wendy phenomenon, the way she has allowed herself, perhaps unwittingly, to be marketed to the public by savvy packagers who know they have a good thing going.” – New York Post
A DEALER’S MEMOIR
Chicago art dealer Richard Feigen sees art endangered everywhere — “by a misplaced egalitarianism, by a trendy, superheated market in contemporary art, by the fads that museums do not always have the willpower to resist, by trustees who wrest control from more knowledgeable museum directors and curators, and by opportunists who use collections for their own aggrandizement. Indeed, he provides plenty of scandalous examples of exactly these problems as they have affected major collections.” – Book Magazine
THE LINE BETWEEN ART AND COMMERCE
More and more museums are showing commercial work sponsored by corporations. Commercial work as in motorcycles or clothes or advertising. The shows have proven popular both with audiences and corporate interests. But to what extent are museums selling their souls for such shows? – Chronicle of Higher Education
THE OLD SUPPLY AND DEMAND PROBLEM
Last week’s big auction sales in New York starkly reflect the problems of an almost overly robust art market: There are now so many wealthy buyers ready to throw their disposable income onto their walls that the auction houses are having trouble meeting demand with high-quality works. “Rich collectors are under no financial pressure to sell, and when they decide to do so they often have hopelessly unrealistic, some would say greedy, expectations of the prices they will get. This problem is compounded by the fact that three auction houses are now fishing in a pool where once only two cast their bait.” – The Telegraph (UK)
WHERE ART AND VALUES COLLIDE
JSG Boggs travels the world racking up bills that he then offers to settle with his drawings of money at face value. Think this $100 bill isn’t worth a $100? You’d be a fool not to take it. – New Statesman
ANOTHER USE FOR CRAWL SPACE
With its collection bursting the seams of its main museum spaces, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has created a new Byzantine art gallery to be unveiled this week in the dark, brick-lined space beneath its Grand Staircase – nicknamed “the Crypt.” – New York Times
A BATH FOR ART
The owner of an seniors’ home in the UK called his insurance company after a water tank drenched the lower floor of his house. “While counting the cost of repairs, they found the torrent had washed away a coat of grime which coated the dining room ceiling below. And to their amazement, they realised the panels were decorated with antique paintings, hidden from view for decades at the 250-year-old residential home. The paintings are worth £500,000. – The Sun (UK)
BUILD ON THIS
Promoting a movement called the “second modernity” Holland is considered to be Europe’s top nation for architecture. Is it? – The Independent (UK)
BUILDINGS YOU HAVE TO LOVE
Has London gone back to the sixties? “London is again a swinging world capital, we have a Labour Government that wants to “modernise”, the economy just goes on booming, billions of pounds are promised on roads programmes, immigration has returned as a political issue and architects can do no wrong. Today, Government ministers fall over themselves to praise new buildings and the public flock to each new excitement. As in the Sixties, it is no longer fashionable to be sceptical about modern architecture.” – The Telegraph (UK)