Category: visual

Controversy has dogged the new addition to the British Museum. “The project used the wrong stone; the museum was playing fast and loose with planning permission by building too high…” But now that the scaffolding is down and the building is about to reopen, the project looks brilliant. – The Observer (UK)

A collection of 204 paintings and drawings by American impressionist Mary Cassatt is being seen by the public for the first time. “Cassatt sold the drawings, prints and etchings to a Paris art dealer early in the 1900s. They have been in private hands ever since. ‘These are so pure. It’s as if they haven’t even been out of the studio’.” – Dallas Morning News (AP)

There’s a building boom going on the campuses of Oxford and Cambridge. “Cambridge and Oxford are both as much modern architectural zoos as ancient seats of learning. A glance at the roll call of architects building new colleges and faculties, and extending old ones, in the two cities shows how jealously they observe and mimic each other’s activities.” – The Sunday Times (UK)

“Museums and galleries funded by the Government are to receive an extra £46 million over the next three years. Some £22 million will pay for urgent repairs and improvements to many of the ailing buildings, including leaking roofs at the British Museum and the National Gallery.” – The Times (UK)

Guggenheim officials arrived in Rio de Janeiro this week to look at possible sites for a Latin American affiliate – “a museum that Brazil hopes would become a must-see on the international art circuit.” CNN

“The French courts have ordered the seizure of ‘The sea at l’Estaque’ by Paul Cézanne, currently on show in the Musée du Luxembourg as part of the exhibition “From Fra Angelico to Bonnard: masterpieces from the Rau Collection”, at the request of Michel Dauberville who claims it was stolen from his grandfather, gallery owner Josse Bernheim-Jeune, during World War II.” – The Art Newspaper

Christie’s announced that it has helped raise $500,000 for opening up Nazi documentation which is in Russian archives, while Sotheby’s is to assist the Council of Europe in setting up a central website on looted art. These moves reflect the auctioneers’ growing concerns over the problem of war loot. – The Art Newspaper

The Picasso might have sold for $55 million, but otherwise this week’s art auction sales in New York were major disappointments. Some 40 percent or more of the artwork failed to sell. – New York Times

While works by Aristide Maillol and Berthe Morisot also set artists’ records, featured works by Degas, van Gogh, Renoir and Cezanne failed to find buyers at the sale of impressionist and modern art. Only 60 percent of the lots were sold. – Washington Post (Reuters)

• Are museum blockbuster shows ruining museums? One art historian believes so. “Masterpieces are shunted around the world, often against the advice of conservation departments, primarily to bring prestige to the lenders, publicity to the sponsors and paying customers to the host institutions. Small or penurious institutions are deprived of their treasures, and objects which, for one reason or another, cannot be lent are increasingly neglected: less and less attention is paid, for example, to large pictures and artists who specialised in them.” – The Economist