Category: visual

One of the largest exhibitions of Henry Moore’s sculpture ever assembled is on show in Beijing, part of the British Council’s drive to raise the UK’s profile in China. “This was as much a political event as a cultural one. For the 12 giant bronzes shipped half-way round the world are the first true pieces of modern sculpture that have ever been seen in China. – The Telegraph (UK)

Pablo Picasso was famously a member of the Communist Party, which considered him one of its most important members. He got a lot of attention for his political views (and a thick FBI file). But then came that portrait of Stalin, and… – The Guardian

“Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas, it will feature 20 works from the Russian museum and 20 from Guggenheim that will rotate every six months. For larger displays, plans call for a 63,700-square-foot building between the hotel’s casino and the parking garage for large-scale traveling exhibitions, director Thomas Krens said.” – Las Vegas Sun (AP)

“As we enter an era that could well be post-post-modern, questions are increasingly being asked about just what Modernism was or even whether it was really anything at all. It is almost as if Modernism were now being recast in the image of pomo. Modernism, in these reinterpretations, is gnomic, ironic, wavering. – New York Times

The art collector who had promised Canada’s National Gallery $20 million of art – 1600 mostly Chinese antiquities – and then abruptly withdrew the donation last week, may have had some provenance problems, a Chinese art expert says. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

The Tate Museum has struck a deal with insurers over the 1994 theft of two of its Turner paintings. The insurers had paid out £24 million on the loss. But the museum was afraid to spend the money lest the paintings turn up and the insurance had to be paid back… – The Art Newspaper

Clement Greenberg’s personal art collection of 152 works has been given to the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. “It wasn’t a consciously assembled collection: All the artworks were gifts to Greenberg. These were all people we knew. These were the people absolutely the closest in our lives. They were family and still are.” – Seattle Times

The Museum of Modern Art’s temporary home for the years that its main campus will be under construction “will be a radical departure from the tasteful, cosmopolitan feel of MOMA’s 53rd Street home. With a labyrinthine entry leading to gaping, warehouse-like galleries, the project recalls Frank O. Gehry’s Geffen Contemporary, which was originally designed in 1983 as a temporary space for Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art.” – Los Angeles Times

In a bizarre meeting of high and low culture, Russia’s Hermitage Museum is joining forces with New York’s Guggenheim Museum to open a mini-museum in the lobby of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The museum will be designed by Rem Koolhaas and will exhibit two rotating exhibits from each museum’s collection every year. The project marks the first step in a collaboration between the two museums announced last June. – New York Times

London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is suffering from falling attendance and a confused mission. Now a suggestion that the V&A offload some of its artwork to other museums. “We have marvellous pictures, but people don’t come to see them here and they don’t immediately think of Constables at the V&A. Even when they come for the paintings, it is hard to find them. Either we should rehang the paintings in the galleries where they were originally shown or offer them on long-term loan to other museums.” – The Art Newspaper