Category: visual

• Art auctions are going online. Though online auctions are a relatively small business yet, the larger auction houses are setting up. And a new Australian venture is testing the waters: “The two partners say that by auctioning works on Sold.com they are making ‘high-quality investment art’ available to the general public at up to half the normal retail price.” – The Age (Melbourne)

The Terra Museum is well-endowed – to the tune of $400 million. It’s got an extensive collection of “historic American art.” But the museum is almost completely ignored in Chicago. So the founder’s widow wants to move the collection to Washington DC. But a Chicago judge won’t let her. – Chicago Tribune

Worldwide art auction sales increased 16 percent in the 1999-2000 season. “The US sold $922 million worth of art and the UK sold £578 million; closest behind them were France with £93 million ($130.8 million) and Germany at £46 million ($64.7 million). Italy came fifth with £26 million ($36.6 million).” – The Art Newspaper

Canada’s Ontario government decides to turn control of the disputed McMichael Gallery back to the gallery’s founders. The decision could have a wide impact. “The spectre of government intrusion into the direction of a gallery robs curators of other galleries of the ability to assure potential donors that their artworks will be held securely in the future, said Richard Darroch of the Canadian Museums Association.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

New book charges that Canadian museums have become too populist in trying to compensate for cutbacks in government funding in the 1990s. – CBC

The Barnes Collection, deep in financial trouble, considers selling some objects. “Envisaged for the block are not the Matisses and Cezannes that the now disgraced former Barnes director Richard Glanton wanted to sell for $200 million, but pottery and other personal property which remain in the offices and other locations that belong to the foundation.” – The Art Newspaper

“Artists don’t understand politics better than anyone else. Why should they? So when they turn their political views into art, something often goes wrong. Not always, of course. Goya and Picasso made great art out of political protest, but did so by going beyond the issues of the moment.” A new show in London looks at protest art from the 1960s and ’70s. – The Telegraph (UK)

Two of the U.S.’s major photography institutions – New York’s George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography – have entered an alliance to maximize the strengths of both collections. Educational programs, joint cataloging, and a new Web site are all planned. – New York Times

Art critic Robert Hughes will have to face a retrial of his dangerous driving charges from a May 1999 accident. A Western Australian court upheld an appeal to reopen the case. – Yahoo! News (AFP)

“Shares of Sotheby’s Holdings rose more than 15 percent yesterday after the board of the beleaguered auction house agreed to pay $256 million to settle a class-action claim that it colluded with Christie’s to fix commissions charged to buyers and sellers.” – New York Times