During the First World War, Canadian artists painted war scenes, though not in the heroic European tradition. These are canvases to discourage the proposition of war. The canvases, packed away for decades, are now to be seen again. – Maclean’s
— Charles Schulz dies, one day before his last strip was set to run. – Boston Herald
The Tate Museum’s new contemporary home in London opens in May. ”The Tate’s ambition is to be one of the top three or four modern museums in the world. It’s not as big a collection as the Museum of Modern Art’s or the Guggenheim’s. But the only modern art museum in competition with it in Europe is the Centre Pompidou in Paris.” – Boston Globe
New York’s newly rebuilt and expanded Hayden Planetarium is a monument to wonder. (A package of stories on the new facility, exploring the building, what’s inside and how it was built.) – New York Times
The Smithsonian has entered the commercial movie business. The institution’s experts are consulting on the latest Mel Gibson movie. – Washington Post
— for the city’s smaller arts groups is the product of an enterprising young developer who happened to be driving past an old Christian Science Church. – Dallas Morning News
“In recent years, craft objects made by hand or machine have become popular everywhere. The techniques used to make them are taught at universities and professional workshops. And the objects produced are exhibited in museums and galleries and are collected with a fervor formerly reserved for Rembrandts and Rothkos. Increasingly, curators, collectors and creators in the crafts world ask whether these objects are art.” – New York Times
In November three 17th Century Dutch Master paintings stolen from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on Christmas Eve 1978 were recovered in New York. Now San Francisco’s de Young Museum is showing the paintings in unrestored condition. They dramatically illustrate the effects of neglect on old master paintings. “We know from their condition only that they’ve been kept in very adverse circumstances, probably someplace very damp,” said Lynn Federle Orr, curator of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums. – San Francisco Chronicle
Open space gets more protection than monuments and historical buildings in this land-strapped territory. – The Art Newspaper
— from Azerbaijani or Ukraine artists. Now the curtain is finally pulling back. Not surprisingly, there’s nothing that really qualifies as a unified art scene here. – London Evening Standard
