Category: visual

The Vatican’s St. Peter’s gets a facelift, restoring some original color to the facade. Critics decry the job as a post-modern tilt,  “the desire to transform everything into a movie set.” New York Times

New York mayor accuses Brooklyn Museum of conspiring with auction house to raise the value of works in controversial show. And your point is… – New York Times
     PLUS: Legal analysis of Brooklyn brouhaha. NYT 9/30/99

An ambitious plan to build a Lincoln Center-size cultural center for Boston’s opera, ballet and Wang Center fizzles when a developer pulls the plug. Boston Globe

– for a West Side pier. The new museum would contain large exhibition wings, a theater, a skating rink and other public amenities. New York Times

IBM has spent two years and $2 million putting the museum online in high resolution. Now you can see 3000 of the museum’s artworks with just a few clicks.  Hartford Courant

• Chicago looks to regain the “tallest building in the world” title. City council meets to consider the $500 million, 112-story building proposal designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It looks “like a pencil you could snap in two.” Chicago Tribune
• People who put graffiti on walls are usually shunned – even put in jail if caught. But a group of Philadelphia graffiti artists are touring the country to explain their artform. San Antonio Express News 9/27/99 

– hiring an architect to expand without any public discussion. Boston Museum of Fine Arts director Malcolm Rogers is remaking one of America’s top cultural institutions. Many are asking – just what is he making it into? Boston Globe
     ALSO: MFA’s School doesn’t escape controversy either. Boston Globe 9/26/99

The authenticity of some of Van Gogh’s paintings have been in doubt for years. This week Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum announced a project to clear up any questions. AP

The closest thing to a papal election in the British art world is deciding who will be the new president of the venerable Royal Academy. The job has grown in recent years – but so have the RA’s fortunes and the intrigues behind getting the job. Financial Times

– was largely invisible outside its home country during the years of apartheid. A new New York show puts together artists’ work since apartheid ended – and demonstrates a nation struggling with its identity. New York Times