“The idea is that while Dalí was the face of the enterprise, Gala propelled it. Dalí certainly recognised her contribution, signing some of his paintings ‘Gala Salvador Dalí’ … Can Gala, having produced no art that we know of, really be considered an artist? Perhaps not. But this exhibition does show how much Salvador Dalí – and his art – depended on her forceful personality, for better or worse.”
Category: visual
Check Out The Major Public Art In San Francisco’s Brand-New Transit Center
The Transbay Transit Center (also known as the Salesforce Transit Center), opening this weekend, features a 20,000-square-foot terrazzo floor by Julie Chang, an oval-shaped rolling-text piece by (of course) Jenny Holzer, a ceiling light sculpture by James Carpenter, and a fountain by Ned Kahn in a 5.4-acre rooftop park.
You Can Now Order A Bespoke Bed With A National Gallery Painting As Your Headboard
“Savoir Beds, known for their hefty price tag and their extraordinary contents (think cashmere made from the necks of Mongolian goats), have partnered with … London’s National Gallery to create custom beds, each upholstered with artwork on the headboard and the base.” And customers can choose any image the museum owns.
Frida Kahlo Exhibition In Hungary Criticized For ‘Promoting Communism’
In an article headlined “This is the way communism is promoted using state money,” the conservative newspaper Magyar Idők, aligned with the nationalist Fidesz party of prime minister Viktor Orbán, wrote about a popular show of the Mexican painter’s work at the Hungarian National Gallery, “You won’t believe it but Trotsky has emerged in Budapest again, this time from Frida Kahlo’s bed.”
More Museums Look To Diversify Curatorial Ranks
Eager to attract a broader cross-section of visitors at a time when the country’s demographics are changing — and, in New York, facing an ultimatum linking city funding to inclusion plans — a growing number of museums are addressing diversity with new urgency.
Does The American Museum World Take Too Hard A Line On Deaccessioning?
The case of the Berkshire Museum “raises an existential question for museums as a whole: should an institution be allowed to die on the vine to preserve collections? … Are we as a field saying that museums are ethically bound to continue ‘business as usual’ and never change their missions?” Bob Beatty surveys the dilemma and lays out a possible solution.
A Campaign To Save Unloved Architecture Of The Old Soviet Bloc
From the faded grandeur of the State Circus in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, to the concrete curves of Kiev’s Memory Park, many of these buildings have been abandoned and left to ruin, while others sit waiting for demolition in rapidly developing eastern European cities.
Preserving An Intricate, Crowded Artwork That Hadn’t Been Meant To Last
Built over 27 years (and counting) by mosaicist Isaiah Zagar and open to the public for a decade, the Magic Gardens installation in Philadelphia is now wildly popular – and the visitor traffic means repairing wear and tear that Zagar and his colleagues had never anticipated. Ashley Hahn reports on the program that’s now been set up to inspect and protect the countless tiny pieces of material in the mosaics that cover the site.
Early Banksy Mural, Painted Over By Glasgow Nightclub, Is Being Restored
The painting was created for a 2001 show at a venue called The Arches; when the club was renovated in 2007, it was accidentally painted over and then left. The Arches went bankrupt in 2015, and the site’s new owners are restoring the mural, Banksy’s only work in Scotland.
Central Park To Get Its First Statue Of A Woman
There are only five public statues of real women in New York City (excluding fictional characters like Alice in Wonderland and Mother Goose), while there are 145 sculptures of men, including statues of William Shakespeare and Ludwig van Beethoven, who are both in Central Park. “We are happy to have broken the bronze ceiling to create the first statue of real women in the 164-year history of Central Park.”