Category: visual

An Art Prize That Has Engaged Philanthropists In Social Justice?

Collectors have historically deferred to institutional givers to do the heavy lifting when it comes to traditional grantmaking and the red-hot area of activist art in particular. This is why Gund’s Art for Justice Fund is so important. It’s predicated on the idea that by selling their work, collectors can advance social justice. As Ford President Darren Walker noted, “art has meaning on a wall, but it also has meaning when it is monetized.”

A Brief History Of Ink

“Although historically ubiquitous and seemingly omnipresent, ink is anything but simple. … On a basic material level, inks consist of two components: colour and a way for that colour to attach itself to its intended surface, be it papyrus, parchment or paper. But the way that those elements combine, and the ingredients used to make them, offer a variety of permutations, proving ink to be one of the most curious and complex objects in human history.” Lydia Pine chooses half a dozen different inks from across the centuries to tell the story.

Emperor Constantine’s Giant Finger Found In The Louvre

“A bronze index finger in the Louvre, which was initially believed to be a toe, has been revealed to be the index finger of a colossal bronze statue of Emperor Constantine in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. Fragments of the 12m-high, early fourth-century bronze statue of Emperor Constantine are among the most valuable bronzes in the Capitolini’s collection.”

Jeff Koons’s Tulips Will Not Be Going In Front Of The Eiffel Tower Or The Palais De Tokyo

“After a year and a half of negotiations and controversy, the city of Paris has still not found a site for the controversial sculpture the American artist gifted to the city in memory of the victims of the 2015 terror attacks. The French Culture Minister has now publicly stated that the work will not be installed at the Place de Tokyo square in front of the Eiffel Tower, as the artist had initially proposed.”

Tom Wolfe’s Notorious Critique Of The Architecture Profession Still Has A Point

“Wolfe was wrong to mock Modernism as purely utilitarian, and to let its worst abuses speak for the entire genre. … What Wolfe got right — and it’s a criticism that still rings true today — is his skewering of what can be an insular, snotty, tone-deaf culture, from the almost religious zealotry of the early days of Modernism to now.”

L.A. MOCA Hasn’t Had A Good Director For Two Decades, And ‘That Desperately Needs To Change’

Philippe Vergne, whose contract is not being renewed, is “the third MOCA director in a row who hasn’t been able to make the switch from smart, talented curator to top administrator at a major art museum, and I fear the museum cannot survive another one,” writes Christopher Knight, who argues that the problem is most likely with the museum’s board of directors.

Britain’s Queens Of Pattern Influenced The Country’s Look For Decades

These women were part of”a succession of great women designers and illustrators who still shape the world we look at and who are finally being given their due recognition as cultural figures. They survived in an era when female printmakers were rarely trusted with the bank loans or investments that might have allowed them to set up their own design houses. Instead they worked anonymously as freelancers.”