“The public opening of the MDI, originally scheduled for Oct. 7, has been postponed until sometime next year. Three planned exhibitions for the space are also being shuffled. Menil Collection director Rebecca Rabinow said the organization’s earlier move-in plan was ‘probably a little too aggressive.'”
Category: visual
Ex-Met Museum Director Philippe De Montebello Goes To Work At A Gallery
“[He] doesn’t exactly need another job. He is chairman of the Hispanic Society of America; a professor at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts; an honorary trustee of the Prado Museum; and a host of the PBS TV program NYC-ARTS. But now Mr. de Montebello has decided to add yet one more, becoming a director of Acquavella Galleries, effective immediately, where he will focus on the curation of special exhibitions and the development of publications.”
How That Glorious Italian Marble Gets Wrenched From The Earth
“The story of Italian marble is the story of difficult motion: violent, geological, haunted by failure and ruin and lost fortunes, marred by severed fingers, crushed dreams, crushed men. Rarely has a material so inclined to stay put been wrenched so insistently out of place and carried so far from its source.”
Colosseum Archaeological Park Approved By Italy’s Council Of State
“Italy’s top administrative court has also unblocked the international selection process for a new director to oversee the ancient amphitheatre and its surrounding monuments, including the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Domus Aurea. The decisions of 24 July overturn a challenge by the mayor of Rome through the Lazio regional administrative tribunal (TAR) on 7 June.”
Study: Art Hung Higher Than Eye Level Is Rated Higher Quality
Those who looked up at the work “rated the painting most positively, while participants who looked down gave the lowest aesthetic appraisals,” the researchers report. “Eye-level presentations received judgments in between.”
Philanthropic Generosity Or ‘Tax Grab’? Battle In Canada Over Donated Annie Leibovitz Portfolio
“Someone – and absolutely no one involved seems ready to say who – came up with an idea in 2012 for a patron to purchase 2,070 photos by the American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz and then donate them to … the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia … Four years later, though, a Canadian government panel that must sign off on the deduction is still balking at approving it, partly because the panel won’t accept a $20 million valuation for a collection that the donor purchased for just $4.75 million.”
They’re Going To Try A Biennial In 30 Cities At Once
“The first International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America (BienalSur) launches this September across 30 cities … Although its main hub is in Buenos Aires, the show extends beyond Argentina – to Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, among other cities.”
Three Paintings On Loan From The Louvre Catch Fire
Three paintings from the collection of the Louvre, and another 200 canvases belonging to a local maritime museum, went up in flames last Tuesday, when severe lightning caused a fire on the small island of Tatihou on the French side of the English Channel.
The Old Master Still-Life That Was Looted By A Soviet Spy And Crossed The Atlantic Four Times
“The story behind the work, [Balthasar van der Ast’s Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase,] which was originally part of the collection of the Suermondt Ludwig Museum in Aachen and then went missing for 75 years, is fit for Hollywood.”
Berkshire Museum To Sell 40 Works To Fund $60M ‘Reinvention Plan’
“In addition to two Norman Rockwell paintings, Shuffleton’s Barber Shop and Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop, which were previously disclosed, the list includes two [mobile] sculptures by Calder, [and] paintings by [Frederic] Church [and Albert Bierstadt] of the Hudson River School … The [reinvention] plan includes adding $40 million to [the museum’s] endowment, currently about $8.6 million, and a $20 million renovation of its South Street building.”