Since CEO Tad Smith announced voluntary layoffs in November, more than 80 staffers have left, including David Norman, vice chairman of Sotheby’s Americas, and Henry Wyndham, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe.
Category: visual
Magnificence Out Of Mud: Longwood Gardens, Halfway Through A Major Renovation
“‘It’s not too often that you get to see Versailles being built,’ Paul B. Redman, Longwood’s executive director, said as he took it all in from a high terrace in front of the Longwood Conservatory. ‘It will be a very Parisian park.'”
‘He’s Now A Classic’ – Holland Cotter On Why Robert Mapplethorpe Still Matters
“An artist once reviled as a pariah and embraced as a martyr has been thoroughly absorbed into mainstream. He’s now a classic, with auction prices to match. The question is, how does the work, cleaned of the grit of controversy, hold up?”
It’s True: Art By Narcissists Really Does Fetch More At Auction
“A new study confirms your suspicions that in the art world, delusional self-regard pays off: researchers found that work by narcissistic artists is likely to sell for more money at auction than work by their humbler counterparts.”
The Met’s Bid For The Breuer
“If anyone was worried the repurposed building was going to lose its edge, they can rest assured the Met Breuer is still very much the weird old Whitney.”
The Bolsheviks Stole My Great-Grandpa’s Van Gogh, And I Want It Back
“In the early 1900s, Ivan Morozov was a wealthy Russian textile merchant … [who] began making frequent sojourns to Paris, travelling from gallery to gallery and amassing some of the world’s most valuable artworks – then, and now.”
Have Museums Lost Confidence In Their Role?
“There’s a real lack of faith in both the meaning and power of cultural artefacts and their history. Because many museums are not interested in that anymore. They’re far more interested in making themselves feel better about a past they had nothing to do with.”
Curatorial Abdication Or Enlightened Inclusion: Museum Asks Its Patrons What They Want To See
“Previously, curators and designers would do most of their work before involving others. Now, interpretive specialists, evaluators and project managers are brought in from the beginning and develop the exhibition together.”
You Can Now Create Art With A Sharpie-Wielding Drone
“Imagine if Michelangelo had been able to use drones – perhaps the Sistine Chapel wouldn’t have taken so long.”
All-Women Shows Are Popular Again
“While some artists are ambivalent about being viewed through the lens of gender, the all-women’s group show, which fell out of favor in the ’80s and ’90s, is flourishing again. At least a dozen galleries and museums are featuring women-themed surveys, a surge curators and gallerists say is shining a light on neglected artists, resuscitating some careers and raising the commercial potential of others.”