Category: visual

On the pro side: “powerful tribute”; “iconic image”.
On the con side: “egotistical victim porn”; “an opportunist move to hitchhike onto a current tragedy”.

“It will be all about the collection when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opens its doors to the public May 14 after a three-year rebuilding that roughly doubles its size and triples its gallery space.”

“Citing rising costs that by some estimates had reached $2.5 billion, the Japanese government announced last July that it was scrapping Ms. Hadid’s plan for the 80,000-seat venue.” This did not make her happy. “Her studio has stepped up the attack in recent weeks, saying that [the replacement] design closely copied hers in significant ways, and … raised the possibility of legal action … for copyright infringement.”

He’ll be following the very controversial installation last summer by Anish Kapoor, about which Eliasson said, “France has always been incredibly strong on the issue of freedom of expression. Culture is its cornerstone. The controversy surrounding Kapoor should not be given disproportionate importance.”

“The mystery of what will happen to Picasso’s 1931 plaster bust of his mistress and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter after the Museum of Modern Art’s blockbuster show closes on Sunday has been temporarily resolved. The two parties disputing the sculpture’s ownership … both claim that they own the bust and that it was sold to them by the daughter of Picasso and Ms. Walter.”

“No matter what else changes in the world and in the art world, that type of conversation, that vibrant talking, will remain the essential part of what it means to be a great gallerist.”

“The invention of the internet once promised to make knowledge open and accessible to anyone across the world, a perfect, radically open tool that encouraged the sharing of information and knowledge across societies and specialisms. Yet in opposition to the original nature of the web, the mechanisms behind the filter bubble are generating closed systems of knowledge. This is radically harmful to both individuals and societies.”

“Massachusetts collector Dorothy Braude Edinburg, who died in Jan. 2015, donated the money” – more than $35 million – “in her will and, in an unusual move, earmarked it for new art purchases. The final figure is still being determined.”

“This follows the debacle that ensued when the foreign buyer of a £35m work by Rembrandt, Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet (1657), withdrew an export licence application when the Art Fund decided to mount a public campaign to buy the picture for Wales.”

The Temptation of St. Anthony a 10-by-15-inch oil-on-wood panel that was probably part of a triptych, was acquired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum in 1935, where it was last on display in 2003.