-
Why Do Designers Like '@' So Much?
"The French and Italians have nicknamed it the 'snail.' The Norwegians have plumped for 'pig's tail,' the Germans 'monkey's tail,' and the Chinese 'little mouse.' The Russians think of it as a dog, and the Finns as a slumbering cat. … Yet the Museum of Modern Art in New York has deemed it to be such an important example of design that the @ has been officially admitted to its architecture and design collection."...
-
Art Dealer Salander Pleads Guilty To $120M Fraud
'''I am deeply ashamed and sorry for my actions,' the dealer, Lawrence B. Salander, 60, said after acknowledging that he had defrauded clients including the tennis star John McEnroe; Roy Lennox, a hedge fund manager; and Earl Davis, the son of the painter Stuart Davis." He admitted "to 29 charges of grand larceny and scheming to defraud investors."...
-
LA MoCA's New Director Will Continue To Sell Art
When New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch accepted the job running the museum, he agreed to close his business so as to avoid conflicts of interest. Now he says he'll just add his dealership's inventory to his own personal art collection and sell it from there....
-
Photographers In Valencia Close Down Exhibit Over Censorship By Politicians
"The Union of Valencian Journalists decided to cancel an exhibition of photographs in the 'Illustration Museum' [MUVIM] in Valencia after all the pictures having to do with anything political were removed by the Diputacion of Valencia." The images in question concern a corruption scandal currently roiling the local government....
-
One Of World's Oldest Museums (More Than 400 Years Old) Reopens In Venice
"The Renaissance rediscovery of ancient art and architecture also led to the revival of another Greek and Roman concept - the museum." And among the pioneers of the concept were the Grimani, the noble Venetian family. The Palazzo Grimani, once "an essential landmark on the Grand Tour between the 17th and 19th centuries" but closed since the 1860s, has now been restored....
-
Flush With $7.5M Infusion, Art Gallery Of Ontario Cuts Staff
"[T]he Art Gallery of Ontario says it will lay off 37 employees during the construction of its new state-of-the-art learning centre. Despite promising an expansion of staff when the money came in, the AGO told part-time and occasional part-time workers this week that their jobs will be axed starting April 1, when construction begins."...
-
Halo, Banned On Banksy Tube Poster, Is Restored
"Transport for London (TfL) banned the halo dripping with paint on Banksy's artwork promoting his film Forgive Us Our Trespassing. The poster was reworked and displayed without the offending drips. But within days of it going up at London Bridge Tube on 11 March, the golden circle over the kneeling boy's head was repainted."...
-
Sole Rothschild Foundation Trustee Benefits From Position
"A major beneficiary of the foundation's efforts over the years" is Harvey S. Shipley Miller, who said his work is "a labor of love." "The foundation, however, failed to make promised grant payments to arts groups last year. And now the New York State attorney general's office is undertaking a broader review of the foundation and Mr. Miller's stewardship even though the grants have since been paid."...
-
Will The New Miami Art Museum Ever Be Built?
Miami-Dade voters have approved $255 million in bonds, starchitects Herzog and de Meuron have been engaged, $20 million in public money has been spent - all in pursuit of a shiny new waterfront building for MAM. That building is now two years behind schedule (so far), and the museum has lost its director and an unsettling number of trustees and donors....
-
MOCA Fund-Raiser At Private Gallery? Bad Idea.
"Appearances matter. In this case, there is no way to determine whether the relationship between the gallery and the museum is philanthropic or business-driven. That's not the gallery's problem, but it is the museum's. MOCA is stumbling into troublesome territory."...
-
SFMOMA Mulls Boldface-Name Architects For Expansion
"[G]rand masters like Renzo Piano and Norman Foster as well as emerging stars like Norway's Snohetta and London-based Tanzanian designer David Adjaye" are among those being considered, alongside "Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, Rem Koolhaas, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Steven Holl, and Mexican architect Enrique Norton."...
-
Michigan State Breaks Ground On Modern Art Museum
"Designed by Zaha Hadid, the Baghdad, Iraq-born architect who ranks among the world's foremost designers, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum features a sharply angular, glass and pleated stainless steel skin that boldly goes where no Michigan building has gone before."...
-
Museum Quadruples Visitors With Terra Cotta Warriors
"In anticipation of the crowds, the [National Geographic Museum] doubled its exhibition space and, for the first time in its long history, charged admission. ... During the show, the museum has counted upwards of 2,200 people a day, as opposed to the 550 visitors it normally receives. The financial payoff? An estimated $2.7 million in gross revenue."...
-
Lloyd Webber Foundation To Sell Blue Period Picasso
With a current high estimate of $60.9 million, "the work had been scheduled to be sold by the Lloyd Webber Foundation at Christie's New York in November 2006" but "was withdrawn after a German academic claimed it was forcibly sold to the Nazis in the mid- 1930s." The dispute was later settled....
-
Art Dubai Isn't The Scene It Once Was
"A third of last year's exhibitors are skipping Art Dubai, including dealerships such as London's Lisson Gallery and New York's L&M Arts. With booth rates discounted by 20 percent, there are 72 exhibitors -- four more than in 2009. About 40 percent are first-timers."...
-
Calling All Goldsmiths: The Bolshoi Wants You
The managers of the lengthy, expensive, complicated rehab of Moscow's landmark theater are looking for artisans skilled in a specialized Russian gilding technique to restore the Bolshoi's lavish golden décor....
-
Stratocasters And Zebra Finches
An installation at the Barbican's Curve gallery features a set of microphoned guitars and cymbals being "played" by a flock of zebra finches who flit about and perch on the instruments....
-
Rating Art: The Best Approach To Criticism?
"In fact, in all the interviews with and biographies of great artists I have read, this is how they talk about art. The truth is that overanalysing art, as opposed to intuitively rating it, carries its own dangers."...
-
Gardner Heist Author: 'Run-Of-The-Mill Crooks' Did It
"The museum was less secure than the average 7-Eleven or bank that night, [Ulrich] Boser said. According to a previous Globe investigation, the Gardner was equipped with only one alarm button and two young guards."...
-
Prosecutor: Whitey Bulger Didn't Steal Gardner Paintings
"Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly, who prosecuted [South Boston gang leader turned fugitive] Bulger and his criminal gang, said that investigators had specifically looked at a possible Bulger link to the crime, including interrogating former Bulger associates Stephen Flemmi and Kevin Weeks, but found no links."...
-
Archaeologists Find Cemetery Rife With Sexual Symbolism
"In the women's coffins, the Chinese archaeologists encountered one or more life-size wooden phalluses.... Looking again at the shaping of the 13-foot poles that rise from the prow of each woman's boat, the archaeologists concluded that the poles were in fact gigantic phallic symbols," corresponding to "symbolic vulvas" on the men's....
-
Study: Mona Lisa's Smile Shifts, Thanks To Painting Trick
"Austrian neurologists say analysis of the masterpiece shows her face appears to shift depending where a person focuses their gaze. If her eyes are stared at, it appears she has a subtle smile on her lips. But if the onlooker shifts their gaze to her mouth, then the smile disappears."...
-
Boston-Area Billboards Picture Stolen Gardner Museum Art
"[B]eginning today Clear Channel Outdoor is running an FBI poster on two of its digital billboards announcing the $5 million reward for the stolen art and urging anyone with information to contact the FBI and go to gardnermuseum.org for more information."...
-
What Does Ben Bernanke's Taste In Art Tell Us About Him?
Yes, the Federal Reserve board has its own art collection. "Rather than being predictable, Mr. Bernanke's stylistic choices at the Fed changed three times during my years at the Fed. His willingness to try different styles and periods of art was indeed the mark of a man who could be creative, innovative and flexible."...
-
Follow Van Gogh Restoration Online
A new blog will allow art lovers to follow the restoration, step by step, of Dutch post impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh's famous "The Bedroom", the Van Gogh Museum said Thursday....
|
News