Current International Art News

Chicago Architecture: Storied Past, Too-Starry Present? "Chicago's light has dimmed as a capital of architecture. ... In fact, the designs that Gehry and Piano have supplied for Chicago point to the twin dangers of 'star-chitecture': bombastic, signature gestures on the one hand, predictable products on the other." The Times (UK) 05/19/09

 

With Rose Museum's Future Murky, Visitors Note A Closure "Yesterday marked the closing of the Rose's temporary exhibitions on 20th-century abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann and a second show, 'Saints & Sinners.' The day had special significance because on July 22, when the museum's doors reopen, the Rose will probably not have a proper director or curator. That's the result of the university's still-developing plans to change the Rose's mission and sell some of its art." Boston Globe 05/18/09

 

Police: Stolen Henry Moore Sculpture Melted For Scrap "One of the most audacious British art thefts, the disappearance of a two-tonne Henry Moore sculpture worth £3m, has been solved by police, who believe that the internationally revered Reclining Figure sculpture was melted down and sold for no more than £1,500." The Observer (UK) 05/17/09

 

Canada's Cultural Heritage - Rotting Away? "Canada's heritage is slowly rotting away as museums merely pretty up objects that are going on display, say museum administrators and conservators. As they mark International Museum Day this weekend, they cheerfully welcome visitors into new, gizmo-packed galleries and restored historic sites. Behind the scenes, however, in the storage areas and warehouses where the bulk of any museum collection is located, they wonder how much longer they can hold time at bay." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/18/09

Chicago Art Institute Addition - A Relationship To The City "I can think of no other art museum in the world that mingles the experience of art and existing urban architecture so boldly and directly. And I can think of no other architectural heritage so appropriately considered alongside modern art." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 05/17/09

 

America's Most Endangered Places The list "reminds us how often people and groups who never signed up to be preservationists are thrust into the role. Schools, churches, hospitals all have primary purposes that make it awkward and sometimes impossible for them to be stewards of historic structures." Washington Post 05/17/09

 

Hockney: Report On Boys And Art Is Wrong "David Hockney has condemned school inspectors for saying boys are turned off art by lessons that are too focused on drawing and painting." The Guardian (UK) 05/15/09

 

Rehanging Tate Modern "Onward, ever onward! That has been the steady objection to Tate Modern's displays ever since 2000, the criticism that everything is chosen for its quick-fire impact, each hit raising a craving for more. And it is true that each of these works is exhilarating - but also absorbing. The careful arrangement of each room this time, what is more, allows for a much more contemplative pace." The Observer (UK) 05/17/09

 

Gardner Museum Wants To Demolish Building. Furor Ensues "The museum's board of trustees votes tomorrow on a major expansion plan that would pave the way for the Carriage House's demolition. And, at the 11th hour, the fate of the once-handsome building has erupted into a furor, perhaps the most serious crisis at the museum since the nighttime theft of several masterpieces in 1990." Boston Globe 05/16/09

Chicago Art Institute Exemplifies The New Chicago "If you look at the last 130 years since Chicago became a serious city, nothing really compares to what has happened in the last 15 years here. We've gone through such a good period that we can afford to rest for a while." The Art Newspaper 05/13/09

 

Renzo Piano's Sweeping New Chicago Art Institute Addition "While the Modern Wing brings an elegant aloofness to the cityscape, it also points to the infatuation of risk-averse trustees with the high-minded sensibility Piano first expressed in the 1986 Menil Collection in Houston." Bloomberg 05/14/09

At Anemic Auctions, The Buyers Are Back -- With Caution "The art market may have just laid down its new floor. The major spring art auctions that conclude Friday in New York were the smallest round in terms of total sales in five years, but collectors have begun venturing back into the market in search of art bargains." Wall Street Journal 05/15/09

 

Low-Income Kids Locked Out Of Museums For The Summer "Consider this: When the Chicago Public Schools year ends June 12, elementary students will not be able to visit for free the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Science and Industry -- because none offer free days until September." At other museums, admission for kids is free, but "they can't go unaccompanied and special exhibitions can require tickets." Chicago Tribune 05/14/09

 

A Good Night At The Auction House (Context Is Everything) "Unlike Sotheby's sale on Tuesday, where bidding was thin and buyers reluctant, Christie's auction of postwar and contemporary art ... was a buoyant hour and a half during which record prices were set for recognized artists like David Hockney." Then again, the evening's total was $93.7 million, down from $348.2 million a year ago. The New York Times 05/14/09

 

Coal Mining Threatens South Africa's Mapungubwe Ruins "South Africa's environment ministry may try block a coal project proposed by a company partly owned by ArcelorMittal because it jeopardizes the United Nations- recognized World Heritage Status of a set of historical ruins." The ruins are "remnants of what was once southern Africa's biggest kingdom.... Artifacts including a gold ornament, known as the Golden Rhinoceros, have been found at the site while the ruins include royal graves and stone walls." Bloomberg 05/14/09

Renzo Piano's Addition To Art Institute Of Chicago: 'The Effect Is Magical' Nicolai Ouroussoff: "He is not out to start a revolution. His designs are about tranquillity, not conflict. The serenity of his best buildings can almost make you believe that we live in a civilized world. The new $294 million Modern Wing ... is the closest Mr. Piano has come in at least a decade to achieving this near-classical ideal." New York Times 05/14/09

 

- And His Bridge To Millennium Park Is 'Fun With A Capital F' Blair Kamin: "Chicago, get ready for your latest joy ride. A new pedestrian bridge, which links Millennium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing, is a walk through the treetops, a sidewalk soaring through the sky. Climb the Nichols Bridgeway, as this sloping, 620-foot-long span is called, and you're hovering over Monroe Street, as though you are in a helicopter." Chicago Tribune 05/14/09

 

Meanwhile, Admission To The Art Institute Is Reduced "Following public pressure from the City Council, the Chicago Park District late this afternoon agreed to cut entry fees to the Art Institute of Chicago that were scheduled to take effect May 23. Instead of paying $18, adult art admirers will have to pay $16 - a $2 decrease, according to a park district spokeswoman." Chicago Tribune 05/13/09

 

Calatrava Design For Atlanta Symphony Dumped "Celebrated Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's dramatic, $300 million vision for Symphony Center will not survive a proposed change of location to the Woodruff [Arts Center] campus." A Woodruff officer said, "to assume you could pick up that design and move it to a different site doesn't make sense." Atlanta Journal-Constitution 05/12/09

 

Kimbell Coup: An Easel Painting By Michelangelo (Maybe) "The image is of St. Anthony being tormented by eight flying demons. The painting is on a wooden panel, 18 inches tall. And some scholars are now convinced that Michelangelo Buonarotti completed it in 1487-88 -- when he was 12 or 13 years old. ... It's rare because it's only one of four easel paintings the artist made, and now the only one in an American museum." KERA (Dallas) 05/13/09

 

NYC's New Public-Building Policy Yields Artful Architecture In the revamped process, "architects compete on the quality of their portfolios and their construction records. Building projects are grouped by cost, from high to low, encouraging smaller and younger firms to apply at the lower end; eligible architects are selected by a panel that reviews and updates the list periodically. Realistic fees are negotiated.... This makes the process more open, more rational, and more fiscally controllable. It also delivers infinitely better buildings." Wall Street Journal 05/13/09

 

After The Boom: Sotheby's Contemporary Tally Down 87% "Actor Owen Wilson, billionaire Eli Broad and former Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz watched the art market take another knock last night as Sotheby's posted its smallest New York contemporary auction since May 2003. The $47 million tally was down 87 percent, or $315 million, from Sotheby's record a year ago...." Bloomberg 05/13/09

 

Prince Charles Omits Fireworks In Speech To Architects "'Abolish the monarchy!' a tiny voice piped up at the end of the Prince of Wales's lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London last night. It was a distinctly solitary protest against Prince Charles's first big speech on architecture for 20 years." The prince -- who even said "sorry" -- was in fence-mending mode, "keen to stress that he was more concerned with 'original, in the true sense' and 'organic' architecture than with recreating past styles." The Guardian (UK) 05/13/09

The Law Of Supply-And-Demand Comes To The Contemporary Art Market "Something much more subtle than a classic boom-bust cycle is going on. The art world is punishing the overly prolific, those artists who responded (in retrospect, perhaps too hastily) to stiff demand by upping supply." And with demand going soft, auction houses and galleries are tending to avoid younger artists in favor of the tried-and-true. New York Magazine 05/10/09

 

When Fakes (Nefertiti?) Worm Their Way Into Prominence "'Nefertiti' does not look much like any other ancient Egyptian sculpture. On the other hand, it does have an early 1900s feel: somewhere between Art Nouveau and Art Deco, just right for the moment it was first seen publicly, in 1924. ... Do such worries matter? After all, scientific tests support the authenticity of Nefertiti...." Bloomberg 05/12/09

 

The Eiffel Tower's Journey From Loathed To Loved "The tower is so beloved that few today remember the storm of vitriol, mockery and lawsuits provoked by its selection as the startling centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. ... Even as Eiffel was breaking ground by the Seine River in February 1887, 47 of France's greatest names decried in a letter to Le Temps the 'odious column of bolted metal.'" Wall Street Journal 05/09/09

Fire At Zaha Hadid's Guangzhou Opera House For the second time this year, flames and smoke have damaged one of China's high-profile new architectural landmarks. According to a statement from Hadid's firm, no one was injured in the blaze and the structure of the building appears to be intact; it's not yet clear if the opening date this fall will have to be postponed. The Architects' Journal (UK) 05/12/09

 

'The Donald's Top Flops' (As The NY Post Might Say) Blair Kamin: "[T]he just-completed spire atop the 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower, the tallest American skyscraper since the 1974 completion of Sears Tower ... [is] a one-star piece of skyline stagecraft, a Kmart accessory for an Hermès suit." Chicago Tribune 05/10/09

 

LA County Museum's Fund-An-Art "The concept is simple: after curators argue for their proposed acquisitions, collectors, who have ponied up money to participate in the event, vote on what to buy with the pooled funds. Since it began in 1986 the event has raised a total of $16 million for the purchase of 157 works, now valued by the museum at $75 million." The New York Times 05/10/09

 

The Broken Promise Of 9/11's Ground Zero Designs "But even for those of us who had given up on the idea that anything good would ever emerge from ground zero, the unveiling of an elaborate new model of the revised design on Saturday at the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute was heart wrenching." The New York Times 05/10/09