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British Art Tours In China: Cushion Or Couch?

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
beijingworldartmuseum-turnertakescentrestage

Many museums, especially in recent years, have sent their collections on tour, but rarely has one been so open about it as the Bury Art Museum near Manchester, England. There, the museum's manager, Tony Trehy, has gathered together works from several provincial museums and sent them on a multi-city tour of China in an exhibit titled Toward Modernity: Three Centuries of British Art. Now, before you move on, remember that Manchester was once a rich, rich town of manufacturing and manufacturing moguls. Hometown Bury boy Thomas Wrigley, a … [Read more...]

05/21/13 9:22 PM | filed under: Government Support, Museum Funding-Fundraising, Uncategorized |

Miami Gets Anonymous Donation, And Puts It Where It Should

May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Miami-Art-Museum

Here's a bit of refreshing news: The Miami Art Museum, aka the Pérez Art Museum Miami, received an anonymous gift worth $15 million the other day. Not only did the donor not ask for anything to be named after him or her, or acknowledged publicly -- a bit of a slap to Perez considering the controversy over the naming conditions of his gift -- but also the museum is allocating it well. Museum Director Thom Collins told the Miami Herald that “This money will go into the endowment,” because the capital campaign to pay for the cost of the … [Read more...]

05/20/13 7:42 PM | filed under: Museum Funding-Fundraising, Uncategorized |

A Much More Serious Situation In Cincinnati Than I Imagined

May 19, 2013 by 2 Comments
Betsky

When grumblings about a museum director start to make headlines, a change is usually in the offing. Given the article published in the May issue of Cincinnati Magazine, which an RCA reader pointed out to me this morning, I'd say Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, is on his way out. But it's getting a little ugly. Watching from afar, I've both praised and panned moves by Betsky in the last few years (here,  here, and here, for example), but if the article is accurate -- and it is certainly written with authority by RJ … [Read more...]

05/19/13 7:29 PM | filed under: People, Uncategorized |

So What Are The 50 Best “Galleries” In the World?

May 16, 2013 by 6 Comments
British-Art

Thanks to Yale's Center for British Art, which is trumpeting its position, we all get to see which art museums around the world the Times of London thinks outshine all the others. On May 4, it published the world's greatest 50 galleries (by which it means art museums) and on May 11 the world's 50 best museums (by which it means those not about art exclusively). Both lists are behind the Times's pay wall. But the Yale Center (at right), which won the No. 15 slot on the first roster -- incredulously beating out the Tate Modern, the Vatican … [Read more...]

05/16/13 8:04 PM | filed under: Museums, Uncategorized |

Young Audiences: How To Get Them

May 15, 2013 by 5 Comments
SFMOMA

Last week, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art issued a press release stating that it had raised 89% of the goal of its capital campaign three years ahead of schedule and therefore was increasing the goal from $555 million to $610 million. I didn't pay too much attention until I read the final line of the explanation: The additional funds will enable SFMOMA to pursue three goals: to become a national leader in digital engagement; to pursue an expanded art commissioning program in the museum’s public spaces; and to increase accessibility … [Read more...]

05/15/13 9:11 PM | filed under: Museum Funding-Fundraising, Uncategorized |

Chronological Installations: Will The Tate Turn The Tide?

May 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Visitors walk through the new galleries

For some time now, many museums have been reinstalling their permanent collections in new ways, moving away from a chronological progression to more thematic placements. Supposedly, thematic hangings are easier for visitors to understand -- at least that's the usual explanation for them. Now we have the Tate reversing course. Beginning today, ...visitors can experience the national collection of British art in a continuous chronological display - a walk through time from the 1500s to the present day. BP Walk through British Art will … [Read more...]

05/14/13 6:54 PM | filed under: Curatorial Matters, Uncategorized |

Getting More Expansive, Dallas Collectors Spread Out

May 13, 2013 by 4 Comments
Rachofsky House

Funny thing about collecting: Most of the time, collections simply grow, rarely shrinking, and they need more space. Case in point: Dallas collectors Cindy and Howard Rachofsky. They and another couple, Amy and Vernon Faulconer, are opening a building to show their collections called The Warehouse. It's 18,000 sq. ft. and is a joint venture with another couple, Amy and Vernon Faulconer. The first show is titled Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The Warehouse will also sometimes borrow works from other … [Read more...]

05/13/13 7:40 PM | filed under: Collectors, Uncategorized |

Peer Review: The Best Exhibitions and Publications of 2012

May 12, 2013 by 2 Comments
InventingAbstraction

Praise from peers is often the most meaningful, as long as it's not politicized; that's why I pay attention to the awards for excellence awarded each year by the Association of Art Museum Curators. The other day, that organization gave the blue ribbon to 11 exhibitions, catalogues and articles from 2012. One exhibition "swept" in that it won two of the 11: Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925: How A Radical Idea Changed Modern Art, which was organized by Leah Dickerman with Masha Chlenova at The Museum of Modern Art, won in the Outstanding … [Read more...]

05/12/13 5:41 PM | filed under: Curatorial Matters, Uncategorized |

Getty: Back on The Acquisition Trail

May 9, 2013 by 1 Comment
Rembrandt_13

It seems like only yesterday that I wrote here about a spectacular acquisition by the Getty Museum. But it was really in December: at the time, the Getty bought a illuminated manuscript,  Roman de Gillion de Trazegnies, by Lieven van Lathem (1430–1493), at Sotheby’s in London for nearly $6.2 million. It's a true masterpiece, and -- last I heard -- the British government was holding up the export, calling it a national treasure. The Brits have some time now to raise money to match the price. Today the Getty announced two additional … [Read more...]

05/9/13 9:47 PM | filed under: Artworks, Uncategorized |

Is This A Way To Run A Museum? What We Can Learn From Cincinnati

May 9, 2013 by 9 Comments
GWood-Daughters

Yesterday I attended the American Federation of Arts's panel titled "Art Museum Blockbusters: Myths, Facts, and Their Future." But I don't want to talk about blockbusters here, at least not today. I'm going to zero in on some comments made by one of the panelists, Aaron Betsky, director (for now) of the Cincinnati Art Museum (none of them are related to blockbusters, as the session wandered away from its original purpose at various times). I''m singling out Betsky not because of the recent news, or because of what he has done in the past, … [Read more...]

05/9/13 6:59 PM | filed under: Curatorial Matters, Museums, Uncategorized |
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