What art-lover doesn't have mixed feelings about crowded museums? Even as many took encouragement from the statistics released by the Association of American Museums last week, which show attendance rising at many museums (by at least 5% at more than 40% of the self-reporting museums), we probably grumbled about the impact.  (I will not digress here, much, to note that AAM's statistics -- while better than nothing -- leave much to be desired. For one thing, the response rate was just 21%, and those with good news were more … [Read more...]

The world got a new van Gogh painting this week, when on Wednesday the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam authenticated an early work called "Le Blute-Fin Mill," which was painted in 1886. Van Gogh was living in Paris at the time, and the scene depicts Montmartre, with what the van Gogh museum terms atypically large human figures for the artist. The work is on display in the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, the Netherlands.   According to the Associated Press, "it is the first Van Gogh to be authenticated since 1995 … [Read more...]

"It's Not Too Late To Save The Barnes!" says the poster announcing a rally tonight in Philadelphia at the Ritz 5 Theater, where "The Art of the Steal" will be premiering in Philly. Good for the Friends of the Barnes. I hate to hazard their chances of turning things around and stopping the move this late in the game, but as I implied here on Jan. 31, they should use the documentary any way they can to rally support opposing the move. I have since seen the movie, and I agree with what Evelyn Yaari told me then: The … [Read more...]

China's contemporary artists have been toasts of the West for years now, and the interest has probably helped draw even more people into the profession. Last spring, Baron Guy Ullens, the big Belgian collector of Chinese art, told me that "50,000 to 70,000 [are] going to art school in China right now." But now comes word that in Beijing, at least, commercial development of shops, highrises, restaurants and galleries is threatening artists, even those in art zones. According to The Guardian: This week a group of artists said … [Read more...]

Crime dramas are among the most popular TV programs. Wouldn't it be interesting if they could help get people interested in visual art? My musings on this started when I read what may have been a throw-away line or may yet come to pass. In mid-January, at a press conference disclosing 2009 art crime statistics, Franceso Maria Giro, an under-secretary in Italy's Ministry of Culture suggested that the activities of the carabinieri's art-and-antiquities squad would make a great TV drama. The idea was … [Read more...]

$38 million gifts don't happen every day in the cultural world, especially in the last two years, so I was tickled when I learned late yesterday about one such pledge via an email, which cited an article in Saturday's Washington Post.  A click on the link went to the news that the money is going to Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead on the banks of the Potomac. The donation comes from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the same Las Vegas-based philanthropic outfit that purchased Gilbert Stuart's … [Read more...]

This year has brought the art-world version of "If a tree falls in a forest..." On January 2, a modern art museum, designed by Mario Botta, architect of SF MoMA, opened in Charlotte, NC, and I've seen little mention of it outside the local press in the U.S. Strange. The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art does indeed exist. It owns a collection of 1,400 works by artists including Warhol, Giacometti, Degas, Picasso, Calder, Miro, de Stal, Tinguely, Hepworth, Ernst, Rouault, and more. They were acquired by a Swiss … [Read more...]

Last night, I attended an unusual event at XXXX. It was a "Smash Down," and it featured two local, all-female roller derby crews competing against each other. The OC Roller Girls and the Long Beach Roller Derby took turns crashing into 8-foot clay walls on each end of the California Gallery, accumulating points and making impressions in the clay for YYYY. A DJ spun tunes, and beer and popcorn were served. When the roller derby started, one competitor crashed into a bystander and a large amplifier the DJ had set up. I thought that was a sure … [Read more...]

Unbeknownst to me, when I wrote last weekend about romantic paintings for Valentine's Day, the Art Fund in the U.K. was doing something similar. Except it sought nominations from experts and then took a public poll. The works in contention were: Paul Gauguin's, Nevermore, chosen by artist and broadcaster Matthew Collings Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne, nominated by writer and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon Jan Van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, selected by artist Grayson Perry Nicholas Poussin's Rinaldo and Armida, chosen by … [Read more...]

Minnesota is a good place to be an artist for many reasons, and here's one that takes place every 10 years (since 1980): Starting tomorrow, Feb. 19, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts will show the work of any Minnesotan artist. You heard that right. You don't have to be famous, or have a gallery, or...anything. There are limitations. The art work must fit into a box that measures 12 inches x 12 inches x 12 inches -- which is labeled "Curator." If it does, MIA puts it on display in the gallery, through June 13. This year, … [Read more...]