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

May 16, 2013 by 5 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 |

Does Cincinnati Art Museum Need A New Director?

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
betsky_aaron_jan07

Aaron Betsky took over as director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, its eighth, in 2006. Is he now headed out the door? Some people think so. Betsky was formerly director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, an important center for the architects, and now it seems that he is a finalist for the post of dean of the College of Architecture, Design and the Arts at the University of Illinois, Chicago. It's a better fit, really. Betsky is a graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, and from afar architecture has always … [Read more...]

05/8/13 1:09 PM | filed under: People, Uncategorized |

To Boston, With Love — From Tom Campbell

May 7, 2013 by 1 Comment
Northeaster

Gestures are important, and here's one that deserves notice. Within hours of the bombing at the Boston Marathon last month, Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum,* reached out to Malcolm Rogers, director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, offering his support and backing that up with the suggestion that the Met lend a few paintings to the MFA as a special show. As a result, the MFA will put the three -- chosen by Campbell and Met curators -- on display during its "community weekend" over the three-day Memorial Day … [Read more...]

05/7/13 4:35 PM | filed under: Museums, People, Uncategorized |

China’s Art Galleries — Including Foreign Ones — Are Suffering

May 6, 2013 by 1 Comment
pacebeijing_1334306685_600

The art market may be buoyant in the West this spring, especially at the auction houses (we'll see more this week and next), but it's still winter in Beijing's art galleries. Beijing is the center of China's art market -- of the 1,560 galleries in the country, 742 are in Beijing -- according to a recent article in China Daily. The English-language newspaper, supported by the Chinese government, said that "fewer than 7 percent of the national total were able to make ends meet in 2012," and attributed the comment to Cheng Xindong, director of … [Read more...]

05/6/13 7:24 PM | filed under: Art Market, Uncategorized |
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