NY Public Library Unloads Art The New York Public Library has been selling off some of its art treasures to bolster its budget. What's wrong with that, asks Lee Rosenbaum? "The library's art disposals were marred by undue haste and inadequate oversight by its trustees and the New York State Attorney General's office. By selling the public's patrimony to buttress the budget, rather than contributing or raising the money themselves as should have been their first priority, the library's board and administration took the easy way out." Wall Street Journal 11/01/05

Dresden Cathedral Reopens After 60 Years Sixty years after Allied bombs destroyed it, the Dresden cathedral has reopened after a $215 million restoration. "For 47 years, Dresden residents had known the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, as a 43-foot-high mound of rubble flanked by two jagged walls. That was all that remained after British and U.S. planes strafed the city with firebombs on the night of Feb. 13-14, 1945." Washington Post (AP) 10/31/05

How Museums Are Courting New Collectors Museums - their acquisition budgets getting smaller - have been cultivating young collectors by offering special services. "The most important thing these groups offer: insider access, invaluable in the insular and clubby art world. Want behind-the-scenes access to museum collections and staff? Members of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Apollo Circle attend exclusive curator-led workshops on topics like developing a 'collector’s eye' or the importance of art conservation. A few blocks down, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Whitney Contemporaries meet regularly with curators, trustees and director Adam Weinberg..." Forbes 10/28/05

More Questions About Tate's Ofili Purchase Questions are mounting about the Tate's purchase for £600,000 of Chris Ofili's The Upper Room. The artist's dealer had urged the purchase because Ofili was getting married and needed cash. Some critics are also charging conflict-of-interest on the part of some of the board members who approved the purchase. The Independent 10/30/05

Some Architect-On-Architect Action Richard Meier's trademark-white High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which opened to wide critical acclaim in 1983, has been conjoined with an addition by Renzo Piano..." The New York Times 10/30/05

Getty Starts Internal Investigation The board of the Getty Trust has formed a committee to investigate some of the difficult issues that have plagues the institution in recent months. "The committee, composed of five board members, will review issues related to an Italian criminal inquiry into allegedly looted antiquities and an investigation by the state attorney general into spending by the trust and its chief executive, Barry Munitz." Los Angeles Times 10/30/05

Hirst Tops The Power 100, But What Does It All Mean? Is Damien Hirst the most powerful figure in the art world? ArtReview magazine's widely respected list of the Power 100 says he is, but what does such power mean in a highly fragmented age? And more importantly, does the dramatic shift between last year's list and this year's edition mean that the art world now moves so quickly that power can no longer be measured as it once was? Maybe, but for the moment, ArtReview's list still serves as an important harbinger of what's to come in art over the next year. Financial Times (UK) 10/28/05

Art To Engage A Damaged Mind Can exposure to art slow the advance of Alzheimer's Disease, or at least make its effects more bearable? The answer seems to be yes, but no one really understands why. "Art therapy, both appreciating art and making it, has been used for decades as a nonmedical way to help a wide variety of people - abused children, prisoners and cancer and Alzheimer's patients. But much of this work has taken place in nursing homes and hospitals. Now museums like [New York's] Modern and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are trying to bring it into their galleries, using their collections as powerful ways to engage minds damaged by dementia." The New York Times 10/30/05

Picasso Vase Headlines Auction "A ceramic vase by Pablo Picasso sold for 33,600 pounds ($59,600) at a London auction of more than 100 Picasso ceramic works, Sotheby's auction house said today. At 75.5 centimetres, the painted and glazen earthenware vase entitled 'Tripode' is one of the artist's largest ceramic pieces, and was the most coveted item [in] yesterday's auction." The Age (Melbourne) 10/28/05

A Museum For All Seasons "The National Building Museum turns a quarter-century old this fall, and tonight lots of folks will be celebrating underneath the stupendous Corinthian columns of the museum's Great Hall. There is, indeed, much to celebrate... It is not an architecture museum. Not engineering, not city planning. Not a museum for stonemasons, sheet metal workers, steel fabricators, real estate developers, social historians, taste makers, apartment dwellers, homeowners and... the list is almost endless. But if the museum is not one of these things, it is all of them." Washington Post 10/29/05

East Meets West, and Art Emerges "Natvar Bhavsar is a world-renowned painter from India whose huge, colourful canvases hang in more than 1,000 private corporate collections and museums, including the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art in New York." But it took a while for the Western world to warm up to the American-educated Bhavsar's work, which lean heavily on traditional Indian techniques blended with American abstract expressionism. These days, however, Bhavsar is one of New York's most respected living artists, and his professional journey serves as a perfect allegory for the city's legendary diversity. Toronto Star 10/29/05

New Van Gogh Self-Portrait? "An art historian said yesterday she believes she has discovered an early self-portrait of the artist Vincent van Gogh under a painting of a Paris scene. Aukje Verggeese said the portrait came to light when she used X-rays to see a monument visible under the painted surface as she was attempting to pinpoint the scene of the landscape." The Globe & Mail (AFP) 10/29/05

Italy makes Claim On Met Museum Prize Vase Italian authorities say they have irrefutable proof that "the most prized ancient Greek vase in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art was looted. The Euphronios krater, described as one of the finest antiquities ever obtained by the Met, has been a source of controversy since the museum acquired it 33 years ago. Italian authorities have long maintained that the vase was looted from a tomb north of Rome, but the Met has refused to return it, saying the Italians lack proof." Los Angeles Times 10/28/05

Stolen Cezanne For Other Paintings? Twenty-seven years ago seven paintings were stolen from Michael Bakwin’s home. "The thieves took a Cézanne, two Soutines, a Vlaminck, a Utrillo and two works by the French painter Jean Jansen. Despite a police investigation the works did not resurface until 1999." Then a negotiation ensued, deals were made, and though the Cezanne was returned, the others are now in dispute... The Art Newspaper 10/27/05

Scotland Gets Paintings Trove After a 20-year saga, a collection of 14 master paintings has been given to Scotland, including works by Gainsborough, Murillo and Rubens. "A story that links the National Galleries in Edinburgh to a sleepy village in the heart of the English countryside, includes a decade-old row between two of the most distinguished institutions in Scotland, and, along the way, involves Winston Churchill's secret headquarters for D-Day." Glasgow Herald 10/27/05

Getting The Lowdown In LA, museum spaces have begun programming Lowbrow in earnest. "Some of Lowbrow’s newfound respectability comes from being associated with hip art-world trends." LAWeekly 10/27/05

LA: Center Of The New Media Universe? "Southern California has become the unrivaled international hub of new-media art, design and theory. About 100 Southern California artists, theorists and curators, are at the forefront of a media-art movement destined to help it all make sense." LAWeekly 10/27/05

Rush To Rose "Michael Rush will be the next director of Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum, the university has announced... Rush, 55, will take over from Joseph Ketner, who left the Rose last summer to become chief curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Rush will assume his new position about a year after resigning from the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, which he had run since 1999. He said he disagreed with the institute's foundation over the organization's direction." The Rose Museum is in the midst of trying to raise $12 million for a major expansion. Boston Globe 10/27/05

Christie's Hits The Fall Auction Jackpot "Rarely do three well-known art collections come to the auction block in the same season. Even more rarely does one auction house get to sell them all. Starting Tuesday, Christie's will offer several exceptional works, including a Toulouse-Lautrec painting of a red-haired model, one of the centerpieces of the recent exhibition 'Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre' at the Art Institute of Chicago; a 1954 Rothko inspired by Matisse's 1911 'Red Studio'; and an abstract de Kooning from 1977 that has had only one owner: the artist's lawyer, Lee V. Eastman. Experts at the auction house are trying not to gloat." The New York Times 10/27/05

Acropolis Museum Underway "The long-awaited and much-delayed Acropolis Museum will be ready by the end of next year, the government said yesterday, while insisting that it would keep up its efforts toward the return of the Elgin Marbles so they can be housed in the new building. Construction of the museum, a few hundred meters from the Acropolis, was meant to have been finished in time for last year’s Athens Olympics." kathemerini 10/26/05

Reality TV Takes On Public Art Britain's Channel 4 hopes to create great public art. "The Big Art Project is seeking nominations from communities, identifying sites where a piece of significant public art could be placed. Six sites will be shortlisted by a panel of experts in January, and the series will follow the progress of the communities working with artists to commission and create the pieces. The completed works are expected to be unveiled in October 2007."
The Guardian (UK) 10/27/05

Museum Reopenings Spark A Bit Of American Self-Adulation "To celebrate the reopening of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery next July, a coalition of cultural organizations is organizing a salute to America's originality. The two museums, which share the historic Patent Office Building, will open July 1 after a six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation. A special 24-hour preview of the massive building, with 30,000 square feet of additional gallery space, will be held that day." Washington Post 10/26/05

Paris's Gehry Gets A New Life To read many of the stories written about Frank Gehry these days, you'd think that one of his buildings was all that was required for a destitute city to leap into the forefront of global metropolises. But in Paris (which gets along just fine on its own merits,) the one Gehry-designed structure has sat abandoned for a decade, "a sad monument to a failed American dream. It was planned as a new headquarters for the American Center of Paris, which was founded in 1931 and had long drawn crowds to its rambling Left Bank home as a place to discover American culture and to learn English. But the dream of a dazzling image went sour. The new center opened in June 1994 - and closed just 19 months later... Now, thanks to the French government, the building has begun a new life, this time as the headquarters of the Cinémathèque Française." The New York Times 10/26/05

When Museums Sell Their Art (It's Worrisome) A number of American arts institutions are selling off some of their art. "The scale of such selling - by institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art - is renewing debate. 'History will make a fool of these museums. It always happens. Often the things that are sold are based on inherited prejudices that will be overturned in the future'." The New York Times 10/26/05

National Gallery's "Madonna" Was Expensive If It's Not Raphael Two years ago, London's National Gallery bought "The Madonna of the Pinks" for £22 million, including £11.5 million in public money. "James Beck, a professor at Columbia University, New York, a tireless critic of the attribution, has just completed a book in which he claims that the Northumberland Madonna cannot be by Raphael." The Telegraph (UK) 10/25/05

Critics Bash Munch Museum For Board Game Critics are attacking Oslo's Munch Museum for selling a board game based on the theft of the museum's most famous painting - The Scream. "In principle I find it a bit in bad taste to make a game out of the theft of The Scream. My initial reaction is to disapprove of an initiative that helps trivialise a national and international drama while the painting is still missing." BBC 10/25/05

• Previously: Scream: A Museum That's Kept Its Sense Of Humor The Munch Museum in Oslo, which lost its "The Scream" painting last year in a dramatic theft, is selling a board game in its gift shop based on the incident. "Players of The Mystery of the Scream, a game aimed at the family market, must hunt down the robber before he reaches a criminal paradise." The Guardian (UK) 10/24/05

Calatrava Towers Santiago Calatrava is "the most crowd-pleasing architect since Frank Gehry. His work, too, is dazzling and emotionally engaging. And, just as Gehry exploited the trend of museum building in the nineteen-nineties, Calatrava has aligned himself with the latest architectural fashion: bespoke luxury-apartment towers." The New Yorker 10/24/05

Of Art And A Cult Of Celebrity "Celebrity demands a suspension of judgment; there are no objective criteria and it is meaningless. Famous for being famous is circular and nowhere does that circle touch the real world. Art, though, demands judgment, belongs in the real world and promises meaning. For that reason, contemporary art has developed an industry of spurious commentary." The Scotsman 10/25/05

Munitz On Things Getty Getty president Barry Munitz sits down to address the controversies swirling around the institution - the Italian artifacts case, morale, his salary and the infamous Porsche. Are staff jumping ship? "There hasn't been a massive outflow. There hasn't even been a major outflow of people. The museum director resigned and one other person who was her closest partner and colleague went at the same time. Not a single person left the museum in the year since she left. Everybody stayed. We went from a search (for a new curator) and hired the No. 1 candidate on everybody's list, Michael Brand." Los Angeles Daily News 10/24/05

Scream: A Museum That's Kept Its Sense Of Humor The Munch Museum in Oslo, which lost its "The Scream" painting last year in a dramatic theft, is selling a board game in its gift shop based on the incident. "Players of The Mystery of the Scream, a game aimed at the family market, must hunt down the robber before he reaches a criminal paradise." The Guardian (UK) 10/24/05

Greeks Want Getty To Return Art The Greek government is demanding that the Getty return four artifacts it says were illegally exported. "The Greeks have presented archeological evidence that they say proves the Greek origin of three objects the Getty purchased in 1993: a gold funerary wreath, an inscribed tombstone and a marble torso of a young woman. The three artifacts, which date from about 400 BC, are ranked among the masterpieces of the Getty's antiquities collection. The fourth object that Greek officials are seeking to recover is an archaic votive relief bought in 1955 by J. Paul Getty himself." Los Angeles Times 10/24/05

Claim: Tate Bought Ofili Work After Plea From Agent The Tate Gallery spent £700,000 on buying Chris Ofili's "The Upper Room" after the artist's agent told the museum that Ofili was getting married and needed the money. Ofili is one of the Tate's trustees. The Telegraph (UK) 10/23/05

Shanghai Makes A Big Play For The Visuals "The forces of growth that have filled Shanghai's sky with construction cranes — China's national bird, in current parlance — have sparked a profusion of nonprofit exhibition spaces and commercial galleries devoted to avant-garde art. Against the odds, these showcases have popped up in a central park, a historic pedestrian street, a suburban shopping mall, abandoned banks and a derelict industrial complex. Beijing remains the undisputed cultural capital of China, but Shanghai is fashioning a role for itself as a distinctive place to see new art made in China and elsewhere." Los Angeles Times 10/23/05

Bloomberg: WTC Developer Needs To Go New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the troubled rebuilding of the World Trade Center Site project would be better off if developer Larry Silverstein was booted out. "Abandoning his usually bland statements of support, the mayor said for the first time that New York would be better off if Silverstein were booted from the site. 'It would be in the city's interest to get Silverstein out, [but] nobody can figure out how to do it yet. And can you imagine the stink if you gave him half a billion dollars or a billion dollars in profit to get him out'?" New York Daily News 10/22/05

Graves' New Children's Theatre Fails To Soar Minneapolis' Children's Theatre is one of the best in the country. And it has a new home, as designed by the eminent Michael Graves. "The spaces added in the $27 million expansion - a flexible 275-seat theater, a welcoming rotunda, an impressive education center and greatly enlarged backstage facilities - will advance the theater's enlarged mission and ensure its cultural legacy. But its workmanlike exterior does not advance Twin Cities architecture." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 10/23/05

Check-up: Cuno's First Year Running The Chicago Art Institute James Cuno has made an impact in his first year running the Chicago Art Institute. "He has been at the institute just over a year, which once was thought too little time for any head of a major art museum to make felt his or her presence. But recent thinking in the profession has tended toward making changes rapidly during the first year, while a director enjoys the strongest trustee support, and that's the way a number of former institute curators proceeded in directorships elsewhere, with mixed results." Chicago Tribune 10/23/05

Appreciating Art - Righteous Rebellion "Over the past hundred years or so a very particular revolutionary sensibility has influenced the value system used in making and appreciating visual art. It feels to me that the art world today has its own visual dialect, a kind of educated mischievous slang that is learnt from making, looking at and talking about art for a long time and a love of being challenged or surprised. From outside, the art world must seem like a self-regarding mafia, but it relishes an assault on its values." The Times (UK) 10/22/05

Putting The Frieze On Art London's Frieze Art Fair is only three years old, but it's leaving traditional museum shows behind. "The Frieze Art Fair feels as if the flying circus of dealers from Basel, curators from Barcelona, museum owners from Istanbul, collectors from Los Angeles, and even the occasional artist from Hoxton or Berlin who constitute the perpetual shifting landscape of art, have given up perpetually circumnavigating the globe, and decided to turn themselves collectively into an airport." The Observer (UK) 10/23/05

• Measuring This Year's Frieze "The speed with which Frieze has become an essential date in the international arts calendar is testament to the buzz which surrounds British art. It was launched only three years ago, but the number of galleries represented has risen from 150 last year to 160, due to the increased quality of the 400 applications. Frieze is determinedly international, but this year there are 35 British galleries represented - second only to the Americans, who have 38." The Observer (UK) 10/23/05

A First Look At 9/11 Museum Plans "The plans, presented in public workshops over the past month, offer the first glimpse of an institution that is likely to become one of the country's most visited museums. The ideas are also likely to prompt sensitive questions of how to tell the story of Sept. 11." Boston Globe 10/23/05

Chicago Architecture Tries To Keep Up With A Glorious Past Chicago has a distinguished history of great architecture. The city's contemporary architecure has difficulty competing, so a set of annual awards teases out some of the best. "Do the awards reflect great originality, or even the presence of geniuses among us? Maybe not, but they're limited by the fact that they honor projects that have been executed; if you're an architect and your last name isn't Gehry, many of your best and most original designs are likely to remain unbuilt. And sure, the awards paint a collective portrait of architects who are primarily extending, refining and reinterpreting the tropes of modernism, rather than founding new movements or styles. But they're doing so with a confident panache that virtually swaggers." Chicago Sun-Times 10/21/05

Tate Buys Time For £20,000 The Tate has paid £20,000 for a piece of performance art that consists of members of the public asking one another for the time. David Lamelas' work Time "questions the environment of the museum and static objects". A photograph of a past performance was included in the price. BBC 10/21/05

Judge Evicts Saatchi Gallery "A judge upheld the claim by Japanese company Shirayama Shokusan that the London Saatchi Gallery had continually breached the term of its lease. The judge said Danovo, the firm which runs the gallery, had shown 'deliberate disregard' of the owners' rights." BBC 10/21/05

The New Collectors The art market is booming, by all accounts. But who are these people that are putting their money into art? "What kind of people are they, the buyers of contemporary art, so different from the recipients of creativity in other fields - neither like the publisher nor the reader of a book, neither like the producer nor the audience of a film, neither like the record company nor the listener to a song?" The Guardian (UK) 10/21/05

Pompidou Aims At Museum In Singapore The Pompidou is joining up with casino company Harrah's to develop a new museum in Singapore. "This provides us a unique opportunity to develop/propose a concept to help Singapore enhance its global cultural offering." Forbes.com 10/20/05

New Wind At The Baltic The new director of the Baltic Gallery, the UK's largest contemporary art space after Tate Modern, is making some changes. "He hopes to instil common sense into the gallery, which until this year lacked simple visitor facilities such as a cloakroom and information desk. 'We are taking a new approach in our philosophy towards our visitors. The visitors are the reason we are here - with the artist. I was telling our managers earlier today that as a mindset we have to hug each visitor'." The Guardian (UK) 10/19/05

Christie's In China Christie's has signed a deal to become the first Western auction house in China. "Under the agreement, settled this week, Christie's will license its name, provide experts and oversee the entire auction process, from the acquisition of works for sale to the printing and design of the catalog. Its first sale - 45 examples of modern and contemporary Chinese art - is scheduled for Nov. 3 at the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing and is expected to bring $10 million." The New York Times 10/19/05

Where The Architects Are - Beijing Beijing is being totally remade. "A city that, until 1990, had no central business district, and little need of it, now has a cluster of glass towers that look like rejects from Singapore or Rotterdam. And these, in turn, are now being replaced and overshadowed by a new crop of taller, slicker towers, the product of the international caravan of architectural gunslingers that has arrived in town to take part in this construction free-fire zone. Rem Koolhaas, Jacques Herzog, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and Will Alsop are all building, or trying to build here." The Observer (UK) 10/16/05

Why Most People Don't "Get" Conceptual Art "People who complain about conceptual art always do so on the grounds of craft. Anything that has no painterly or sculptural skill is not art, because anyone could do it. But when people object to individual pieces, it's almost always because of the subject matter. This has been true since the start of the readymade tradition..." The Guardian (UK) 10/18/05

The Memorial Museum That Ate New York The museum commemorating the World Trade Center and 9/11 has expanded enormously. "The memorial and its museum have quietly become an $800 million enterprise, $500 million of which must be privately raised. That's almost five times the figure for the World War II Memorial in Washington, which honored the sacrifice of 400,000 soldiers and the service of some 16 million men and women. The museum alone is bigger than either the Whitney or the Ellis Island museums." Bloomberg.com 10/18/05

New Orleans Museum Fires Staff The New Orleans Museum of Art, which survived Hurricane Katrina intact, has laid off 70 of its 86 staff. "The city-financed museum, which has been shut since the day before Katrina hit in late August, was instructed by the municipal government to keep only a minimal staff needed to administer the institution in its current closed state." The New York Times 10/18/05

A New Orleans Of Fake History? "For decades now, the architectural mainstream has accepted the premise that cities can exist in a fixed point in historical time. What results is a fairy tale version of history, and the consequences could be particularly harsh for New Orleans, which was well on its way to becoming a picture-postcard vision of the past before the hurricane struck. Now, with the city at its most vulnerable, such voices threaten to drown out all others." The New York Times 10/18/05

Turner Prize Shortlist This year's Turner Prize finalists are announced. "The early favourite to win the prize is painter Gillian Carnegie, who creates unsettling versions of traditional styles like still life and landscapes. The other nominees are Darren Almond, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling, who all produce installations. The winner will be announced on 5 December." BBC 10/17/05

The Getty, The Italians, And Some Nervous Museums The Italian government case against the Getty is a warning to all museums. "At the center of the case is the reckless youth of the Getty, which opened in the villa in 1974 to fulfill the oil baron J. Paul Getty's twin obsessions with art collecting and imperial Rome. But the case also presents a paradox, for curator Marion True had gone to considerable lengths to acknowledge the Getty's past excesses and to cast the museum as a model citizen of the museum and archaeological worlds." Nonetheless, "Italian officials say that the evidence they have assembled reaches far beyond the Getty. Whether more prosecutions are planned or such warnings are simply intended to force the return of art and deter illicit purchases remains unclear." The New York Times 10/15/05

BritArt Diplomacy Backfires A plan to try to improve relations between Britain and Morocco has through art has failed after the art offended the Moroccans. "Two of the works, notably an anatomical statement by Tracey Emin, have been withdrawn, while three others by artists including the Chapman brothers have caused offence because of their sexual nature." Sunday Times (UK) 10/16/05

One Person's Architecture Prize Is Another's Tear-Down "For one glorious, anarchic moment, it looked as if the Scottish Parliament might win this year's Stirling Prize, the architects' award for the best new British building, at exactly the moment the public voted that it was the one building in the country it would most like to see knocked down." The Telegraph (UK) 10/16/05

Planning For A New Biloxi Two hundred architects and planners gather in Biloxi to talk about rebuilding. "Over the two and a half hours, the participants grappled with priorities: neighborhood rezoning, downtown, museums and culture, casinos, beachfront, road system, building codes, transit development. They knew they could not do it all, but it was hard not to try. The topics addressed were literally all over the Biloxi map." The New York Times 10/17/05

Art Vandal Attacks Florence Again Italy's most notorious art vandal has struck again. "Piero Cannata, who earned worldwide notoriety by taking a hammer to Michelangelo's David, confessed to local newspapers in Tuscany that he had struck again in the very centre of Florence. It was discovered that somebody had sprayed a thick black "x" on a plaque, set into the paving of Piazza della Signoria, commemorating the burning to death of the 15th-century preacher and reformer Girolamo Savonarola." The Guardian (UK) 10/17/05

London Architects Attack Plan To Leave City Out Venice Biennale "British Council officials, who will organise the UK exhibit at the Biennale, have triggered a row between architects by announcing plans to omit or, as they put it, "leave London behind" in next year's display. Instead they are inviting curators to submit proposals for the British pavilion that focus exclusively on the regions. London's best hope for attention is to be featured as part of the biennale's wider theme, the Meta City." The Guardian (UK) 10/17/05

Exit Interview With A "Great Connoisseur" Sir Timothy Clifford has been director of the Scottish Museums for 21 years. He's been called one of the world's great connoisseurs, and has pulled off innumerable art coups. As he "steps down from his position as director general of the National Galleries of Scotland he has revealed how he relied on subterfuge to pull off some of the most ambitious coups in the international art world." Scotland on Sunday 10/16/05

Scottish Parliament Is Year's Best Building The new Scottish Parliament building has won this year's Stirling Prize for architecture. "The project, designed by the Catalan architect Enric Miralles, who died aged 45 before the parliament could be completed, has been a major embarrassment to the politicians and civil servants who presided over skyrocketing costs that took the price from an initial estimate of £50 million, to a final figure of £431m." The Observer (UK) 10/16/05

Victorian England - No Blacks Behind The Easel "The fact that no traces remain of any active black British artist in the 19th century is surprising, given that there were more black people here than is commonly thought. We don't know how many exactly, because ethnic origin was not recorded in the first in-depth national census of 1841, but it's clear that our visibility exceeded our numbers (not least because artists welcomed the opportunity black figures provided for contrast, and to use neglected parts of the palette)." The Guardian (UK) 10/15/05

The Modern According To Perl Jed Perl has a new book out about art in New York between the 1940s and 70s. "Through the book's pages pour artists, critics, dealers, museum curators, museum-goers and the views Perl has intently constructed of them, drawing on archival materials, interviews and the old books and art catalogs he's collected over the years. Most important, perhaps, are his own responses to art, people and institutions. The book — its full title is "New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century" — is essentially a book of ideas, a critic's analytical meditation on how and why he thinks cultural history evolved as it did." Los Angeles Times 10/16/05

Two Leonardos See Public For The First Time Two previously-unseen paintings by Leonardo have gone on show in Italy. "One is an alternative version of Da Vinci's famous painting known as Virgin of the Rocks, with the infant Jesus and the infant John the Baptist. The other shows Mary Magdalene, thought to have been completed by Leonardo with the help of one of his pupils about 1515, shortly before his death." BBC 10/15/05

Buying Spree - Will China Own The Art Market? "Facing an acute art shortage, the Chinese government plans to construct 1,000 new museums by 2015, including 32 in Beijing in time for the 2008 Olympics and 100 in Shanghai before the opening of the 2010 World's Fair, according to reports in China's government-controlled media. The People's Liberation Army, or PLA, has so far targeted only Chinese art. Analysts say the army's strategy over the next five years is to dip further into China's foreign-currency reserves - about $711 billion, the second biggest after Japan, and growing - to buy and barrack celebrated Western masterpieces, often at prices above their auction-market value." International Herald Tribune 10/15/05

What The Getty Antiquities Case Means To The Art World "The Getty case is so important that it will represent a milestone and completely change relations within the art world," says Anna Maria Reggiani, archaeology director at the Italian Culture Ministry. The Globe & Mail (AP) 10/16/05

In Baltimore - History Wins Over Design "Going back in time, architecturally, was the overriding concept behind the $32 million restoration and modernization of Baltimore's Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was built starting in 1806 and dedicated in 1821. It was the reason the 1940s-era stained-glass windows were removed. It was the impetus for re-creating 24 skylights in the dome - to 'restore the light' in the cathedral as Latrobe meant for it to be seen. But what happens if restorers discover works of art or other artifacts that are so significant and so well preserved that it would be a shame to peel them away?" Baltimore Sun 10/16/05

Ripped From The Tabs: Dali Sculpture In Exorcist Basement! "A sculpture of Christ that Salvador Dali gave to his exorcist has been found among the belongings of the deceased Italian priest." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/14/05

Barnes Reattributes Old Masters One hundred and twenty Old Master paintings in the Barnes Collection have been reattributed. "Some 22 works formerly attributed to Bosch, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, El Greco, Watteau and others have been reattributed by scholars taking part in the Collection Assessment Project, which has been examining the foundation’s roughly 9,000 objects and works of art over the past four years." The Art Newspaper 10/13/05

Smithsonian Sells The Names Of Two Museums In return for a $45 million donation, the Smithsonian says the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation will get its name on two museums. "The Las Vegas-based foundation, now the second largest donor in the Smithsonian's history with a total contribution of $75 million, directed its new multimillion-dollar support to the renovation and exhibitions at the landmark building. The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum will retain their individual names." Washington Post 10/13/05

The New Investers "Art investment funds represent something of a revolution in the relationship between art and commerce. A dozen art-only investment funds are now trying to raise money from investors looking to cash in on the art market’s current boom. Last year, Picasso’s 'Boy with a Pipe,' which had been sold in 1950 for thirty thousand dollars, went at auction for a hundred and four million, while a Canaletto that had fetched two hundred and eighty thousand pounds in 1973 sold for more than eleven million pounds three decades later. Next to such numbers, those shares of Wal-Mart that haven’t budged in five years start to look pretty dull." The New Yorker 10/10/05

Experts Gather To Discuss Rebuilding Gulf Coast More than 200 architects and city planners gather to talk about rebuilding the Gulf Coast. "On Wednesday, the opening day, many participants suggested that while they intended to respect the local character, they did not hope to replicate what existed before the hurricane. 'People know that this took a wrong turn somewhere. People know this has become honky-tonk, and this is the chance to get it right. This place has lost its neighborhood structure over the last 50 years. This is a chance to rezone it in a much finer grain, so people can walk to the corner store, kids can walk to school'." The New York Times 10/13/05

The New deYoung Soars "The new de Young Museum, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, is proof that despite these naysayers, a museum can be both gorgeous to look at and a cozy place to view art. Clad in its elegant copper skin, this building suggests that art and architecture can make good bed partners, after all, and that a dialogue between the two can be creatively fruitful." The New York Times 10/13/05

A Half-Billion Dollars Of Art? It's been a good fall for art sales. "Contemporary fairs and auctions in 2005's fall and winter that might rake in 375 million euros ($455 million) or more from collectors by yearend, according to published figures and estimates by fair organizers." Bloomberg.com 10/12/05

Smithsonian Snares Huge Cash Donation "The Smithsonian Institution plans to announce today that it is receiving a $45 million donation for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, making the donor -- the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation -- the second-largest benefactor to the museum in the past dozen years." Washington Post 10/12/05

Big Donation For MoMA "[New York's] Museum of Modern Art has received a gift of 174 contemporary works from a Los Angeles real estate developer, including prime examples of paintings, sculptures and drawings by artists like Philip Guston, Vija Celmins and Christopher Wilmarth... These works not only help fill many gaps in the Modern's contemporary art collection, but also enlarge its previous holdings of certain artists." The New York Times 10/12/05

Florence Biennale Wraps Up In Typical Style "The Florence Biennale is predominantly an Old Master paintings fair, although a few dealers venture into the 19th century and one, Tornabuoni Arte, showed modern works by Lucio Fontana. Most of the mainly Italian visitors have conservative tastes and come in search of traditional paintings, drawings, sculpture and furniture produced by artists and craftsmen from their country... Despite efforts by the fair to promote itself internationally, most overseas visitors this year were Americans and Britons who have second homes in Italy. This left the field largely clear for Italian collectors." The Telegraph (UK) 10/12/05

A Spectacle of Theatrical Boxes Rachel Whiteread's new installation of 14,000 white boxes in Tate Modern's massive Turbine Hall was one of the most anticipated new works of art to hit London this year. Of course, no one knew what it would look like until yesterday, but hey, buzz is buzz. Still, Whiteread was deeply worried that the simplicity of the design would cause the notoriously fickle British arts press to jump on her, and is well aware that a backlash could still happen. "I don't think it's going to be like a room full of cardboard boxes. It's going to be a room, I would imagine, full of light and space and built elements, and you'll figure out what they are, but it might take a bit of time to do that. It's going to be a spectacle, and theatrical, and it has to be." The Guardian (UK) 10/11/05

Tate Britain's New Love For Shutterbugs "London's Tate Gallery used to be famous for its perverse refusal to collect or exhibit photography. Photography could only darken its doors as an auxiliary medium... All that has changed, probably in a deliberate attempt to stake a position in the shifting balance of power as Britain's photographic institutions finally edge painfully towards sorting themselves out. There are new photographic museums afoot in Britain (not a moment too soon) and Tate wants a piece of the action. Its record on photography has been dreadful. Now it is performing a spectacular volte-face." Financial Times (UK) 10/11/05

Van Gogh's Other Art Vincent Van Gogh's pen-and-ink drawings are every bit as astonishing and expressive as his famous paintings, yet amazingly, there has never been a major U.S. exhibition of the drawings. That changes this week, when New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art puts 113 Van Gogh drawings on exhibit. The works have been borrowed from various public and private collections, and will likely not be seen in public again anytime soon, due to the relative fragility of pen-and-ink works. The New York Times 10/11/05

Hopefully The Art Will Be Better Than The Cars "The French government wants to turn a disused Renault car factory on an island in the River Seine west of Paris into a major European centre for artists, featuring workshops, homes and galleries, the prime minister said yesterday... The site was to have hosted a prestigious museum to house the collection of one of France's richest men, Francois Pinault, until he pulled out in May, blaming red tape." The Guardian (UK) 10/11/05

• Previously:  Billionaire Cancels Plans For Paris Museum "François Pinault, a billionaire who is France's wealthiest art lover, announced Monday that he was abandoning plans to build a $195 million contemporary art museum on the outskirts of Paris and would instead present part of his vast collection in the Palazzo Grassi, an elegant exhibition space on the Grand Canal in Venice that he recently acquired." The New York Times 05/10/05

Rubens To Head Home? "The most stupendous overmantel in Europe, a sensuous masterpiece by Rubens showing the sleeping Samson sprawled across the lap of his beautiful but treacherous Delilah, may soon be displayed in the room for which it was originally painted. The 17th century painting now lives in London at the National Gallery, which is gathering up loans of Rubens paintings for a major exhibition opening at the end of this month. However, the gallery is considering loaning it back next year to the Rockox House Museum in Antwerp, home of Rubens's friend Nicolaas Rockox." The Guardian (UK) 10/10/05

Giving A New Meaning to Cubism Britain's Tate Modern museum has unveiled a massive new work of installation art by Turner-winning sculptor Rachel Whiteread consisting of 14,000 identical white boxes. The work, aptly named "Embankment," was commissioned specifically for the Tate's enormous Turbine Hall, which measures 500 feet in length with a 115-foot ceiling. So what do 14,000 white boxes look like? Rather like a bunch of oversized piles of sugar cubes, as it turns out. BBC 10/10/05

Why The Stirling Prize Doesn't Work The UK's Stirling Prize for architecture is to be awarded this week. "Beyond the difficulty of choosing between this year's nominees, something about the prize that aspires to do for buildings what the Man Booker does for books, and the Turner does for art, fails to add up. The real problem faced by the Stirling Prize since its launch in 1996 has been its failure to come up with a coherent sense of what the award is for, and then to stick with it." The Observer (UK) 10/09/05

Protests Over Gallery Expansion The Tate St. Ives Gallery is very successful. So now the museum wants to expand (naturally). But "more than 2,000 local people have signed a petition against the expansion plans, many of them believing the gallery is losing touch with the town. Some protesters object because the proposed creative centre, which the gallery and Cornwall county council want built on land above the existing building, would mean a loss of views and car parking spaces." The Guardian (UK) 10/09/05

In Trafalgar Square - An Atypical Addition The latest sculpture to be added to London's Trafalgar Square is not your typical model of a modern major general. "Alison Lapper Pregnant - juxtaposed as it is with the majestic figures of a king, two generals and the naval hero Lord Nelson - has fueled a sharp discussion here about art, the purpose of public monuments, and the appropriateness of displaying such a piece in such a singular public space." The New York Times 10/10/05

"A" For Art In Arizona Gets A "B" For Business Arizona museum directors are taking a more serious attitude about running like businesses. They have to. They have expanded so much in recent years that "we've created a new museum here every five or six years." "A national debate over the desired skill set for directors has been rekindled with job searches under way at more than 15 major art museums across the country, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C." Arizona Republic 10/09/05

Agriculture Destroying UK's Ancient Sites "Some of the oldest highways in Britain, built over 5,000 years ago to guide Bronze Age man across the treacherous wetlands of the Somerset Levels, have been completely destroyed by modern agriculture." The Guardian (UK) 10/07/05

Sprucing Up Security A few years ago Washington DC got uglier, littered with hideous concrete barriers put in place to protect buildings from terrorist attack. But new designs incorporating security are proving that security can be attractive. "Ingeniously, the architects combined benches with that tired staple of curbside security, the heavy flower pot, to make the basic, repeating unit of their design. Measuring about 9 feet long by 4 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet high, this clean-lined unit looks very solid. Yet it is unquestionably attractive." Washington Post 10/09/05

Vettriano - Art? Really? (But The Public Loves Him) "Last week the long-running debate contrasting Jack Vettriano's lack of critical acclaim with his public popularity was reignited by the revelation that The Singing Butler was, in fact, inspired by a £16.99 artists' reference manual. Long derided by critics, Vettriano has fought artistic battles before. The art establishment is distinctly sniffy about his work. Despite his huge popular appeal, no national gallery shows his paintings. Reference works either ignore him or grant passing mention, but there is a voracious public appetite for both his romantic early paintings and later works which focus more on the highly charged sexual atmosphere of human relationships." Scotland On Sunday 10/09/05

When Freedom Crashed - Questions About WTC Project The Freedom Center at the site of the World Trade Center was a controversial project from the start. But the way New York Governor George Pataki killed it arbitrarily has some people wondering if the whole process for building at Ground Zero is just a sham. New York Observer 10/06/05

Deadly Serious A major exhibition at the Tampa, Florida-based Museum of Science and Industry consisting of 20 Chinese corpses, split open to reveal muscles and organs and manipulated into jaunty poses, has been attracting interest and controversy in roughly equal parts since its opening in August. "The corpses are, depending on whom you ask, magnificent figures created in the spirit of education or an insulting mockery created in the service of greed... The bodies are displayed in various states of simulated animation alongside placards that dryly explain basic elements of anatomy." Florida's anatomical board, which regulates the importation and treatment of corpses, is objecting vociferously, but the museum insists that it is acting responsibly. Miami Herald 10/07/05

Wynn Sells Two Major Paintings Hedge-fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen recently purchased two major works of art from Las Vegas casino owner Stephen Wynn, according to reports. "The paintings are van Gogh's 'Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat' (1890) and Gauguin's 'Bathers' (1902), and they once hung in the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas, which was founded by Mr. Wynn, and were included in a 1999 catalog of the gallery's holdings." The estimated purchase price for the two works was well over $100 million. The New York Times 10/07/05

Tehran Takes A Chance With Western Art "The finest collection of 20th-century Western art outside Europe and America has been gathering dust in storage. Why? Because it's owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran," where artistic freedom is unheard of and heavy censorship is a way of life. In fact, the collection was very nearly sold off after Iran became an Islamic theocracy in 1979 and Western culture became the enemy of the state. "The art was saved, probably for commercial reasons, but it remained mostly unseen, while the museum put on edifying shows of religious and revolutionary art." But now, the complete collection is on display at Tehran's national museum for the first time since the revolution that brought the mullahs to power. The Guardian (UK) 10/07/05

Landlord: Saatchi Went Berserk Over A Toilet Representatives of two companies attempting to evict collector Charles Saatchi's gallery from its South Bank premises have testified in court that the enigmatic collector flew into a rage over the use of a disabled toilet in one of the complex's common areas. The companies "allege the gallery consistently encroached on communal areas not within its leased area," and further accuse Saatchi himself of using "intimidatory tactics." The Guardian (UK) 10/07/05

Come Pillage Our Castle! "Sotheby's is selling more than 20,000 items from the royal House of Hanover at the Marienburg Castle near Hanover, in northern Germany. Divided into about 4,700 lots, many of royal provenance, the sale includes glass and porcelain, silver, arms and armor, old master paintings, uniforms and textiles belonging to the kings and princes of England and Hanover from the 15th through the 19th centuries." The New York Times 10/07/05

Brit Council Opens Virtual Gallery "One of the world's largest collections of contemporary British art goes on show today, showcasing work from the likes of Henry Moore, David Hockney and Tracey Emin - and the venue is just a click of the mouse away. The British Council's new online database... provides details of the 8,000 works in its permanent collection, 80% of which is on tour at any one time." The Guardian (UK) 10/06/05

Baker: New deYoung A Big Improvement The facade of San Francisco's new deYoung Museum has not been a big hit with members of the public, some of whom have suggested that it looks like an aircraft carrier. But Kenneth Baker says that art lovers should reserve judgment until they've seen the whole museum, and that includes the inside. "The new de Young deploys its resources to encourage our recognition that the meanings of art, even of the decorative arts, lie neither wholly within the art object nor wholly outside it." San Francisco Chronicle 10/06/05

Famed Chinese Scroll To Get First Viewing "One of the most famous -- and longest -- paintings of Chinese antiquity will go on display this month in its entirety for the first time ever. Engineers at the Beijing University of Technology have built a 52-foot-long case weighing 5 tons and costing $247,000 to display 'Qingming Shanghe Tu,' or 'Qingming Festival on the River,' the official China Daily newspaper reported. The 12th Century work has long been praised for its realism and historical detail in portraying social and commercial life in an ancient Chinese city. Yet, its size, and fears of damage to the delicate colors and silk on which it was painted have prevented it from ever being shown publicly. The original painting measured more than 16 feet long." Chicago Tribune (AP) 10/06/05

Saatchi's Landlord Wants Him Out "The landlord of the London art gallery where Charles Saatchi houses his world-famous collection is seeking to evict him in a High Court battle. Japanese company Shirayama Shokusan is accusing the operators of the Saatchi Gallery of continually breaching the terms of its lease. It alleges the gallery hung works of art in off-limit areas and had immediately tried to renegotiate rent. Mr Saatchi is planning to move his main artworks to a new gallery in Chelsea." BBC 10/06/05

Working To Save Gulf Coast Art Conservators are working overtime to save artworks damaged in the Gulf Coast hurricanes. "The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, based in Washington, is sending conservators to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cultural associations determine how to best repair waterlogged historic documents, sodden furniture and artwork. It also will help private citizens with damaged collections and heirlooms. Even before the floodwaters buried New Orleans, efforts were under way to preserve art treasures." The State (SC) 10/05/05

More Animals-On-Parade The decorated fiberglass animals-on-parade phenomenon continues in cities around North America. Critics hate them: "It's the scourge of Western civilization." "Yet the fiberglass phenomenon remains wildly popular. Superficially, at least, the reasons are obvious. Most ordinary folks, children especially, find the sculptures just plain fun. They're relatively cheap, so corporate patrons can easily sponsor local artists to decorate them. Because they are usually displayed for only a few months, they aren't around long enough to become eyesores. And when their time is up, they're auctioned off for charity, civic institutions or other worthy causes." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/05/05

Another 9/11 Memorial Clashes With Critics This time it's a design to commenmorate the crash of flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field. "The debates suggest an age-of-terror version of the fights over identity politics, provocative artworks and the Western canon that flared up 20 years ago. In the case of Flight 93, the Hallmark-card Minimalism that is now the lingua franca for memorials — and the design world's version of political correctness — has clashed with the notion that what we ought to remember about its passengers, above all else, is their onboard rebellion." Los Angeles Times 10/05/05

Collector Sues To Stop Sale Of Stolen Paintings In 1978 thieves stole seven paintings from Michael Bakwin. "The paintings, worth about $3 million, surfaced last spring in London, in the possession of the Erie International Trading Co., an obscure organization with a Panamanian address. When Bakwin learned that the company had plans to auction the works, he asked the Art Loss Register, a firm that tracks stolen art, to intervene. Julian Radcliffe, chairman of the Art Loss Register, said he wants to know who the owners of Erie International Trading are, how they got the paintings, and what they may know about the theft." Boston Globe 10/04/05

Saltz: Is New York Art City? Jerry Saltz writes that New York's "art world has never been so flush with money. There are almost 300 galleries in Chelsea, with more than 30 expanding or relocating there this season. A 20-story "gallery condo" is under construction; Matthew Marks is opening a fourth gallery space, Perry Rubinstein a third, Pace a second; Marianne Boesky is building her own building. No one's closing. There are also hundreds of contemporary galleries outside Chelsea. So New York truly is Art City. Or is it? Even with all the buzz, we're in a predicament." Village Voice 10/04/05

Vettriano: I Don't Copy Jack Vettriano has denied he copied from a book for some of his most famous works. "The painter said he had never made any secret of using a 1987 illustrators' guide for some of his figure drawing. Vettriano denied newspaper reports that he had copied the work or that he had kept his use of the book to himself. He said he had always been upfront about being self-taught and that, like many other artists, he used a reference book for some of his figure drawing." BBC 10/04/05

• Vettriano - Popular? Yes. Artist? Definitely Not "Jack Vettriano is not even an artist. He just happens to be popular, with 'ordinary people' who buy reproductions of his pseudo-1930s scenes of high-heeled women and monkey-suited men, and celebrities who fork out for the originals of these toneless, textureless, brainless slick corpses of paintings. I urge you to visit the National Gallery. Look at great paintings for a few hours. Now take a look at Vettriano. I'm not arguing with you; I'm telling you. I look at art every day and I know what I don't like. There I go - being elitist. Art critics are, in the game Vettriano plays, snobbish patsies. Critical disdain is part of Vettriano's success, making him 'controversial'." The Guardian (UK) 10/05/04

Art Fairs Trip Over One Another There are four major international art fairs this month. "Not only is the schedule punishing for exhibitors and collectors, but the competition between the fairs for galleries and audience ratings is intense. It is not just a question of filling the stands and making sales - there is an abundance of galleries eager to take part in any of these fairs. The key issue, say the fair directors, is the quality of art shown, by which they mean prestige: getting the most prestigious international galleries with the most sought-after artists and that A1 list of collectors and museum curators to attend." The Telegraph (UK) 10/04/05

Dopey Radio Host Attacks Plans For Bourgeois Sculpture A radio talk show host in Seattle assails a planned sculpture for an outdoor sculpture garden by Louise Bourgeois. Why? Because it's of a nude father and son on a fountain. And this is bad because... Seattle Post-Intelligencer 10/01/05

Getty Antiquities Dealers Quits After Loan Questions Embattled Getty antiquities dealer Marion True has resigned after the Getty raised questions about her failing "to report certain aspects of her Greek house purchase transaction in violation of Getty policy. 'In the course of the Getty's discussions with Ms. True on this matter, she chose voluntarily to retire.' True, 56, faces trial in an Italian court on charges that she conspired with dealers who were trafficking in looted antiquities. In its statement, the Getty said she was retiring to devote her full energies to her defense. Internal Getty records obtained by The Times show that museum officials knew three years ago about the loan True obtained for the vacation home. The Getty declined comment on the documents." Los Angeles Times 10/03/05

• Marion True Resigns From Getty - And The Italian Charges? "Ms. True goes on trial in Rome in November on charges of conspiring to receive illegally exported artworks. Reached by telephone, Maurizio Fiorilli, a lawyer for the Italian Culture Ministry, said that the departure of Ms. True might provide an occasion for the Getty to reopen negotiations with Italy. 'It could be the basis for a gesture of good will on the part of the Getty to discuss with the Italian government the objects that it has'." The New York Times 10/04/05

Italy Says Getty Will Return Three Artifacts Italy's culture minister says the Getty Museum will return three artifacts to Italy. "Italian officials traveling to Los Angeles will receive the artifacts 'within the next few days' in the form of a donation from the Getty, ministry spokesman Walter Guarracino said. He said the donation formula allows the museum to avoid admitting any wrongdoing in the acquisition of the objects and doesn't alter Italy's position in its trial against Getty antiquities curator Marion True." Los Angeles Times (AP) 10/03/05

Artist: I'll Let My Art Rot Rather Than Bow To Ransom Demand "The son of prominent Canadian sculptor Haydn Davies says his father is prepared to let one of his most famous works decompose in a field rather than surrender to what he terms the 'ransom demands' of the Ontario community college that originally commissioned, then dismantled the piece." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/03/05

Rare Map Thefts Rock Libraries Rare map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III has been caught and charged with the theft of maps from Yale's library. Smiley, who has been "buying and selling rare North American maps and atlases for more than a decade, scheduled to make another court appearance here on Monday, the case is turning into an embarrassment for prestigious libraries and elite collectors from Chicago to London. A field marked by tweedy scholarship in quiet, climate-controlled vaults has been rattled by disclosures of maps disappearing amid lax security and suspicions that big-money deals were being made with too few questions asked." The New York Times 10/03/05

Gund Bails Out On WTC Memorial Agnes Gund, one of New York's leading cultural figures, has resigned from the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board. "Governor Pataki (and it saddens me to say, Senator Clinton has joined him) has caved and virtually ensured that there will be no cultural component to the redevelopment. I hate to walk away from this situation and leave it to you and the others to sort out. But I am afraid that the governor and those few family members have succeeded in destroying what could not be destroyed on that awful Tuesday, which is our hope." The New York Times 10/03/05

Moscow's Art Fair Steps Up "The Moscow World Fine Art Fair was set up by its Swiss-based organisers Art Culture Studio last year to tap into the huge amounts of money being made by Russia's capitalists, but in 2004, regulations prevented anything from being sold. This year's fair moved to a new and better venue and attracted more dealers, and Art Culture Studio persuaded the authorities to let dealers sell art rather than merely hold an exhibition." The Telegraph (UK) 10/02/05

Madness In The Floorboards Disturbs Paris ArtWorld A long screed carved into a floor by a schizophrenic French farmer has become Paris' most controversial artwork. "Since the Plancher de Jeannot (Jeannot's Floorboards) went on display last week, it has created an unprecedented stir. 'People are terribly disturbed by it. Some feel it should not be on public view.' The carving - 80 lines of text, in capital letters with no punctuation - contains references to Hitler, to Popes and to an infernal machine that controls humans. The work raises painful questions about whether madness can be artistic." The Observer (UK) 10/02/05

In LA: A School Building Boom That Disappoints The Los Angeles School District is in the midst of an enormous building campaign - spending more than $17 billion on schools. "Certainly the district deserves praise for confronting, after years of official neglect, the twin problems of overcrowding and aging facilities. The building campaign's central goals — to move every student back to a traditional two-semester calendar and into a neighborhood school — are finally within sight. But as the district has become more aggressive about asking for money and tackling new lists of educational problems, on the design front it has shrunk into caution and insularity." Los Angeles Times 10/02/05

Is Russia The Next Big Art Market? "Russia and its nascent art market is the new Eldorado for art dealers. Moscow accounts for at least 85% of the country’s wealth and soaring oil prices are further boosting revenues. The city is plastered with billboards advertising luxury brands, new buildings are being hastily erected everywhere and out in the Western suburbs, a $60 million shopping mall is rising amid the birch forests: it is surrounded by $20 million homes. Dealers and decorators are scrambling to furnish these empty homes, as well as properties in the South of France and London, both obligatory for Russia’s super-rich." The Art Newspaper 09/30/05