ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

VISUAL

What Should A Museum Do With Its Collection Of Vital, Fragile Works On Paper?

Ask the Hammer Museum at UCLA, where not only more study access but a new gallery space will show off, in careful rotation, the collection. "Call it a coming out party for works on paper, as an exceptional collection sees a new light of day." - Los Angeles Times

Dear Museums, Stop Building New Wings, And Build A New Staff Instead

Museum donor money could go someplace it would make a real difference - hiring, and keeping, a more diverse staff. - Fast Company

A Statue Of A Racist Former Governor In Mississippi Is Now Stashed In A Closet, Under A Blanket

Mississippi House Clerk Andrew Ketchings "said he had been bothered by the statue for years 'because of everything he stood for. ... It was way past time to do it. I just read through a lot of his quotes that were offensive.'" - US News And World Report

A Warning That The Bamiyan Valley Will Collapse Within Ten Years

In 2003, the area was put on Unesco’s World Heritage in Danger list. Now rapid building work and digging under the new rule of the Taliban, combined with environmental factors, are contributing to the speedy destruction of the Bamiyan Valley and its heritage. - The Art Newspaper

Belgian Museum Returns Nazi-Stolen Painting After 80 Years

After years of research, the painting has been returned, the first restitution of any artwork looted from a Jewish family in the second world war by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, which covers six museums, with works spanning the old masters to Magritte. - The Guardian

The Extravagantly Painted Chapels Of Michoacán

The walls and ceilings of these old places of worship, some of them dating back to the 1600s, illustrate Catholic stories and teachings and are painted in an imported European style, but their pigments — and their exuberance — are those of the indigenous Purépecha. - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

The “Most Important Archaeological Find In The UK” In A Century

A 5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in east Yorkshire, due to be displayed at the British Museum, has been described as the most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last century. - The Guardian

How Three Canadian Museums Are Dealing With Having Mishandled Indigenous History

The Royal BC Museum’s troubles go beyond outdated exhibits. Allegations of a toxic, racist work environment were on display for all to see, after the 2020 resignation of Lucy Bell as head of the First Nations Department and Repatriation program. - The Globe and Mail (Canada)

National Gallery of Canada Establishes New Decolonization Department

The National Gallery of Canada has committed to reimagining its collections and programs from a decolonial perspective. Today the museum announced the creation of the Department of Indigenous Ways and Decolonization. - ARTnews

Italy Creates Underwater Sculpture Museum To Thwart Illegal Fishing

The marble sculptures create both a physical barrier for the trawlers’ nets and a unique underwater museum, open to anyone either through arranged scuba diving tours or their own dive. - National Geographic

On His First Day On The Job, A Museum Guard Vandalized A Painting With A Ballpoint Pen

Anna Leporskaya's Three Figures (1932-34) was on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow to the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in Ekaterinburg when a new guard decided that two of those three figures should have eyes. - The Guardian

SFMoMA Names A New Director

Christopher Bedford, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art since 2016, has been named the new director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. - San Francisco Chronicle

The Real Story Behind The Famous Bust Of Nefertiti (It’s Not What You Probably Think)

It was not an object of veneration, it was not meant for public display, and it wasn't considered valuable in its day except to craftsmen. (If it were, it would probably have been destroyed in the wave of iconoclasm after the death of Nefertiti's husband, Akhenaten.) - Aeon

Restitution Of Cultural Artifacts Is Gaining Momentum

International co-operation and resolve is growing firmer, as seen most recently in December, when Greece’s resolution, “Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin”, was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. - The Art Newspaper

Oh, Great — Even More Damage To What’s Left Of The Bamiyan Buddhas

The new Taliban governor of Bamiyan province somehow heard a rumor that there's buried treasure under what used to be the large 6th-century statues (destroyed in 2001, the last time the Taliban were in power). He's having the site dug up and refused orders from Kabul to stop. - Artnet

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