Archives for August 2011

In a positive profile of Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, last May, Jori Finkel of the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying something I quite approved of at the time. Describing Chris Burden’s Urban Light, an installation at the museum of more than 200 salvaged Art Deco lampposts, Govan said it was a popular meeting place, a venue for wedding photos and film shoots, and a symbol for LACMA. “The logo for the museum is an artwork, not a building,” he said.

In recent years, many museums have somehow become too associated with their buildings — it’s their identifying symbol, which sends the wrong message to visitors, I think. It says, see the building, not necessarily the art, and besides, once you’ve seen the building, you’ve seen what you’ve come for. 

I thought of Govan’s quote today when I received a press release for a part of Pacific Standard Time, the multi-exhibition art extravaganza that’s taking place in Southern California this fall. Started by the Getty, it now involves more than 60 cultural institutions that have organized shows and events to “celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene.”

Every fall, it seems, a museum opens a new wing or new building that makes it the art event of the season; single exhibitions usually can’t compete, even if they travel.

But Pacific Standard Time has the potential to make this art season really about art, instead of architecture. Take a look at the exhibitions. Because it’s so large, covering so much ground, it might just qualify as the season’s event. As the Getty says on its website:

Los Angeles is the birthplace of many of the most influential art movements of the second half of the 20th century, yet much of this history is not well known. …From October of 2011 through March 2012, exhibitions and programs [in Pacific Standard Time] across the region will highlight the artistic production of Southern California, ranging from hard-edge painting to assemblage sculpture, from the Light and Space movement to film and video art, from Pop Art to feminist art, and from performance art to modern design.

The Getty Foundation started this in 2002, when it gave out grants to preserve archives from the period, and acquired many of them. They realized what they had, and its potential, and soon they invited other institutions in and some institutions clamored to get in. Officially, the festivities begin in October and run for six months, but some shows are starting sooner.

In particular, the role of Pomona College is being explored in shows that begin Aug. 30, when It Happened at Pomona kicks off with Hal Glicksman at Pomona.

Literally and figuratively, this initiative covers a lot of ground, and will take a lot of time to see and digest. It may even be so big that it swamps the museum openings set for this fall. That would be great, wouldn’t it? 

 

While everyone has been focused on the attendance-record-busting exhibits back east — Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met and Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass at the MFA-Boston — a fabulous exhibit on the West coast has quietly been attracting crowds, too.

The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is on track to draw about 350,000 visitors by the time it closes on Sept. 6, the museum says. The exhibit opened on May 21, and “by week 11” it had attracted about 236,000. 

So, on Aug. 4, SFMoMA extended hours: it will remain open on Saturdays until 8:45 p.m., instead of closing at 5:45 p.m. as usual. And for members, the museum is opening an hour early on Saturdays and Sundays, at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., and the same for Labor Day, Sept. 5. Details here. (All of which I applaud — they should extend again, if demand increases.)

If the trend continues, The Steins Collect will be SFMoMA’s No. 3 exhibit in the last 7 years. That “week 11” statistic figures in the museum’s projections. I had asked how it was doing, in the context of past winners. For whatever reason, the answer came back only for the past seven years (was it because just I noted here that 20th Century exhibits were exceeding 21st Century shows?). Anyway, here are the numbers I was provided:

FY09 Frida Kahlo: by week 11, approx. 300,000; final attendance, approx. 412,000
FY04 Chagall: by week 11, approx. 262,000; final attendance, approx. 391,000
FY10 O’Keeffe/Ansel Adams: by week 11, approx. 220,000; final attendance, approx. 299,000
FY11 The Steins Collect: by week 11, approx. 236,000; final attendance, TBD 

Although I haven’t yet seen this show exhibit (some 200 works by Bonnard, Cezanne, Gris, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and many more), I have seen the catalogue — and I have wishful thinking about it at the Met, where it will be early next year. I’d like to see it attract a crowds as big, or bigger, than the just-closed McQueen show. I’d like it to be, for New Yorkers, a must-see. I’d like airline pilots, from the cockpit, to urge international visitors to see it, as they did for McQueen.

If you want to see why, take a look at SFMoMA’s press release, which has more details about the exhibit, and view some of the images. Better yet, look at the catalogue. This reunion won’t happen again.

Photo Credit: Girl With Green Eyes, Matisse, Courtesy of SFMoMA — in the exhibit

 

Just after I said that my trip to Iceland did not provide any artistic revelations, along comes an announcement that disagrees! This morning, I received a press release from The Armory Show saying that the “third edition of its invitation-only component, Armory Focus,” will shine a light on art being produced in the Nordic Countries, with galleries from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland — and Iceland.

Armory Focus, which takes place during The Armory Show, held annually in March in New York, is supposed to recognize “an under-recognized yet thriving arts community.” Katelijne De Backer, Executive Director of The Armory Show, noted, “The extensive and overwhelming network of artists, curators, collectors, museums, and galleries in these countries attests to the Nordic region’s international importance.”

OK, I’lll wait and see. Twenty dealers, whose names have not yet been disclosed, will be asked to participate by guest curator Jacob Fabricius, director of the Malmö Konsthall.

In its two earlier incarnations, Armory Focus spotlighted Latin America and Berlin.

In the fall, long before the Armory Show, Scandinavian art of another era will be highlighted in New York. In what promises to be an interesting show, Scandinavia House will open Luminous Modernism: Scandinavian Art Comes to America, 1912. It will showcase approximately 50 works by leading late 19th- and early 20th-century Nordic artists from more than 20 public and private collections in Europe and America — including paintings by Munch and Hammershoi.

Here’s the description from the press release:

Luminous Modernism revisits the landmark [American-Scandinavian Foundation]-sponsored exhibition of 1912–a ground-breaking display of contemporary Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish painting that gave many in this country, including emerging modern artists, their first introduction to Scandinavian art.

While Luminous Modernism features 20 of the same artists and 8 of the same works presented in the 1912 exhibition, it has been expanded in scope to encompass all five Nordic countries, including Finland and Iceland, illustrating the richness of artistic expression throughout the region during this period. Ranging from the visionary landscapes of Munch, Harald Sohlberg, and Akseli Gallen-Kallela, to the intimate domestic interiors of Hammershøi and Harriet Backer, to depictions of rural life by Carl Larsson and Lauritz Andersen Ring, the exhibition reveals the varied and original ways Scandinavian artists responded to modernist innovations at home and abroad.

Note that date, before the landmark Armory Show of 1913.

Photo Credit: Flower Meadow in the North (bottom), 1905, Harold Sohlberg, Courtesy of Scandinavia House

 

 

If you’ve ever wanted a window on the workings of an art gallery during this recession, we’re getting a glimpse this summer because Ramis Barquet, who operates a gallery in West 24th St. in New York, has filed in the Southern District of New York for a Chapter 11 reorganization for the gallery — AKA Barquet Group — as well as personal bankruptcy.

According to a recent article in The Deal, which cited court documents, Barquet wants “to protect its assets from creditor SageCrest II LLC after negotiations with the company fell through.”

Barquet was founded in Mexico, and used to concentrate on Latin American art, but he has since broadened his offerings to include European contemporary artists as well.

The Deal article, drawing on court papers, says Baquet Group used to earn $15- to $20 million a year, but that in recent years, sales and earnings declined materially while expenses also increased. Barquet himself began to make loans to the company:

In 2008, for example, he loaned $2.6 million to the company, and in 2009, he loaned $2.2 million, with additional loans made in 2010. Over the years, between loans and capital contributions, Barquet contributed more than $9 million… Ramis Barquet has reduced his fixed salary substantially over the past few years, but “fell into the unfortunate habit of taking no specific salary but, instead, drawing discrete amounts to be charged to [his] account…”

Barquet Group also borrowed about $6 million from ACG Credit Co., which is owned by Ian Peck, with works of ar serving as collateral. At some point, to settle his debt, Peck turned over Barquet’s obligations to Sage.

Now, says The Deal,

Ramis Barquet said in court papers that the company is illiquid because the art inventory can’t be sold at its full value in the currently depressed art market and must instead be divested slowly…

The company listed $1 million to $10 million in assets and liabilities. SageCrest (5.95 million), Sotheby’s ($1.43 million) and 601 West Associates LLC ($905,804) are listed as the company’s largest unsecured creditors.

The Barquet Group must file additional information by Oct.26. The Deal’s site is not public, but I’ve arranged for access to its article through this link. The initial article is here.

But wait, weren’t art galleries doing great business in the last year or so, because rich collectors are continuing to spend?

Not necessarily. Recent reports also suggest that a only the very top-tier galleries are doing really well. For the others, perhaps including Ramis Barquet (it may be true that the gallery had other management problems, I do not know), times are still tough. 

 

Museum circles are rejoicing this weekend, as two very popular exhibitions close: At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass is on track to be the museum’s fifth most popular exhibit ever. Although we won’t know the final number until tomorrow, when it closes a day after originally planned, more than 360,000 people had seen the show as of Friday morning. So the final total could be on the order of 400,000.

In New York, Alexander McQueen mania is even more virulent. In horrible heat and humidity, people have been waiting four hours to get in to see Savage Beauty (right), as his costumes have been tagged. The Met has extended hours, and in a final flourish announced that it would stay open till midnight Saturday and today — something it has never tried before and a move I applaud.

The McQueen attendance last number I saw — it was unclear from the reports exacty when this was taken — was 650,000, the highest ever for a Costume Institute exhibition and, probably, the eighth most popular exhibit ever. It’s touch-and-go whether its attendance will move into the No. 7 slot, edging out last year’s Picasso exhibition, which drew 703,256 visitors.

Word of mouth and savvy marketng, as well as the shows’ content, have undoubtedly contributed to their popularity. In one of the strangest tactics I’ve heard, on Saturday the Wall Street Journal reported that the international component in the Met-McQueen lines was strong as “several people said airline pilots had advised them to check out the exhibit while they were in New York as their flights landed in the city.” That’s a new one.

All this seems like good news, a shot in the arm for both museums, who are benefitting from increased admission fees, shop revenue and memberships.

But let’s look at where these exhibits fit in the overall picture for both museums. In Boston, four exhibits have racked up better attendance records than Chihuly:

• Monet in the 20th Century (1998);
• Monet in the ’90s (1990);
• Renoir (1985-85)
• Pompeii 79 AD (1978)

Each of the first three attracted more than a half-million people, and Pompeii drew 432,000.

And at the Met, the top exhibits are:

• Treasures of Tutankhamun (1978-79), 1,360,957 visitors
• The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1963), 1,077,521
• The Vatican Collections: The Papacy and Art (1983), 896,743
• Painters in Paris: 1895-1950 (2000-01), 883,620
• Origins of Impressionism (1994-95), 794,108
• The Horses of San Marco (1980), 742,221 (below)
• Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2010), 703,256

Notice anything about both lists? No, I’m not talking about the art on view, that all the previous top shows involve better art, in my view, than Chihuly or McQueen. That is true, but…

No, another scary thing is that all of those exhibits took place in the 20th Century, except for Picasso at the Met, and with Painters in Paris straddling. The 21st Century’s blockbusters are not only scarces, but also about craft and fashion. And one can’t blame population — Boston’s is growing, as is New York’s. So are the populations of the surrounding metro areas. 

These statistics are either a commentary on museum attendance in general — which some studies show is declining — or on blockbusters, or lack thereof.

But let’s go back to those airline pilots. Were they asked to say something, or did word of mouth get to them, too? Probably the later.

To me, this all says that people will come if they’re excited enough about what they’ll see. At the McQueen exhibit, many people remarked about its theatrical presentation, for example. Art can be made much more exciting than museum often make it. Even as resources shrink, or level off, it’s a brave museum that attempts to cut back on presentation, programming or marketing. Perhaps a foolish one, too.

UPDATE, 8/8: The Met says the final figure for attendance at the McQueen exhibition was 661,509, and said that on Mondays, when admission cost $50, more than 17,000 people came — adding some $850,000 to the Met’s coffers.

Here’s more, from the press release:

During the run of the retrospective, more than 23,000 new Members joined at the Museum–more than double last year’s comparable numbers.

The exhibition catalogue has sold well over 100,000 copies to date through the Met’s book stores and website, as well as through other outlets, with distribution by Yale University Press. Popular McQueen merchandise in the Met Shops, including armadillo shoe ornaments, crystal skull paperweights, and tartan purses, sold out several times and were repeatedly reordered.

The exhibition could not be extended further because the galleries need to be turned over for the preparation of the exhibition “Wonder of the Age”: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900, which will open on September 28.