Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Museum Funding-Fundraising

Reason To Rejoice With The New Museum in San Antonio

Art-Artifact-Pancho-Villa-SaddleSan Antonio has a new museum, in an excellent location for visitors, and a clear mission that doesn’t duplicate another nearby museum’s — good signs for the future. I’m talking about the Briscoe Western Art Museum, which opened on Saturday. Situated on the city’s popular River Walk, in a restored historic building that once housed a circus museum, its inaugural exhibition contains about 700 objects, including Santa Anna’s sword (bottom), Pancho Villa’s saddle (top), and an Apache olla basket (middle).

Although the lobby contains a life-sized sculpture of cattle herds by John Coleman, officials say the Briscoe is not a museum of “cowboy art,” but rather will also collect art depicting and related to the American Indian and Spanish and Mexican vaqueros. In the collection or on loan now are paintings by E.I. Crouse and Maynard Dixon, among other things.

Here’s more about what is inside  and more about the collections.

You may not like Western art and artifactsArt-Artifact-Basket-Olla-Apache (I do, btw), but there’s another reason to know about this museum. Again, as in Dallas, the San Antonio city officials and business executives are vocal about the importance of having museums. As reported by the Native American Times,

The Briscoe adds a new element to the city’s cultural offerings as the first dedicated Western heritage museum. Briscoe officials and city leaders see the new museum fitting into a well-established niche: the tourism industry. Located at Market and Presa streets on the River Walk, the museum is within easy reach of various tourist destinations.

“They’re a walk away from the Convention Center. They’re a walk away from the major hotels downtown, so it’s an added value to that experience,” said Felix Padrón, director of the city’s Department for Culture and Creative Development. “If we can encourage tourists to stay an extra day not only to go to the Briscoe but to the Tobin or other institutions downtown, that’s a win-win situation for all of us since we’re supported by the hotel-motel tax.”

Pat DiGiovanni, CEO of Centro Partnership San Antonio, said cultural attractions such as the Briscoe are key to the effort to revitalize the city’s core. “This is the kind of asset we need to build off of if we’re going to have a vibrant, 24-hour, seven-days-a-week downtown,” he said.

Art-Artifact-Santa-Anna-SwordNot that there weren’t troubles along the way. According to the San Antonio Express,

About 10 years in the works, the three-story museum initially was slated to open in 2009. It was delayed as the original design changed and the price tag grew from $18 million in 2006 to the final $32 million. More than $7 million in taxpayer funds has gone into the project, including $6.25 million from the county and about $1 million from the city. The rest of the funding has come from the private sector.

Former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who died in 2010, contributed $4 million to the project. The museum is named for him and his wife, Janey.

“The public-private partnership was such a successful model for this project,” said museum board Chairwoman Debbie Montford. “Private donors came together with both the city and the country to restore a building with great bones, and I think it’s energized this entire piece of the river. We’re so happy. I mean, we’re looking at each other and saying, ‘I can’t believe it’s finally here.’”

There’s more to the story at both newspaper links.

 

Another Season of Deaccessioning?

Has it begun? Last fall was full of deaccessions by museums, and today an email from Christie’s arrived with three from the Metropolitan Museum* to be sold in the 19th Century European Art sale on Oct. 28. The highlight, as Christie’s put it, is “James Jacques Joseph Tissot’s Victorian masterwork, In the Conservatory (Rivals).” Estimated at $2.5 million to $3.5 million, it is “a tour-de-force of the artist’s skill,” and I would agree. It continues:

In-the-Conservatory-(Rivals)-(2)--1875-78Gifted to the Museum by the esteemed collector Mrs. Jayne Wrightsman, this painting showcases, through an impeccably detailed execution, the splendors of wealth that were available in the 1870s this comedy of manners is set against the backdrop of afternoon tea in a lush conservatory. Tissot, a French-born Anglophile, settled in England in 1871 and Rivals was likely aimed toward appealing to the new generation of collectors. A classic example of Tissot’s “storytelling,” the Victorian work incorporates a plethora of gestures, expressions, and interactions between the subjects, but the plot is kept vague. This deliberate ambiguity keeps viewers imagining what has just happened.

Using the Met’s website, I could not find an image, let alone an exhibition history there. But the Christie’s catalogue says the gift came in 2009, and the last exhibition it cites was in 1955. Still, I am a bit surprised at this sale. Tissot is no genius, but what he did, he usually did well — and this painting, in the slide, looks worth exhibiting to me. Christie’s clearly thinks it will sell — it get six pages in the catalogue.

The other Met offerings are more modest: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Deux bateliers en rivière, estimated at $120,000 – 180,000, and François Vernay’s Still-Life with Fruit, estimated at $8,000-10,000.

The Toledo Museum of Art is shedding 12 paintings, including Félix Ziem’s Embarquement devant la bibliothèque Marciana, a lovely Venetian cityscape, which has been in the museum’s collection for 91 years, estimated at $60,000-80,000, and works by such artists as Henri-Joseph Harpignies, Jozef Israëls, and Joseph Bail, among others.

As RCA readers know, I am not against all deaccessioning. But with the Detroit situation, people are watching museums these days. All things can’t stop because of Detroit, but I would hope that museums are particularly sensitive to the face they are presenting to the public right now.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of JamesTissot.org

*I consult to a foundation that supports the Met

Detroit: What Do Residents Say?

The Detroit Free Press polled 400 likely Detroit voters about the city’s bankruptcy the other day, and how you read it depends on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist.

bildeThe poll discovered that 75% said they do not want city workers’ pensions cut at all to help pay down debt and that 78% oppose the sale of art from the Detroit Institute of Arts to help resolve the city’s fiscal crisis. Point, DIA.

On the other hand, 19% said they favored reducing pensions and 2% favored eliminating them, while 7% said they “strongly” favor selling art and 10% said they “somewhat” favor selling art. Again, point DIA.

But not by much — and both are within the margin of error, which is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Detroiters want business to take the haircut, as the graphic posted here shows.

Business are adamantly against the proposal residents favor, however. Something has to give.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Detroit Free Press

Nicholas Penny Speaks Out Against Overseas Lending

Many museums, from the Louvre to the Barnes Foundation to the Modern, have send parts of their collections on the road, at least in part to earn some money. The city of Glasgow in Scotland had such plans for the Burrell Collection, whose 8,000 works of art were given to the city under a 1944 deed of gift — one that prohibits its exhibition overseas.

(c) Glasgow Museums; Supplied by The Public Catalogue FoundationBut, last January, with the 30-year-old building that displays the collection in need of repair, “estimated to cost millions of pounds,” according to The Herald Scotland, trustees decided to go to Parliament for relief from that restriction — since the museum would be closed for years between 2016 and 2020.

Not a good idea says Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery — citing the “deplorable tendency” to ignore the risks, again according to the Herald.

In a candid submission to the Scottish Parliament committee considering The Burrell Collection (Lending And Borrowing) Bill, Dr Nicholas Penny, the director of the National Gallery in London, says moving works of art has led to several major accidents, incidents and damage to works, many of which have not come to public attention.

Dr Penny said he would be prepared to describe the incidents in confidence to a “single trustworthy individual nominated by Scottish Government” if the committee desired.

His comments left the city’s museum officials “flabbergasted.” Here’s more:

Dr Penny wrote: “What is very often forgotten in discussions of this kind is the moral advantage and tangible (if not always immediate) benefit of a declared preference for honouring the wishes of the donor. Real concern for the future is always more persuasive in those who have a genuine feeling for the past.”

He said the financial benefits of touring art collections are also “greatly exaggerated” and did not lead to any significant increase in visitors to the galleries touring the works.

Giovanni_Bellini_009He added: “There has always been much talk of ‘profile raising’ to palliate the mercenary motive or to compensate for a disappointing fee … it would not be appropriate for me to say the Burrell should not engage in such an exhibition, but the interests of those encouraging it and brokering it should be examined very severely – they are not always obvious. Loans for fees are, it should be remembered, a short term fix.”

Hat tip to ArtWatch UK for calling my attention to this item.

Penny has been outspoken before: I mentioned one instance here about a year ago, when he lamented the similarity of contemporary art collections and the lamentable lack of critical debate on contemporary art — both of which I heartily agree with.

On loans, I am wary of the damage done to art in travels (but obviously many, many things are moved around safely). Penny said he knows of  “10 major accidents in transported art during his 27 years working in museums and galleries.” Shouldn’t they be made public, if they occurred at public museums?

I’ve visited Glasgow, but not the Burrell Collection. Since its focus is late medieval and early Renaissance art (including Cranach’s Judith, above left, and Bellini’s Madonna, at right). I’m inclined to side with Penny.

And I again applaud his willingness to stake a public stance on such issues, which too many directors hold back on.

The Berlin Decision, Part Two

For those of you who speak German and want more details about the decision to leave Berlin’s Old Master Paintings in the Gemaldegalerie (which I just posted), here are some links, courtesy of RCA reader Wolfgang Gülcker.

Vermeer-BerlinHere are links to:

Gülcker has summarized them in greater detail that I did on my Breaking News post, as follows — verbatim, except where noted:

The results of the feasibility study

The study was conducted by the architects and city planners of the BBR (Bundesamt für Bauwesen and Raumforschung). This federal department was responsible for all new federal buildings in Berlin after 1990 and for all buildings of the Foundation on the Museums Island and the Kulturforum after 1990.

…the 2 main alternatives:

(1) A new building for the old master near the museums island with an integrated presentation of sculptures and paintings and the rebuilding of the Gemäldegalerie for the 20th century.

(2) A new building for the art of the 20th century at the Kulturforum near the Potsdamer Straße, where the Gemäldegalerie is located. Here 3 different possible sites were considered, the 2 main sites are:
(a) between Mies van der Rohes Neue Nationalgalerie and Hans Scharouns Philharmonie at the Potsdamer Straße,
(b) hidden behind the Neue Nationalgalerie opposite of the western wing of the Gemäldegalerie at the Sigismundstraße.

(a) on Google maps: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=52.508061,+13.369036
(b) on Google maps: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=52.507360,+13.365886
(c) on Google maps: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=52.509943,+13.365946

The costs for variant 1 (Museums Island) are estimated to 375 Mio. Euros. If interim solutions for the Gemäldegalerie will be necessary, additional costs up to 40 Mio. Euros will arise. (paper 2, pages 7 and 8)

The costs for variant 2 (a new building for modern art at the Kulturforum) are estimated only to 180 Mio. Euro regardless of location (paper 2 page 8).
The authors emphasize that the Kulturforum is an very important urban site which has been object of city planning for decades. Therefore they demand that all relevant parties of the Foundation and the city take part in an workshop phase before a decision for one of the Kulturforum sites is made (paper 3 page 49).

They evaluate the “visability” of the different Kulturforum sites in the city. They speak of “address building”. The site at the Sigismundstraße (a) is only partially suitable for “address building” (paper 3 page 51), while the site on the Potsdamer Straße (b) is a very prominent address (paper 3 page 53).

And then:

The conclusions of the Foundation (Paper 2 page 10)

1. Their ideal is still alternative 1 [of course] {his comment, not mine}. But that can not be realized financially.

2. The Kulturforum site (a) at the Sigismundstraße is “ideally located” and it is 100 percent public property. (Site b on the Potsdamer Straße is 80 percent public property). The time until realization is estimated to 9 years (10.5 years for site b). (paper 2 page 8)

3. After completion of the study the Foundation has discovered that they only need 10.000 square meters (7.400 square meters exhibition area). The study had to plan with 14.000 square meters (9.200 square meters exhibition area). Therefore they estimate the costs for this variant to only 130 Mio. Euro instead of 180 Mio. (paper 2 page 11).

4. A greater part of the paintings of the Gemäldegalerie shall be presented in the Bodemuseum integrated with the sculptures there (paper 2 page 5). [Today 150 paintings are shown there yet].

Again, thanks to Gülcker, who added his comments, which I will post now in the Comments area.

Photo Credit: Berlin’s Vermeer The Glass of Wine