Michael Jackson On Architecture - Behind The Gates At Neverland "At the height of his popularity, Jackson bent the music industry toward an androgynous, perpetually childlike model of superstardom. He managed a similar trick in transforming the architecture of this classic Santa Barbara County ranch property." Los Angeles Times 07/03/09

email this story | Posted 07/03/09@05:09AM

Italy Shows Off Looted Art Returned By Cleveland Musseum "It's the latest success for Italy in its campaign to recover artifacts stolen from ancient sites and smuggled out of the country to be sold. The Cleveland Museum had bought the artifacts in the 1970s and 1980s and said it had no knowledge about the tainted past of the artifacts until contacted by Italian authorities." CBC 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/03/09@05:03AM

First "living Statue" In Trafalgar Square Is A Housewife "I wanted to be able to represent normal, everyday stay-at-home mums who aren't normally a feature of major artworks - to show my kids now, and when they're older, that you can do, and be part of anything, no matter how ordinary you are or feel. I never expected to get a place so hadn't thought about what to do and I never expected to be first." BBC 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/03/09@05:00AM

"Pop-Up" Art - Artists Take Over Vacant Stores "By opening pop up shops we are making a high streets more appealing to shoppers and visitors. And it's not just happening in London. Many of the UK's towns and cities are seeing their own high street galleries." BBC 07/03/09

email this story | Posted 07/03/09@04:52AM

A Museum That Has To Cut Back To Only A Few Hours A Month "Like those brand-new ghost towns in Nevada and Arizona, the Spertus's acclaimed building will stand mostly unpopulated, its distinctive, faceted glass facade a taunting portal to a locked vault. Treasures and programs that were easily accessible at its former location--a building of the same height, right next door--will now be available to the public a total of about 12 hours a month." Chicago Reader 07/03/09

email this story | Posted 07/03/09@04:46AM

Caroline Baumann Named Acting Director Of Cooper-Hewitt "Ms. Baumann, who is presently the museum's deputy director, has worked at the Cooper-Hewitt since 2001, where she has also served as director of development and director of external affairs. … [She] will succeed Paul Warwick Thompson, who is leaving to become the rector of the Royal College of Art in London." New York Times 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@09:36PM

Venice To Redesign (But Not Pay For) Accademia Bridge "The city council has announced plans to redesign the Accademia Bridge, next to the eponymous art gallery, to provide access for the disabled. But architects and construction firms bidding to undertake the project will also have to prove they can raise the sponsorship to finance the work; the council will not make any contribution to the estimated €5m costs." The Art Newspaper 07/01/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@09:04PM

Restored Fresco Said To Reveal Michelangelo Self-Portrait "The restoration of frescoes by Michelangelo in the Vatican has revealed what is believed to be a self-portrait of the artist. The face is in a wall mural in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel or Cappella Paolina, according to Maurizio De Luca, the Vatican's chief restorer. The chapel, which is used by the Pope and not open to the public, was unveiled this week after a restoration costing €3.2 million (£2.7 million)." The Times (UK) 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@07:43AM

What Rub Might Do With Gehry, He Did With Vinoly In Ohio While Timothy Rub, incoming director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "brings to his new job a resume strong on all the essential art-world skills, one of the qualities that surely impressed the Philadelphia trustees is his ability to manage a big construction project and a big architectural ego." This is key as the museum embarks on a $500 million expansion designed by Frank Gehry. Philadelphia Inquirer 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@07:29AM

Gap Founder Gives Up On Plan For Presidio Art Museum "Gap founder Donald Fisher and his family have decided to abandon their efforts to build a contemporary art museum at the Main Post of San Francisco's Presidio.... The question now is whether the Fishers will invest additional time and money on a local proposal, trusting the word of critics who have said they would like to see the renowned collection stay in the city as long as a museum was built at a less sensitive location." San Francisco Chronicle 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@07:03AM

Not All $$$ News Is Bad: Ten L.A. Artists Get $20K Grants "Forget the recession for a minute. The California Community Foundation, in partnership with the Getty Trust, is still doling out money to Los Angeles County's visual artists. In this year's round of fellowships, to be announced today, 10 mid-career artists will receive $20,000 apiece and four emerging figures will each get $15,000." Los Angeles Times 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@06:55AM

Auctions Aren't Always The Best Way To Deaccession Daniel Grant: "In most cases, museums prefer going to auction. Whatever criticism these institutions receive for selling objects only increases if they don't do it that way." But that doesn't mean auctions are the smartest choice. "The method of disposing of deaccessioned objects needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and museum directors fearful of public criticism might want to broaden their outlook." Wall Street Journal 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@05:53AM

'Floating In Space' On A Glass Ledge Atop The Sears Tower "It's a glass ledge, 1 1/2 inches thick and poking out about four feet from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower. There is no frame under the floor, only air -- 1,353 feet of it, straight down to the miniature taxis on Wacker Drive." The trick to it "is an intriguing feat of engineering, a team of designers and builders said Wednesday, swearing on a stack of liability policies as they unveiled the project. " Washington Post 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@05:24AM

Dutch Arts Official On The Lam After Embezzling Millions "The former head of finance for the Dutch national arts funding body, the Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (BKVB), is the subject of an international police hunt after the discovery that he had siphoned around €15.5m from the organisation's accounts." The Art Newspaper 07/01/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@09:35PM

Portrait Of The Artist (Rembrandt) As A Young Card Sharp "[It] is the earliest depiction of Rembrandt as a hopeful teenager, not as he would have liked to have been seen but how he looked to a fellow art student in Amsterdam. Jan Lievens painted Rembrandt at the age of 16, as the central figure in The Cardplayers, which is believed to have been completed in 1623-24." The Independent (UK) 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@09:34PM

A 'Bizarre Union Of Dr. Frankenstein And Georgia O'Keeffe' "Forget the notion of a reverent nature photographer tiptoeing through the woods, camera slung over one shoulder, patiently looking for perfect light. Robert Buelteman works indoors in total darkness, forsaking cameras, lenses, and computers for jumper cables, fiber optics, and 80,000 volts of electricity." Wired 06/22/09 (includes images)

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@09:24PM

At Philly Museum, Rub Says He's Taking Things Slowly Timothy Rub, incoming director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "is at that awkward stage in a new leader's tenure - perhaps wanting to talk substantively about his ideas for the job, yet wary of committing too much too early - but he is happy to say one thing quite unequivocally: He's thinking of Philadelphia long-term." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/01/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@07:59AM

MOCA Curator To Direct Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum "Ann Goldstein, a 25-year veteran of Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art and its senior curator since 2001, has been appointed general artistic director of the Stedelijk Museum, a leading modern and contemporary art institution in Amsterdam. ... Goldstein said that the Los Angeles museum's financial troubles played no part in her decision to move to Amsterdam." Los Angeles Times 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@06:31AM

Reimagined, Lincoln Center Steps Down From Its Podium Ada Louise Huxtable: "By design, Lincoln Center was isolated from its surroundings. In accordance with one of the more faulty modernist practices of the day, it was built on a platform, or 'podium' (a favorite buzz word), separating it from the city streets and dedicating it to access by car." In rebuilding the 50-year-old complex, architects are breaking down that bunker mentality, "reuniting Lincoln Center with the city." Wall Street Journal 07/01/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@05:05AM

Ezra Merkin Sells His Rothkos And Giacomettis "Bombarded by lawsuits accusing him of fraud" - his hedge funds lost $2.4 billion in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme - "Merkin and his wife have arranged to sell their impressive collection of paintings by abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, as well as some valuable sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, according to legal papers filed Tuesday. An anonymous buyer has agreed to pay $310 million for the trove" - money that will go into a victim compensation fund. AP 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@09:30PM

With Crown, 21st-C. Architects To Alter Westminster Abbey "Plans to build a new structure on the roof of Westminster Abbey have been announced, changing the London skyline in the first major building work at the medieval Abbey for 250 years. The addition - an architectural feature in the shape of a large crown - will complete a section of the church that has been left unfinished for centuries." The Telegraph (UK) 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@07:30AM

Why Kodachrome Mattered "[W]hile the discontinuance of Kodachrome may not be felt as keenly as that of other recently defunct items -- notably Polaroid's SX-70 film or Kodak's black-and-white printing papers -- the Kodak film has given honorable service for so long (since 1935 in movie cameras, since 1936 in 35mm still cameras) that its demise calls for a send-off more ceremonial than just a quote from the Paul Simon lyric." Wall Street Journal 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@05:21AM

Tate Commissioned Unknown, Aiming To Make Her A Star "It is one of the country's largest spaces to showcase the best of British sculpture, so being commissioned to create an artwork for the Duveen Galleries - the central space in Tate Britain - has not just drawn in hordes of visitors but also cemented the reputations of Britain's boldest contemporary artists. Now, the gallery has selected a previously unknown artist," Eva Rothschild, "in hope that she will become as celebrated as her earlier 'art star' counterparts...." The Independent (UK) 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@07:52PM

46 Nations Pledge Better Effort To Return Nazi-Looted Art "After a Prague meeting on Holocaust-era assets, delegates will tomorrow endorse a non-binding accord, promising to conduct more provenance research on art in public collections, to open public archives and to ensure that claimants have access to 'just and fair' solutions and speedy consideration of their claims." Bloomberg 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@05:27PM

Night Café Battle Spotlights A Different Kind Of Looting Van Gogh's "The Night Café," from 1888, "is posing an intricate question in international law. It's the subject of a suit and countersuit in U.S. courts between the descendant of a former owner and Yale University Art Gallery. ... So whose is it? That turns on the legitimacy of the Bolshevik government and its acts: a matter for international lawyers." Bloomberg 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@05:22PM

The Living Statues Of Trafalgar Square "Trafalgar Square is a position for national heroes, where the machinery of established values whirrs away. So I thought let's try and question this English obsession with heritage and values - let's have a real person up there who hasn't ever been idealised or idolised and see what happens. It's about what you think, feel or do when..." The Telegraph (UK) 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@04:36AM

Portland Art Museum Cuts Budget, Staff, Raises Admission Price The cuts are aimed at neutralizing a $500,000 deficit... The Oregonian 06/28/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@04:31AM

Philadelphia Museum Of Art Chooses New Director "Timothy Rub, who has led the Cleveland Museum of Art since 2006 and who just finished guiding construction of the museum's gleaming new East Wing, has decided to leave his post in September to direct the Philadelphia Museum of Art." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 06/28/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@07:40PM

LA's Museum Of Contemporary Art Has A Great Fundraising Quarter MoCA "said today that it raised about $57 million in the first half of 2009. The museum said it has reversed a decade of declining contributions to its endowment fund." Bloomberg 06/26/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@12:55PM

London's Art Market Goes Flat "Last year, London edged past New York to become the world's top art marketplace by sales, thanks mainly to an influx of wealthy buyers from Russia, Asia and the Middle East who wanted to buy art closer to home. Now, midway through London's summer art auctions, the same factors that once counted in London's favor seem stacked against it." The Wall Street Journal 06/27/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@07:58AM

How I Bought A Gainsborough On eBay "Suddenly I was struck by a small thumbnail image; it was billed as An American School Portrait of an Unknown Man. Other than that there was nothing - apart from the guide price of $100 (£62). Something about it jumped out at me, though; it exuded a certain glow that differentiates the work of Gainsborough from his contemporaries." The Independent (UK) 06/27/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@07:46AM

Design Issue: Do We Need More Chairs? "The most environmentally responsible solution is surely to not make anything further, but recycle, reuse and adapt what already exists. That single idea undoes the entire furniture industry, which is perhaps why so many designers are sticking their heads in the sand and soldiering on regardless, or paying lip-service to green production values while struggling with the idea that consumption, as we know it, may be over." The Australian 06/26/09

email this story | Posted 06/26/09@06:03AM

Weak Auctions Despite American Museums' Willingness To Sell "For decades American museums sold very little American art. They felt required to hold on to everything they were given. There has been a cultural change and museums recognise you don't have to keep everything in the basement. Scholarship has made the process much easier and the art is much more valuable." The Art Newspaper 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/26/09@05:58AM

Technology Reveals Parthenon's Original Colors Not all the news from the Acropolis is about that brand-new museum. Using new imaging techniques, researchers for the British Museum have finally discovered traces of the pigments which scholars have long suspected were used to paint the Athenian temple's friezes and sculptures. Decoding The Heavens 06/15/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:56PM

Pigeons: They're Not Rats With Wings, They're Art Mavens "Researchers at Tokyo's Keio University say they have found that the birds have 'advanced perceptive abilities' and can distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' paintings, recognising beauty the way humans do. The team - which previously published research saying that pigeons can tell a Monet from a Picasso - was seeking to find out whether the animals may also be able to prefer one to the other." Yahoo! (Agence France-Presse) 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:07PM