-----Original Message----- From: H-Museum (Marra) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 5:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: NEWS: Weekly News Digest (USA, UK) [Editor's note: The following articles are published in American and British newspapers and magazines. The WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST service is made available by the editorial staff of H-Museum <[log in to unmask]>.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST (USA, UK) November 10 - November 16, 2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- November 10 ++ US-American newspapers American Artists in Interwar Paris, Seeking Novelty From the 1870's to World War I, American painters trekked to France to study. And their belief that France was the world capital of art was reinforced when American collectors began snapping up Impressionist and post-Impressionist works. But after 1918 the relationship began to change. While Paris was now the cradle of Modern art, resistance to copying Europe was growing among American artists (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/arts/design/10GIVE.html ++ British newspapers / magazines Fantasy queen mistaken for Prophet's wife Tate apologises for gaffe which offended Muslims (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1081608,00.html -- November 11 ++ US-American newspapers Where poetry and civic purpose meet A veterans monument is more exposed and less dramatic than planned. But there's an upside (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-knight11nov11,2,387807 .story?coll=cl-art Several hundred looted relics handed over to the Iraqi Museum Several hundred ancient artifacts stolen from the Iraqi Museum during the wave of looting that hit Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime have been returned to the museum, officials said Tuesday (San Francisco Chronicle) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/11/inte rnational0717EST0488.DTL A deepening view of Native American art Perhaps the most powerful art shows are those in which a collector's impulsive arbitrariness is allied with passion for a cause. "The Responsive Eye, Ralph T. Coe and the Collecting of American Indian Art," on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until Dec. 14, is the response of a man who became drawn by the beauty of its works into a world barely known to outsiders. Their subtlety led him to muse about their meaning and sources of inspiration. These, alas, remain elusive in the main. Too many communities were destroyed or broken up. Too little attempt at communication was made when the collective memory of the survivors still retained its wealth of information in unadulterated form (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=113231&owner=(IHT)&date=20031014125747 ++ British newspapers / magazines Artist's breakaway show Sir Peter Blake looked guilty. He had just broken a work of art by a sculptor friend who had been invited to contribute to his new exhibition, writes Maev Kennedy . "Oh oh," he said, looking at the two halves of Banana, (Medium: Banana. Fresh.) by Angus Fairhurst, which had parted when he peeled the fruit. Should they glue it, or rename it? (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1082461,00.html Tate chief attacks 'save for the nation' art policy Sir Nicholas Serota, the most powerful man in the museum world, dramatically broke ranks with his colleagues yesterday to challenge the idea that vast sums of money should be spent to stop important works of art leaving Britain (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1083047,00.html Tate boss questions 'saving' art The director of London's Tate gallery has questioned whether millions should be spent "saving" art for the nation (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3260879.stm -- November 12 ++ US-American newspapers $62 Million in a 'Fast and Furious' Contemporary-Art Sal The hungry horde of art dealers and collectors who overflowed Christie's salesroom last night couldn't stop shopping. They fought and fought over works from the 1940's right through to the 90's (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/arts/design/12AUCT.html Embracing Southern Art: Old Times There Are Not Forgotten The opening of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art here was much celebrated, but when the speeches and Champagne toasts were over, the awkward question remained: What exactly is Southern art? (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/arts/design/12SOUT.html Treasures back on view in Iraq A 4,300-year-old Mesopotamian statue rescued from a Baghdad cesspool took center stage Tuesday when Iraq's National Museum put on display hundreds of recovered treasures it had lost in a postwar looting spree (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-quick12.2nov12,2,60732 73.story?coll=cl-art Lovely to look at, but little to be learned Displayed works are indeed glorious, but context is missing from Autry National Center's inaugural offering (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-pagel12nov12,2,4442950 .story?coll=cl-art ++ British newspapers / magazines Berlin 'Waschmaschine' wins architecture prize German chancellor Gerhard Schröder's new office - which critics liken to a giant washing machine - scooped Germany's most prestigious architectural prize last night (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1082858,00.html Museum shows off its Picasso women The largest Picasso canvas in the world was rolled out on a floor yesterday, by the museum which owns it but hasn't a wall large enough to display it (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1083085,00.html Picasso highlights theatre museum's big plans A giant stage curtain designed and signed by Picasso for the Ballet Russes was displayed for the first time in 20 years yesterday to highlight the treasures the Theatre Museum in London hopes to display if a £12m redevelopment goes ahead (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=462885 -- November 13 ++ US-American newspapers Obituary: Mario Merz, 78, an Italian Installation Artist, Dies Mario Merz, an Italian artist whose installations exemplified the Arte Povera movement and its use of humble, often organic materials, died on Sunday at his home in Milan. He was 78. (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/13/arts/design/13MERZ.html Fluxus, Exploring the Art of the Idea You study the 1960s-era art movement Fluxus as you would a lost people such as the Incas: through artifacts. In terms of traditional, museum-vitrine-ready artwork, the group left little behind. Intentionally ephemeral, their works included performances and happenings that were impossible to replicate -- though many were documented in letters and on video and audiotape. A visit to a Fluxus archive is likely the closest you'll get to understanding them (Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34401-2003Nov12.html A present-day link to Mesopotamia At the Oriental Institute, 1,400 objects from what is now Iraq are back on view (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-wk-e9filler13nov13,2,4695 952.story?coll=cl-art Rothko leads Christie's pace Christie's New York auction house kicked off a week of post-war and contemporary art sales Tuesday night with a $62-million auction that set records for 11 artists. An untitled 1963 painting by Mark Rothko commanded the top price of $7.1 million. Next came a 1968 sculpture by Alexander Calder, at a record $5.8 million (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-wk-quick13.4nov13,2,20663 88.story?coll=cl-art Exhibit examines issues around the body An exhibit that explores issues relating to the body and identity through the use of the craft and decorative arts is a mix of the old and the new -- a tapestry containing an image of a naked woman, with phallic symbols in the border; stained glass windows where the central figures are not saints, but women undergoing cosmetic surgery. "Corporal Identity-Body Language" opens Friday at the Museum of Arts and Design, formerly the American Craft Museum. It runs through June 4 (San Francisco Chronicle) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/13/ente rtainment1438EST0664.DTL Auctions: Big art, monumental prices The art market is on a high, and at Christie's this week, it was the turn of the works created after World War II to go through the roof (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=117428&owner=(International%20Herald%20T ribune)&date=20031114173345 ++ British newspapers / magazines Contemporary art shows strength The contemporary art market proved its strength as a New York auction raised more than $74.5m (£44.3m) (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3266475.stm -- November 14 ++ US-American newspapers Lunchbox for Art: A New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art wants to build a seven-story bento box for art on the Bowery. Plans and models for this deftly composed lunch break of a building are now on view in the museum's mezzanine gallery, at 583 Broadway, between Houston and Prince Streets in SoHo. Produced by Sanaa, a Tokyo firm, the design should please those who believe that art museums should be neutral containers. If executed with proper attention to detail, the building will also delight the Victorians among us who incline toward tender passion (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14MUSC.html Raising Lichtenstein in Manhattan This weekend a team of five riggers will begin assembling a 50-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture of four colorful brushstrokes in the octagonal rotunda of the former Tweed Courthouse, renamed City Hall Academy as the New York City Education Department's new headquarters (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14INSI.html Youth Reigns in $11.4 Million Contemporary-Art Sale Sotheby's and Christie's concentrated on older, more expensive paintings, drawings and sculptures in their evening sales this week, relegating lower-priced objects by many of the same artists whose work Phillips was selling last night to their day sales. Phillips put together an evening of works primarily from the 1980's and 90's (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14AUCT.html The Collectibles Many Grew Up With in an Age of Optimism So to visit "Modernism: A Century of Style & Design," a convention of high-end dealers in 20th-century collectibles at the Seventh Regiment Armory this weekend, is to take a warm bath in nostalgia (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14JOHN.html Webs Connecting the Power Brokers, the Money and the World Mark Lombardi was onto something before he committed suicide in 2000. His drawings - you could call them maps or charts, and they also have some connection with 19th-century panoramas - track global financial fiascos and related political shenanigans, mostly of the 1980's and 90's. Some drawings are as much as 10 feet wide, rather lightly marked in pencil with arrows and names: delicate spider webs of scandal (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14KIMM.html Shocking! Offensive! But Being Pleasant Is Beside the Point Although the phrase "shock and awe" has become as clichéd as the suffix -gate, it has dutifully been evoked in the British press to describe this year's Turner Prize entries. Actually, it is really only the entry by the brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman - some think it's the favorite - that has evoked, or provoked, that phrase. And awe has a lot less to do with it than shock (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14REVE.html A Playful Narcissist's Song of Himself Are you ready for Lucas Samaras's close-up? He is, as always, so brace yourself when the elevator doors open onto the fourth floor of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Front and center is a towering image of Mr. Samaras's impish 67-year-old face, a black-and-white photograph silhouetted on a black wall. With its taut skin, terse smile, soft beard and imperious gaze, it is part Pan, part Merlin, part Rasputin (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/arts/design/14SMIT.html Jury Wants All 5,201 Plans for 9/11 Memorial on Display (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/nyregion/14REBU.html ++ British newspapers / magazines Saatchi Gallery joins the art world's elite - for the most expensive entrance fees As the man who paid £150,000 for an unmade bed and £1m for a 20ft anatomical model, Charles Saatchi has long known that cutting edge art is an expensive business. Now, so do visitors to his showpiece exhibition space (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=463523 Obituary: Nigel Temple Artist, collector and writer (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/story.jsp?story=463484 US galleries lead 'costly' list Five of the 10 costliest art galleries in the world are in the US, according to a new survey (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3271133.stm -- November 15 ++ US-American newspapers Obituary: Irving Richards, Distributor of Modern Design, Dies at 96 Irving Richards, an entrepreneur who helped take modern design to the dinner table, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 96 (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/15/arts/design/15RICH.html His Legacy Is a Work of Art The Ogden Museum is a testament to its namesake, a gay man who has become a pillar of New Orleans society just by being himself (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-ogden15nov15,2,5041965 .story?coll=cl-art New York museum design packs arty, minimalist wallop The New Museum of Contemporary Art wants to build a seven-story bento box for art. Plans and models for this deftly composed lunch break of a building are now on view in the museum's mezzanine gallery, at 583 Broadway, between Houston and Prince streets in SoHo (San Francisco Chronicle) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/15 /DD831TN61.DTL Good vibrations: the sounds of abstraction A new exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay offers a rather unexpected approach to the genesis of abstraction in art. "At the Origins of Abstraction" opens with several spectacular works by Turner, Monet, Caspar David Friedrich and Odilon Redon, among others, and argues that abstraction in art was born out of the realization that both color and sound are produced by vibrations of varying wavelengths and that all art forms may be seen as essentially one (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=117739&owner=(IHT)&date=20031114173345 Into the future, when contemporary is past Will future historians of Western culture dealing with today's Contemporary Art come to ask themselves one day what caused our perception to stop functioning and our minds to be numbed into inertia? (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=117743&owner=(IHT)&date=20031114175307 ++ British newspapers / magazines Obituary: Francis Simpson Suffolk's Gilbert White (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/story.jsp?story=463864 -- November 16 ++ US-American newspapers American expansion The Huntington underscores its interest in U.S. artists with a roomy edifice meant to mesh with the campus' largely Neoclassic style (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-muchnic16nov16,2,30357 05.story?coll=cl-art -- H-MUSEUM H-Net Network for Museums and Museum Studies E -Mail: [log in to unmask] WWW: http://www.h-museum.net __________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]