-----Original Message----- From: H-Museum (Marra) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 2:34 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: NEWS: H-Museum News Digest (USA, UK) [Editor's note: The following articles are published in American and British newspapers. The H-MUSEUM NEWS DIGEST service is made available by the editorial staff of H-Museum <[log in to unmask]>.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- H-MUSEUM NEWS DIGEST (USA, UK) January 6 - January 11, 2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- January 6 ++ American newspapers A Gulf Coast O'Keeffe Gets a Wider Audience The notion of the painter Walter Anderson as a "mad genius" has been celebrated along Mississippi's Gulf Coast since his death from lung cancer in 1965. In his hometown, Ocean Springs, he is treated almost as a deity. But he eluded national attention (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/arts/design/06ANDE.html Eyes on Mesopotamian Glory Until last year, few Americans felt drawn to museum shows featuring Mesopotamian antiquities. But the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in April focused new attention on this ancient civilization, and its glories are now the subject of two lavish shows (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/arts/design/06ORIE.html Handling Artifacts Not Built to Last Conservators at historical museums face a painful dilemma. They must try to achieve a reasonable reality in the preservation of artifacts that were not built to last. Too much, and there is fakery. Too little, and objects fall apart (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/arts/design/05HOLO.html ++ British newspapers Museum bones 'should have a Christian burial' The Museum of London wants to rebury most of the 17,000 skeletons in its collection. The move has stirred a furious debate among academics over the morality of keeping human remains for research (The Times) http://search.thetimes.co.uk/cgi-bin/ezk2srch?-aSTART# -- January 7 ++ American newspapers A Collector Following the Thread of the Chinese Imperial Court Tucked away in her atelier along antique row on Wyndham Street here, Teresa Coleman nurtures a collection of ornate imperial robes from the courts of China that give new meaning to the term vintage clothing (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/arts/design/07ROBE.html ++ British newspapers Tate considers selling its art for first time in 50 years The Tate is considering selling off works of art for the first time in half a century in an attempt to plug the gaping holes in its collections of contemporary artists (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=478787 -- January 8 ++ British newspapers Too risque for Iran, Bacon's nudes could be shown in London With its startling central nudes, a Francis Bacon triptych bought by the last Shah of Iran and displayed in his wife's dazzling museum of modern art was never going to amuse the country's hard-line ayatollahs (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=479059 Tate aims to borrow unseen Bacon London's Tate Britain gallery is hoping to borrow a painting by Francis Bacon from Tehran Museum, Iran, which has lain in storage for almost 25 years (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3379581.stm -- January 9 ++ American newspapers Smithsonian Changes Senior Management The Smithsonian Institution announced on Thursday that it had restructured its senior management in an effort to deal with lagging attendance, controversies over some exhibits and problems at its National Zoological Park (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/national/09MUSE.html A Loan From Tehran For the first time since arriving in Iran 36 years ago, "Two Figures Lying on a Bed With Attendants," a 1968 triptych by Francis Bacon, is to be exhibited publicly. But not in Iran: it will be the centerpiece of a small exhibition of Bacon's work at Tate Britain in London in April (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/arts/design/09INSI.html Getting Caravaggio From Video, With Several Hearts of Darkness The jury at the Whitney Museum of American Art knew what it was doing when it gave the Israeli-born film-video artist Irit Batsry the $100,000 Bucksbaum Award for her work in the 2002 Whitney Biennial Exhibition. "Irit Batsry: Set," a show that is the culmination of the award, introduces a deserving winner and a profoundly imposing if initially unprepossessing work of art (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/arts/design/09SMIT.html Forbes' Fabergés to be auctioned The family of the late publisher Malcolm Forbes said Thursday it would sell the world's largest private collection of fabled Fabergé imperial Easter eggs and other Fabergé creations for an estimated $90 million (Los Angeles Times) http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-quick9.1jan09,2,368294 2.story?coll=cl-art Calder Museum opening still several years away A museum devoted to famed mobile artist Alexander Calder -- announced with considerable fanfare in 2001 -- won't open as planned this year (San Francisco Chronicle) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/01/09/ente rtainment1743EST0754.DTL ++ British newspapers Russian museum chief faces jail after show angers church A Russian museum director has fallen foul of both church and state by organising a controversial exhibition that has been accused of offending Orthodox beliefs (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=479401 -- January 10 ++ American newspapers Destroying the Museum to Save It Does the Barnes Foundation, with its trove of Renoirs, Cézannes, Matisses and other Impressionist and modern masterpieces, really need to leave the small town for the big city in order to survive? (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/opinion/10ROSE.html Lewis and Clark Exhibition to Open in Mo. Seven years ago, the Missouri History Museum embarked on what would be the largest, most ambitious project in its 137-year history. The challenge: Assemble the largest collection of artifacts, documents and other materials from the Lewis and Clark expedition for an exhibit commemorating the 2004 bicentennial of their journey West (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Art-Lewis-and-Clark-Exhibit.html A Loyal Protector of Ancient Egyptians in the Afterlife Nasry Iskander, after dedicating a lifetime to preserving the mummies in the Egyptian Museum, boils his work down to one straightforward thought (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/international/middleeast/10FPRO.html Obituary: Jess, 80, San Francisco Artist Known for Layered Imagery, Dies Jess, an artist whose idiosyncratic paintings and collages made him a cult figure in American art, died on Jan. 2 at his home in San Francisco, said Odyssia Skouras, his dealer in New York. He was 80 (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/arts/10COLL.html ++ British newspapers Museum buys pottery collection Museum bosses in Stoke are celebrating after securing an important collection of post-war British pottery (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/3385777.stm -- January 11 ++ American newspapers The Man With the List at Architecture's Party Frank Gehry is at the University of Connecticut, where he has just presented his design for a new arts center to an audience of faculty and students. Reed Kroloff, who is moderating the program, asks the audience if there are any questions (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/arts/design/11BERN.html Obituary: Rainer Hildebrandt, 89, founded museum on Berlin Wall victims Rainer Hildebrandt, who founded a Berlin Wall museum at the Checkpoint Charlie crossing that attracts thousands of tourists each year, died Friday, the museum said. He was 89 (International Herald Tribune) http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=124476&owner=(NYT)&date=20040109174456 ++ British newspapers Saddam's secret hoard of Jewish manuscripts Military personnel discovered the cache while searching for weapons of mass destruction in the headquarters of Saddam's secret police force in Baghdad. It has now been transferred for conservation to Washington, DC (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11494 A new UK law to fight the illicit trade It is now an offence to handle an object if you know that it was illegally removed from a site anywhere in the world after 2003 (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11493 Dealing in Cultural Objects Offences Act: how the new UK law works (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11492 London and Paris markets flooded with looted Iranian antiquities Thousands of objects have been plundered from a newly discovered site at Jiroft (The Art Newspaper) http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11491 Rome Stories: The 'Uncle Sam' architect delivers a refined riposte The first new building to rise in Rome's historical centre for 70 years is going up on the east bank of the Tiber, despite the best efforts of a fogeyish culture minister to stop it (The Independent) http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=480023 --- 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]