art News

Art market in ‘mania phase’ and risks bursting of the bubble

Experts expect a ‘severe correction’, particularly in contemporary and American art, after years of spiralling prices and celebrity and luxury obsession. Musician Alicia Keys, right, and her husband Swizz Beatz look at an installation by artist Gabriel Dawe, in Miami. Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP After examining more than a million auction records from over 36 years,… Continue reading

Wall Talk: Do We Even Need Museum Wall Labels?

  Installation view of “Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963–2010” at MoMA, which did not use wall texts.COURTESY MOMA   There was a time when the labels and texts in museum shows were matter-of-fact explanations—the artist, title, date, medium, and then a few informative words from the curator. But as exhibitions have become more extravagant, provocative, and… Continue reading

More Collectors Donating Works to Hospitals and Nonprofits

Elaine Gans donated ‘Barrett,’ a 1986 piece by Bay Area artist Tom Holland, to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Lost Angeles. Photo: Eliane Gans   Los Angeles art adviser and collector Elaine Gans was uncertain, at first, where to donate a large painting by San Francisco Bay Area artist Tom Holland. It was “one of his… Continue reading

France Makes Bid to Buy Rembrandt Portrait

Rembrandt’s portrait of Marten Soolmans AMSTERDAM — The French Culture Ministry has made a bid to purchase one of a highly coveted pair of Rembrandt portraits from Éric de Rothschild, offering 80 million euros, or about $90 million, for one of them. The bid comes only three days after the Dutch government on Monday… Continue reading

ISIS Accelerates Destruction of Antiquities in Syria

The ancient oasis city of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage site, last year. The ruins have been in jeopardy since the Islamic State seized the city in May. Credit Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamic State militants have razed a fifth-century Roman Catholic monastery and blown up one of the best-preserved… Continue reading

From Brushstroke to Keystroke and Back Again: Six Artists Talk Contemporary Painting at the New Museum

Albert Oehlen, Streithelfer, 1997, oil on canvas.GAGOSIAN GALLERY/COURTESY THE ARTIST AND GALERIE MAX HETZLER, BERLIN   “None of the terms of painting really make sense to me,” the artist Molly Zuckerman-Hartung said on Saturday at the New Museum’s contemporary painting symposium, held in honor of its current Albert Oehlen survey. “Painting has a… Continue reading

Artists Beware! Auction Success May Actually Hurt, Not Help, Your Career

  Mary Weatherford, showcased recently in MoMA, debuts at auction with Varick Street. (Courtesy Sotheby’s) You might think it’s a dream come true for artists to have their work appear at auction, the world’s richest moguls, all frantically trying to spot the next Damien Hirst cheap, crowding around for a closer look. But, ironically,… Continue reading

Has the Bible gone from hot to not in the art world?

New York’s Museum of Biblical Art is about to close down. What a shame: religious art may not attract wealthy donors, but the Bible has always been – and remains – a powerful trigger for artistic expression Extreme and provocative … Caravaggio’s The Sacrifice of Isaac (1603-04). Photograph: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images Is the… Continue reading

The Digital Future: How Museums Measure Up

A 2013 exhibition at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts provided visitors information on iPads. Credit Erb Photography The digital future continues to unfold at American art museums. The best recent innovations have been gathered in a new report, “Next Practices in Digital and Technology,” that the Association of Art Museum Directors is set to… Continue reading
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