Art Movements
The government shutdown's impact on art, looted Egyptian museum objects recovered, Queens Museum sets reopening date, International Photography Hall of Fame finds new home, and more...
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
The US government remains in shutdown mode. Here are some notable fall outs that have been impacting the art community: the Smithsonian’s museums are all closed along with national monuments; the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was unable to attend the opening of the Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections at the National Gallery of Art after it was canceled; and a continued shutdown could cause delays for National Endowment for the Arts grants and visas. However, as NPR reports, the shutdown has been a boon to private museums in Washington, DC.
Over 400 objects that were looted out of Egypt’s Mallawi Museum have been recovered, including 13 through a sting operation, the Art Newspaper reports.
The Queens Museum has officially set its re-opening date for November 9.
To add to their $79 million renovation project, New York City is giving the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum an additional $5 million.
The Bass Museum of Art received a $7.5 million grant from the City of Miami Beach for a new wing.
Washington State University received a donation of $5 million towards a new art museum on campus.
The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum opened at its new St. Louis location after wandering from Santa Barbara, California, to Oklahoma City, where it was kicked out of the science center where it was housed and went looking for a new home.
The Museum for African Art in New York is officially planned to open sometime in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to a Museums Association survey, last year around a third of museums and galleries in the United Kingdom eliminated staff. In comparison, half of these organizations boosted their amount of volunteers and interns.
Photojournalist Bill Eppridge, probably best known for his LIFE photographs such as his harrowing images of the assassination of Robert Kennedy, passed away this week.
An 1984 Los Angeles mural by John Wehrle — called “Galileo, Jupiter, Apolllo” — is being uncovered and restored by artist William F. Herron III. It’s one of several murals created during the 1984 Summer Olympics that are now being restored by the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.
The statue of William Tecumseh Sherman designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens is nearing the completion of its $500,000 conservation, which has involved gilding the whole sculpture for a reveal this month in Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza, the New York Times reports.
The Masterpieces in Schools project in the UK is loaning paintings by artists like Turner, Monet, and Lowry to public schools.
A Pittsburgh art installation by Kurt Hentschlager that involved fog machines and strobe lights was shut down after three people had seizures.
A new 24-hour sculpture park opened in Oslo with art by James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, Louise Bourgeois, and Marina Abramović.
The “Tower of Power” by Chris Burden at the New Museum — made of 100 kilograms of real gold — has required extra security due to its thievery temptations.
Harvard Art Museums is launching a digital magazine called Index, which will be “a platform for discussions about visual culture and an exchange of ideas,” produced by their staff and others at international art-related organizations.
Ai Weiwei has teamed up with The Sk8room to release a series of skateboards, showing piles of ceramic crabs and sunflower seeds with quotes like: “maybe being powerful means to be fragile.”
