John Singer Sargent’s unfinished portrait of Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1893), oil on canvas (Herta and Paul Amir Collection, via Wikimedia)
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Inspired by the Harper’s Index, Sum of the Arts is a periodic tabulation of numbers floating around the art world and beyond.
- Minutes actress Eleonora Duse tolerated sitting for a portrait by John Singer Sargent in 1893 = 55
- Tons of confiscated ivory art crushed by US officials in Times Square = 1
- Number of days it will take 3,000 gallons of polluted NYC water to be purified in Spanish architect Andrés Jaque’s installation at MoMA PS1 = 4
- American dollars paid for a New Zealand giant squid to clear customs and enter the collections of the American Museum of Natural History = 10
- Percentage of 40,000 museum visitors surveyed in 2010 who enjoyed guided tours = 31
- Length in feet of a traditional Inca bridge that will be woven from grass ropes by indigenous craftsmen on the National Mall = 60
- Number of art dealers who had booths at Art Basel in both 2000 and 2015 = 92
- Weight in pounds of the eight-foot-tall bronze Ronald Reagan statue unveiled at the California Capitol = 800
- Gallons of water a day the Getty saves by turning off its fountains as part of California’s drought conservation = 2,500
- Number of people who witnessed the summer solstice at Stonehenge = 23,000 (down from 36,000 in 2014)