Looking Around

The New Barnes

Because there was a heavier than usual influx last week of art stories that needed fast attention I postponed comment on the design for the new home of the much-fought-over Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, which was unveiled last week. So, taking a deep breath…

Damien Hirst: Dead on Arrival

After years of doing installation art, dead animals in formaldehyde and pictures painted entirely by his small army of studio assistants, work that made him one of the most famous artists in the world, Damien Hirst is showing paintings in London this week that he did all by himself. And the British critics are tearing him to pieces.

A New Director in Denver

As a rule museum directors tend to step down within a few years after completing a major expansion. Marc Wilson, who saw through the great Steven Holl addition to the Nelson-Atkins, will be leaving his job soon. And as we’ve known for a while, Lewis Sharp, 63, will be retiring at the end of December after 20 years as head of the …

The Obamas Choose Their White House Art

Here’s a slide show we put together of some of the artworks that the Obamas have chosen for the family quarters of the White House and parts of the East and West Wings. There’s not much about it that could be called controversial, unless you think that Glenn Ligon’s text piece Black Like Me is somehow shocking because it engages the …

Kandinsky, O’Keeffe and the Rise of Abstraction

Two big new shows in New York this fall touch on the moment when abstract art was a very new idea. “Kandinsky”, at the Guggenheim, traces the full career of the man who was one of the pioneers of the form. And over at the Whitney, “Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction” pushes aside all those cattle skulls (or most of them) to focus on the …

Irving Penn: 1917-2009

The great American photographer Irving Penn has died. Penn, who was 92, was one of the towering figures of American photography, a master of fashion photography, portraiture and lusciously detailed still life. Along with the late Richard Avedon he was the king of a certain kind of supremely lustrous American magazine photography in …

Art: 21 — Season 5

After five years the PBS series Art: 21 — Art in the Twenty-First Century is still the most enjoyable attempt to show a TV audience what contemporary artists do. It’s just about the only one, at least the only multi-part series, though there’s always the occasional documentary on cable and sometimes even a mini-festival of art docs. …

The New Barnes

Last week I blogged pretty continually about The Art of the Steal, the new documentary about the long, sad struggle over moving the collection of the Barnes Foundation from its home in Merion, Pa. to downtown Philadelphia, a struggle which is pretty much over.

The first set of renderings for what will be the new home of the Barnes on …

Ben and Zaha and Frank in Chicago

Okay, after all the text-heavy posting of last week, a rambling picture-heavy post today. I was in Chicago two weeks ago to appear on a panel and to catch up on developments since my last visit in May. One of those developments was the completion of two temporary pavilions in Chicago’s big outdoor showroom, Millennium Park. One is by …

Picturing Americans at War in Afghanistan

We did something a little different with this week’s issue of Time. We devoted the cover package almost entirely to a photo essay, pictures of a single U.S. infantry company operating in a place called the Tangi Valley in Afghanistan. The photographer is Adam Ferguson, who has been to Afghanistan repeatedly as part of a project to …

On the Road Again

Again! But after the five-part extravaganza posting of the past few days, you could probably use a break.

Back Friday.

The Art of the Steal — The Final Act

On to the last chapter of the Barnes saga in The Art of the Steal, wherein the trap snaps shut. As I said at the beginning of this five-part blogging opus — by all means, when it goes into theatrical release next spring, go see The Art of the Steal. Just don’t go looking for a happy ending.

The Art of the Steal — The Beginning of the End

Okay, yet one more look at Don Argott’s new documentary, The Art of the Steal — which will go into commercial release next spring — and how the Barnes mess is wrapping up.

By the end of the tumultuous era of Barnes president Richard Glanton, with its big multi-city tour of Barnes paintings — money in! — and its big costly …

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