Category: visual

Of course, it all begins in Texas, where (as in other areas), Houston’s Fine Arts Museum has coordinated with other museums to create shared ideas of just how to do this. “The Fine Arts museum waited until it had firmed up protocols and obtained necessary supplies, Mr. Tinterow said, including ‘500-gallon barrels of sanitizer, tens of thousands of masks and gloves for staff interacting with the public.'” – The New York Times

The Menil Collection’s octagonal landmark, which houses 14 of Mark Rothko’s black paintings, was closed in early 2019 for work that included reinforcing the walls, installing a digital lighting system and replacing the skylight to protect the canvases from sun exposure. The Chapel’s reopening, originally planned for June, has been postponed to September because of the COVID epidemic; there will be a “soft opening” in July. – Archinect

From our present experience of the internet, what changes might we expect? We are all André Malraux now. To create his “museum without walls,” an archive of images from around the world, begun in 1947, he had to collect and sift through thousands of photographs. Now anyone can readily compare any selection of works, setting them side-by-side. – Hyperallergic

The fundraiser, organized by Christie’s, netted €5.1 million for CARE’s clean-water projects in three African countries. The prize, a small 1921 Nature morte (still-life), went to an Italian woman who received one of the €100 tickets as a gift. – Reuters

Among the venues receiving the public this week are the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, and the Duomo in Florence — each with its own limits on visitor traffic, based on the building’s size and layout. Among the best bits of news is that the major Raphael exhibition at Rome’s Quirinale, which shut down only three days after opening in March, will resume from June 2 to August 30. – Artnet

In recent years Chinese developers have been putting up, and opening to buyers and renters, reproductions of such attractions as an English village, a lakeside Austrian town, and a Paris neighborhood complete with Eiffel Tower. The government has now had enough: it has prohibited “plagiarising, imitating, and copycatting” foreign landmarks or historical styles, calling for “a new era [of architecture to] strengthen cultural confidence, show the city’s features, exhibit the contemporary spirit, and display the Chinese characteristics.” – BBC

“I came to love this image, this mysterious, nameless village by a famous but nameless artist, long before I knew anything about art or criticism. I often wonder whether I would even pause for a second look if I were to discover it today, after having spent decades looking at and reading about paintings of this period.” – Washington Post

“Executive director Mark Masuoka resigned from his position effective immediately after seven years leading the Ohio institution. The news came less than three weeks after ARTnews published nearly a half-dozen allegations of sexism, racism, and bullying under his leadership at the museum.” – ARTnews

Der Tagesspiegel, a local newspaper, saw the departure of the Flick collection as “further proof of Berlin’s gradual metamorphosis from a creative hub into a stronghold for property speculators”. – The Guardian