Category: visual

The museum is highly dependent on the tourist market. A huge 85% of its visitors are from abroad, many of whom come during the summer season. In the Netherlands, Van Gogh is widely regarded as a “tourist artist”. The challenge for Gordenker will be to woo more Dutch visitors, particularly during the winter. She also feels it is important to make the museum more inclusive, attracting young and old and those from the substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands. – The Art Newspaper

“The sculptures are each approximately 20 inches tall and are worth between $21,000 and $52,000. They were apparently snatched by at least two thieves in a smash-and-grab operation that was conducted in the early hours of Thursday morning … [at] Galleri Couleur.” – Observer (New York City)

The history of the Memphis Pyramid, which is now emblazoned with a massive Bass Pro Shops logo on its side, is as bewildering as its appearance, and as reflective of the people who conceived of it. – CityLab

Art historian Charles Hope, in a review of three books about the world’s most expensive painting, lays out an extensive argument against the attribution of Salvator Mundi to da Vinci and suggests that the UK’s National Gallery, by including it in its 2011 Leonardo exhibition, helped (wittingly or not) pump up the work’s resale value. Both the New York dealer who had the painting at that time and the National Gallery’s then-director respond in letters, and Hope follows up with a counter-response. – London Review of Books

The handover of the building from a contractor to the constructor has been delayed due to incomplete delivery of fire and security doors as well insufficient performance and unsatisfactory operation of the building’s climate systems, the newspaper Dagbladet writes. The new Munch museum has already been the subject of criticism over its design. Architecture editor Gaute Brochmann, in comments to Dagbladet, has likened it to a “threatening black shadow, a coal-grey block looming over the Opera”. – The Local No

There is a direct correlation between museum shows and spikes in interest at auction. “It confirmed in a reasonably analysed way that there is a relationship and, therefore, to support museums is not completely philanthropic—there is a commercial spin off.” – The Art Newspaper

The plaintive question came from Sara Mearns as she and her colleagues listened to the decidedly avant-garde music choreographer Alexei Ratmansky had selected for his new work, Voices. Ratmansky’s response: “There is no musicality, just your own.” – The New York Times

The School of Architecture at Taliesin, which operated at both Wright’s original Taliesin home in Wisconsin and his Taliesin West in Arizona, will cease operations this June. The School’s board had tried, and failed, to complete an agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation that would let it continue as an accredited program. (The Foundation’s press release pointedly stated that “the School did not have a sustainable business model.”) – Archinect

“Eight colorful banners designed [for the 1976 Bicentennial] by Alexander Calder that were lost for decades, then thought destroyed, and then serendipitously found and displayed for about six weeks a decade ago — only to vanish again from public eye and memory — have been found once again, and will be exhibited permanently in the Parkway Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer