ARCO 2001
Study up on your Spanish, art lovers! ARCO, Spain's premiere international contemporary and modern art fair, opens Feb. 14-19, 2001, at the fairgrounds outside of Madrid. (To save time, here's the Artnet News patented cheat sheet: "What is that?" is "¿Qué es eso?" "How much is that in dollars" is "¿Cuanto es en dólares?" "What kind of discount will you give me?" is "¿Qué tanto me lo descuenta?" and "I'll take it" is "Lo tomaré.")
The popular fair in the hospitable city continues to grow, now boasting 274 galleries, 169 of them from outside Spain. The "guest country" this year is the United Kingdom, with 24 galleries invited by curators Charles Esche, Matthew Higgs and Kim Sweet. Other subdivisions of the sprawling exposition include a number of "invitationals," such as "Open Austria," curated by Brigitte Huck, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Peter Weibel; "From Belgium," curated by Bart de Baere; "Asian Party, Global Game," curated by Hou Hanru; "LA-NY," curated by Dan Cameron; and "Crossroads," an open section curated by Rafael Doctor. Check out the fair's website for more information.
FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE MET
A 23-year-old maintenance worker fell 100 feet to his death from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum on Feb. 12, reports the New York Times. The worker, whose name has not been released, had been inspecting the air-circulation system atop the Met's Asian galleries as he had done every week for the last two years, according to a museum spokesperson.
ART LOVERS' VALENTINES
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and the place to take that special someone is ... a museum? Among the museums mounting special events for art lovers in love is the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is holding "Valentiniana," a free gallery talk and poetry reading by art historian Henry Augustine Tate, who will trace the origins of the holiday and read poems by Yeats, Thomas Moore and others in front of such romantic works as Renoir's Dance at Bougival,Lord Leighton's Painter's Honeymoon and Kokoschka's Two Nudes (Lovers). The MFA is also offering a special Valentine's Day Art Lover's Dinner in the museum restaurant at $85 per couple, which includes a special gift. For last-minute reservations, call (617) 369-3474.
For a more hands-on approach, the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe is presenting "Queen of Hearts," a workshop led by artist Goldie Garcia to make valentines or shrines for your sweetheart. Bring photos or shoes. The workshop is scheduled for 1-4 p.m. For more info, call (505) 476-1200
The Phoenix Art Museum is holding "Love American Style," an evening featuring docent-led tours, music by Howard Lowett, performances by Footwork Dance Project, desserts and a raffle. Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m.; tickets are $15 per person. For info call the museum at (602) 257-1222.
And at the ever-exotic Metropolitan Museum, early-rising lovers can go hear "Eternal Romance: Hindu Gods and Goddesses," a free lecture by Marie-Hélène Weill at 11 a.m. Meet at the gallery-talk stanchion in the museum's Great Hall.
GRAY TO HEAD ARCHIPENKO FOUNDATION Alex Gray, communications director of the Art Pace foundation in San Antonio, Tex., is relocating to Woodstock, N.Y., to head up the new Archipenko Foundation, dedicated to the legacy of Cubist sculptor Alexander Archipenko (1886-1964). The foundation was established last year by the sculptor's widow, Frances Archipenko Gray. In addition to encouraging and facilitating scholarship and exhibitions of Archipenko's work, the Grays hope to develop programs that support innovation in the visual arts. Possibilities include the creation of a residency program in Archipenko's former school in Woodstock. For more info on the foundation, contact Box 247, Bearsville, N.Y. 12409.
DEGAS IN AMERICA
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga., presents "Degas & America: The Early Collectors," the first museum exhibition to explore the early response to the famous Impressionist by Americans, Mar. 3-May 27, 2001. The retrospective exhibition, organized by the High's curator of European art David Brenneman and independent curator Ann Dumas, features over 80 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints acquired by collectors and museums at the end of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. The exhibition then travels to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, June 16-Sept. 9, 2001, making it the first Degas survey to be presented both in the Southeast and in Minneapolis.
GETTY DOES CENTRAL EUROPE
The land of Formica, aluminum and acres of glass -- that would be Los Angeles -- is taking a look at the origins of Modern building design in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Ukraine in the Getty Museum's "Shaping the Great City: Modern Architecture in Central Europe, 1890-1937," Feb. 20-May 6, 2001. Featuring 350 architectural drawings, models, photographs, posters, books and archival film clips, the show is the product of nearly eight years of collaborative research and planning by the Getty Research Institute, the Canadian Center for Architecture and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture in association with Kunstforum Wien.
The Getty show is being mounted in conjunction with "The Architecture of R.M. Schindler" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Feb. 25-June 3, 2001. Schindler, a Viennese architect who moved to L.A. in 1920, is represented by over 100 original drawings along with photographs, models and furniture.
SAINT LOUIS GETS A POLLOCK
Collector Emily Rauh Pulitzer has donated Jackson Pollock's Number 3, 1950 to the Saint Louis Art Museum. One of the few major works by the legendary Abstract Expressionist still in private hands, the large-scale work is the first painting by the artist in the museum's collection.
 for the Esprit House.jpg)
