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Artnet News 8/31/99 |
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CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL UNVEILS SLATE The 1999 Carnegie International, Nov. 6, 1999-Mar. 26, 2000, features art that "centers on a conceptually oriented … preoccupation with what constitutes the real," according to curator Madeleine Grynsztejn. Works by 41 artists from 22 countries will be installed in 42,000 square feet of space in the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pa. The majority of the participants will be familiar to contemporary art devotees: Franz Ackermann, Matthew Barney, Janet Cardiff, John Currin, Hanne Darboven, Thomas Demand, Mark Dion, Willie Doherty, Olafur Eliasson, Kendell Geers, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ann Hamilton, José Antonio Hernández-Diez, Pierre Huyghe, Alex Katz, William Kentridge, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Suchan Kinoshita, Martin Kippenberger, Kerry James Marshall, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Ernesto Neto, Chris Ofili, Gabriel Orozco, Markéta Othová, Laura Owens, Edward Ruscha, Gregor Schneider, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Roman Signer, Sarah Sze, Sam Taylor-Wood, Nahum Tevet, Diana Thater, Luc Tuymans, Kara Walker, Jeff Wall, Jane and Louise Wilson, Chen Zhen. This year's International is the 53rd exhibition in the 103-year-old series. Grynsztejn's advisory committee included Art Institute of Chicago curator Okwui Enwezor, Susanne Ghez, director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, and Lars Nittve, director of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. The show is sponsored by Mellon Bank. LLOYD-WEBBER SCOLDS TATE Cats composer and pre-Raphaelite art collector Andrew Lloyd-Webber has accused the Tate Gallery and the English department of culture with double-dealing in an estate tax deal involving a pre-Raphaelite painting, according to Fleet Street reports. The painting in question, Mariana by John Everett Millais, illustrates a scene of thwarted love based on an 1830 poem by Tennyson. The Tate acquired the picture in lieu of £4.2 million in inheritance taxes from the estate of Lord Sherfield, a former English ambassador to the U.S. who died in 1996. Tate curator Paul Hamlyn said the painting was perhaps Millais' best, and called the arrangement to keep it in the country "incredibly important." But the culture department allowed Sherfield's son and heir, Christopher Makins, to transfer the rest of his father's £60 million pre-Raphaelite collection to his home in Washington. Lloyd-Webber's art dealer, David Mason, said Mariana was worth $8 million-$10 million, and said that the composer would have bought it. "They came to an agreement on Mariana, and then got export licenses," he told the London Times. Both the Tate and the culture department denied that there is any connection between the Millais acquisition and the export license. ASIA-PACIFIC TRIENNIAL GEARS UP Tired of the New York art season before it even begins? Make your reservations now for the third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, Sept. 2, 1999-Jan. 26, 2000. "Beyond the Future" features work by over 75 artists from 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Ravinder Reddy (India), Muhammad Imram Qureshi (Pakistan), Jagath Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka), Moelyono, S. Teddy D. (Indonesia), Fatimah Chik (Malaysia), Alfredo & Isabel Azuilizan (the Philippines), Amanda Heng (Singapore), Bundith Phunsombatlert (Thailand), Nguyen Minh Thanh (Vietnam), Zhang Peili (China), Shigeaki Iwai (Japan), Kim Young-Jin (South Korea), Mali Wu (Taiwan), Helga Groves, Michael Nelson Jagamara (Australia), Paula Boi (New Caledonia), Michael Parekowhai (New Zealand), Tahiono Arts Collective (Niue), Lawrence Purtang (Papua New Guinea). SCANDAL AT SOTHEBY'S Two top furniture experts at Sotheby's London have resigned in a scandal over the 1994 sale of two fake Georgian chairs to Canadian millionaire Herbert Black for £463,500. Graham Child, head of the furniture department, and Joe Friedman are taking the blame, according to British news reports. Sotheby's is seeking damages from the vendor of the chairs, Catherine Wilson-Cook, director of the antique shop Cook of Marlborough. Child has been accused of approving the auction of stolen and dubious works before, according to the Times of London. Child was quoted as saying he would be happy to spend the summer in his garden. GOLDSMITH TO CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK Wendy Goldsmith, director of 19th-century art at Christie's London, has been transferred to the firm's New York office to oversee Impressionist and 19th-Century Paintings sales. Insiders say the move is a response to less-than-stellar results in the New York department, which surprised art-world observers when it combined Impressionist and academic 19th-century art into single auctions 18 months ago. A native New Yorker, Goldsmith started at Christie's London in 1989, and has been an auctioneer since 1993. In New York Polly Sartori will continue as senior vice president for 19th-century paintings, and Nick Maclean as head of the Impressionist and 19th-Century department. PUBLISHER LOSES COPYRIGHT DISPUTE The fee collectors have won one in London. The estate of Henri Matisse, headed by his grandson Henri Duthuit, charged that Phaidon Press owed copyright fees on Matisse coffee-table books it publishes. Phaidon says the works, including Matisse by Nicholas Watkins and Minimum by John Pawson, are serious critiques and exempt from fees. But Phaidon settled the case before it came to court, agreeing to pay fees totaling £12,000 and the family's legal costs. Hundreds of thousands of pounds are at stake, according the fee-collecting agency, the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS). MFA HIRES Reorganization proceeds apace at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which dismissed 18 staff members last June and now groups its curatorial departments by geography rather than medium [see Artnet News, 6/30/99]. Art of the Americas is chaired by Theodore E. Stebbins Jr., former curator of American paintings. Art of Europe is chaired by George T.M. Shackelford, former curator of European paintings. Associate curator Erica Hirshler takes over Stebbins' vacated post and newly hired associate curator Ronni Baer takes over Shackelford's. Cleveland Museum curator Lawrence Berman joins the MFA Art of the Ancient World department, and Metropolitan Museum staffer Tom Rassieur joins the MFA department of prints and drawings. The new photo curator post is still unfilled. NEW SCOTS AUCTION HOUSE Five senior employees of Phillips auction house in England have left the company to set up their own auction firm in Scotland. The new company will operate under the Lyon and Turnbull name, first established in 1926, from premises in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Both Christie's and Phillips recently closed their Glasgow salesrooms. "This London-centric attitude creates a tremendous opportunity to sell Scotland's fantastic art heritage worldwide from Scotland," said a spokesperson. The five are Nick Curnow, Campbell Armour, John Mackie, Trevor Kyle and Sebastian Pyke. VAN GOGH DOUGH The exhibition "Van Gogh's Van Goghs" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art added $122 million to the local economy, according to a study by the Wyoming-based research firm Morey & Associates. The museum spent more than $10 million on the 17-week show, whose 812,000 visitors in turn spent approximately $48 million on food, shopping, entertainment and lodging. The exhibition generated nearly 3,000 jobs, $39 million in wages and income, and $3 million in tax revenue. LACMA president Andrea Rich told the Los Angeles Times that the museum did the study to prove to the county that it's getting a good return for its $15-million contribution to LACMA's $48-million annual budget. LACMA also teamed up with Spanish-language KMEX-TV to promote its exhibition of work by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, May 30-Aug. 16. The show drew 180,846 visitors, the third largest attendance in the last eight years. NEW MUSEUM FOR KEY WEST The Key West (Fla.) Museum of Art and History has opened in the ornate, 108-year-old Custom House on the island's harborfront. The eight-year restoration of the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival structure cost $8 million, raised by the Key West Art and Historical Society. Upstairs is an exhibition about the USS Maine, whose sinking in 1898 started the Spanish-American war. Downstairs an Impressionist show opens next month. CONSEY TO BERKELEY Kevin E. Consey, former director of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, has been named director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California. His appointment takes effect Jan. 1, 2000. Consey's first job is to determine whether seismic conditions might require demolition of the building. Consey succeeds Jacquelynn Bass, who left in June after 10 years in the post. KNIGHT HATES US: TRUSTEE Los Angeles County Museum of Art trustee Robert Looker told the Los Angeles Times that its marquee art critic, Christopher Knight, "doesn't like museums." Knight believes museums are selfish institutions that don't care about artists, Looker wrote in a letter to the paper, and also beseeched "someone in a decision-making capacity" to do something. "LACMA is … expanding its efforts … to better establish itself as the cultural center of the community," Looker went on, "and we need all the help we can get." Knight says of his 27 reviews of LACMA shows since Jan. 1996, 13 were favorable, six unfavorable and eight were mixed. "FEMALE" AT WESSEL + O'CONNOR One highlight of the new art season is "Female," a group show of nearly 100 images of women by nearly 100 women artists at Wessel + O'Connor Gallery in Chelsea. Curated by Village Voice photo critic Vince Aletti, the show coincides with the publication of the "Male/Female" issue of the photo journal Aperture, which Aletti co-edited and which features an interview with photo-collector and rock star Madonna. GINSBERG AUCTION AT SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK First Marilyn, now Howl. Sotheby's New York will auction the contents of the New York apartment of Beat guru Allen Ginsberg in October. The property includes Ginsberg's photos of Jack Kerouac and other bohemian lights, letters by Neal Cassidy and books by William Burroughs, as well as Ginsberg's meditation beads, fountain pens and even his wallet. The sale is expected to total almost $500,000. INNERST TO KASMIN The painter Mark Innerst, known for exquisitely detailed, small-scale realist paintings with elaborate handmade frames, is now represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York. Innerst had shown for many years at Curt Marcus Gallery. | ||
