GROWTH PLANS AT PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has announced plans for a $500-million, 80,000-square-foot expansion that would increase available gallery space by 60 percent without changing the distinctive neo-classical appearance of its much-loved home on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The trick, according to PMA director and CEO Anne d'Harnoncourt, is to excavate under its front plaza for all that new space -- much in the manner of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The scheme, which would take ten years (and include a 400-car underground parking garage), would require about $200 million in public funding, with $300 million to be raised through private donations.
CARNEGIE APPOINTS FOGLE CURATOR OF CONTEMPORARY ART Douglas Fogle, currently curator of visual arts at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center, will succeed Laura Hoptman in the position of curator of contemporary art at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art. In addition to taking responsibility for new acquisitions, Fogle's duties will include organizing the 55th Carnegie International, set for May 2008.
At the Walker, Fogle's achievements included organizing solo shows by Catherine Opie and Julie Mehretu, as well as curating several exhibitions focusing on the role of photography in art, 1997's "Stills: Emerging Photography in the 1990s" and 2003-04's "The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982." With Philippe Vergne and Olukemi Ilesamni, Fogle also oversaw 2003's "How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age," the Walker's sprawling, ambitious survey of contemporary art from around the world. He is set to assume his duties at the Carnegie starting in summer 2005 -- although his "Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths, Disasters, 1962-1964" is still scheduled for November at the Walker.
CLAUDEL AND RODIN IN DETROIT
The Detroit Institute ofArts will host "Camille Claudel and Rodin: Fateful Encounter," Oct. 9, 2005-Feb. 5, 2006, a show focusing on the artistic dialogue between these two fin de sicle French artists. Detroit is the only U.S. city to host the major exhibition, organized by the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec and Paris's Musée Rodin, featuring 58 sculptures by Rodin and 62 by Claudel. The show will include favorites such as Claudel's anguished and dramatic Sakuntala, as well as The Gates of Hell and The Thinker by Rodin. It will also bring together images that the two artists made of one another and feature rare photographs, drawings and letters that illuminate their artistic and romantic relationship.
WARHOL FOUNDATION SUES ONLINE ART DEALER
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has initiated a lawsuit against a Chicago-based online art gallery, Arts-Studio.com, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Filed in Chicago district court, the suit centers around copies of Warhol's work sold for $200 and $300 by the online organization. Jeff S. Cooper, chief counsel with SimmonsCooper, the New York law firm that represents the Warhol Foundation, stated that the sales infringe on the copyright held by the Warhol foundation on the artist's works.
CELEBRITIES BARE ALL AT CHRISTIE'S GALLERIES
As part of a fundraiser for the Elton John Aids Foundation, Christie's galleries at 20 Rockefeller Plaza hosts an exhibition of photos from the new coffee table book "4 Inches," June 11-14, 2005. The exhibition is co-sponsored by Cartier and Jimmy Choo, and features photographs taken by well-known female photographers of famous female cultural figures wearing nothing but Cartier jewels and Jimmy Choo shoes. The works on display include Christina Aguilera photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth, Kate Moss photographed by Sam Taylor-Wood, Rachel Hunter photographed by Tierney Gearon, Serena Williams photographed by Amelia Troubridge, Victoria Beckham photographed by Vanessa Von Zitzewitz, Sam Taylor-Wood photographed by Mary McCartney Donald, Nicky Hilton photographed by Huggy Ragnarsson, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos photographed by Isabelle Snyder, the Duchess of York photographed by Pamela Hanson, Mis-Teeq photographed by Kate Martin, Kimora Lee Simmons photographed by Naomi Kaltman, Carmen Electra photographed by Sheryl Nields, Emanuelle Seigner photographed by Amanda Eliasch and Kelis photographed by Patricia Von Ah. On June 16th, the photos will be sold at the Cartier Mansion in an event presided over by Christie's auctioneer François Curiel. A similar event in London held last month raised over $2 million for AIDS prevention and awareness.
PARSONS RECEIVES $2 MILLION GIFT
The estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, who passed away in February, 2005, has left a gift of $2 million to Parsons School of Design. Ms. Lawrence was the widow of legendary Harlem artist Jacob Lawrence, and the money is earmarked to sustain Parsons' Lawrence Scholars Program, an educational initiative, launched by the school in 2004, that provides opportunities for low-income students from the Harlem community.
NEW PUBLIC SCULPTURE IN THE BRONX Public Art Fund has announced that it will present Alejandro Diaz's A Can for All Seasons between 164th and 165th streets in the Bronx, June 29-Sept. 29, 2005. To be placed just across from the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the work consists of four outdoor planters made out of monumental replicas of cans bearing the labels of Mexican brand name items. Diaz's piece references both Pop art's appropriation of advertising and the working class tradition of using empty tin cans as flowerpots.
-SCOPE COMES TO THE HAMPTONS
With successful art fairs in New York, Miami, London and Los Angeles under its belt, -scope art fair inc. has decided to debut its latest showcase of contemporary art this summer in Southampton, NY, fittingly titled -scopeHamptons, July 15-17, 2005. Held in Hampton Hall at 230 Elm Street, the event will draw some 40 exhibitors to the posh locale, mainly from the New York area, but also including galleries from as far away as Berlin and San Francisco. In addition to film screenings, gala events and a silent auction, highlights include sculpture made from recycled clothing by the Florida-based team Guerra de la Paz at Miami's Liquid Blue Gallery, Richard Klein's constructions from found glass objects at New York's Caren Golden Fine Art and stormy, psychedelic images of the sky from Ken Fandell at Chicago's Bodybuilder & Sportsman. Visit www.scope-art.com for more info.
GALLERIA ILLY TO OPEN TEMPORARY SOHO BRANCH
Trumpeting a "sumptuous blend of coffee and the arts," Galleria illy is set to open a temporary location this fall at 382 West Broadway, in New York's Soho district. During the branch's three-month stay, Sept. 15-Dec. 15, 2005, visitors are expected to be drawn both by the prestige of the Illy family as inventors of the modern espresso machine, the Illys are serious about coffee and an exciting arts line-up, including promised appearances by Francis Ford Coppola, David Byrne and Julian Schnabel (both of whom have designed cups for the company) and David Rosengarten of the Food Network, who is creating a theatrical piece to be performed Tuesdays at the store. Other events are to be announced.
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