Category: Articles

  • Drama and trauma 2001

    The art world has had its own share of drama and trauma during 2001. Of course, looming over all that took place is the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (see article, September 11: European Thoughts, September 2001). New…

  • Forgery in the citadel of connoisseurship

    The Getty Museum was deeply shocked to be alerted to the possibility of a number of forged Renaissance drawings in its midst, especially since the purchasing policy has been altruistic, scholarly, and, need one say it, generous. And yet the…

  • Loot to boot

    Today, there is a generation of war victims, descendants of 20th century pioneers, now made modern masters, who rightfully seek to reclaim works that had been held during the war, until divested by the families of the artists. Into this…

  • Millennium Dome doom

    As the year proceeded, the Dome displayed its accursed, doom-laden trajectory downwards. Various dreams of ownership enterprise were touted. Legacy plc proposed a business park, Nomura and Sony teamed up to offer an outdoor market within, to be called Dome…

  • British Museum secures treasure

    The government’s decision to appoint Neil MacGregor as Director of the British Museum

  • Dome from home

    What can be done about the Dome? Well, it’s actually transportable anywhere outside the country. A rather tasteless idea was put forward after 11 September that it could be ‘given’ to New York. Fortunately for New York this has not…

  • Not in memory of libraries (old style)

    Information technology has been the greatest boon to the library sector. We no longer miss the curious olfactory ambience that was the preserve of the Victorian or Edwardian library, any more than we do the scuffed and annotated volumes or…

  • Matisse cross-country people-carrier required

    Tate Modern will launch its spring megashow, MatissePicasso, on 11 May 2002. For the first time the show assembles a massive, representative selection of the work of both artists altogether, which will also illustrate their competition with each other ever…

  • National Gallery search

    Following Neil MacGregor’s acceptance of the British Museum post, the National Gallery now finds itself, for the first time in 15 years, seeking a new director. Charles Saumarez Smith, innovative Director of the National Portrait Gallery, has already been tipped…

  • South Bank Saatchi

    First we had the Guggenheim Las Vegas (which opened last October) and now we will have Thameside Saatchi. The expansion of the global brand has been mastered by Krens of the Guggenheim. Historically, the Guggenheim New York has rivalled MoMA…