Now Brandeis May Close Museum, Keep Art

Art world condemns decision to close gallery, sell collection

(NEWSER) - The Massachusetts attorney general announced a probe into Brandeis University's shock decision to shut its modern art museum and sell off the entire 6,000-work collection. Brandeis did not consult the AG's office or even the museum's board, and wills and agreements between the Rose Art Museum and its donors may prevent the proposed sales. The university's decision has been met with unanimous anger in the art world and academia alike, reports the New York Times. More»

Art world shocked as university closes renowned institution

(NEWSER) - Facing severe budget shortfalls, Brandeis University will close its well-regarded modern art museum and sell off the entire 6,000-work collection, reports the Boston Globe. The move has shocked the art world and drawn heavy criticism from museum and university professionals. "This is not a happy day in the history of Brandeis," the school's president admitted. More»

(NEWSER) - Herb and Dorothy Vogel had just modest incomes—he was a postal clerk, she a librarian—but over four decades they acquired more than 3,600 drawings, paintings, and collages from America's leading artists. They collected so much that they had to stuff works under their bed. But now the Vogels' one-bedroom apartment has been cleaned out, and their works have been scattered: 50 each to 50 museums across the country plus another 1,100 to the National Gallery in Washington. More»

Piano's addition for Art Institute called his best in a decade

(NEWSER) - This weekend the Art Institute of Chicago opens a mammoth new modern wing designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Nicolai Ouroussof praises Piano's mix of "Modern and classical themes," and "towering glass-and-steel facade, with its floating roof and excruciatingly slender columns" straddling gritty railroad tracks. The New York Times' critic calls the building one of Piano's best, "the closest he has come in at least a decade to achieving his near-classical ideal." More»

'This is war,' says Antonio Manfredi

(NEWSER) - It's an incendiary protest. More than a month after an Italian museum director first burned art to protest budget cuts, Antonio Manfredi is still regularly incinerating works at his Casoria Contemporary Art Museum. "This is war for the arts," Manfredi explains. "We want the institutions in Italy and around the world to understand that culture is very important. It's not possible when there is an economic problem in the world that the first that the government destroys is art." More»