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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: modern art

modern art stories: 17 news summaries

 New Museum Piece Shows 
 Viewers Total Blackness 

Miroslaw Balka's How It Is, at the Tate Modern, displays the void

Oct 12, 09 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Tate Modern's latest installation is an enormous steel container—100 feet long, 43 feet high, and 30 feet wide—that envelops visitors in total darkness upon entering. How It Is, by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka, is lined with a suede-like material that is 10 times darker than black paint.... More »

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art museum • London • Poland • modern art • Britain • Tate Modern • Miroslaw Balka

Obamas' Art Collection: Modern, Aggressive

White House borrows 47 works of art from Washington museums

Oct 7, 09 8:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack and Michelle Obama, working with curators at the White House and DC museums, have borrowed 47 artworks for their walls, and their selections are far more modern and discerning than their predecessors', writes Blake Gopnik. The Washington Post critic is impressed by the "surprisingly sober, even dour" choices... More »

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Barack Obama • Michelle Obama • White House • art • modern art • Mark Rothko • Jasper Johns • Smithsonian Insitution • Hirshhorn Museum

(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... More »

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art museum • art • modern art • museum • collecting • art collector • art donations

OPINION

 How to Bust Art Myths 


Aug 9, 09 5:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Too many people have given up talking about modern art, retreating behind pat statements like “art is subjective,” writes Paddy Johnson in the Christian Science Monitor. Here are some attitudes that drive her crazy: 
  • Anyone could do that: A typical rejoinder is, “
... More »

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art • modern art • painting

(Newser) - Jasper Joffe isn’t taking his breakup well. When his girlfriend of 5 years walked out on him, the painter, who’s sold work to such heavyweights as Charles Saatchi, decided to sell not just paintings, but all his worldly possessions, the Independent reports. Every single paint brush, keepsake,... More »

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art • modern art • artist • women's issues • Jasper Joffe

Obama's Inclusive Message Extends to White House Walls

Call for art includes minority painters, abstract works

May 22, 09 12:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - More change is coming to Washington, and this time it’s aesthetic. President Obama’s request for works from African-American, Hispanic, and female artists to adorn the White House walls stems from a desire to “round out the permanent collection” and “give new voices” to non-traditional or low-profile... More »

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Barack Obama • Michelle Obama • White House • art • modern art • minorities • National Endowment for the Arts • Jay-ZTV

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW

 Modern Meets Classical 
 in Chicago Museum Wing 

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

May 15, 09 8:05 AM CDT
(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 ... More »

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entertainment • art museum • architecture • Chicago • art • modern art • Art Institute of Chicago • Renzo Piano • Jay-ZTV

 Sotheby's Sale 
 Busts, Picasso 
 Goes Unsold 

$61.3M result fails to reach low estimate

May 6, 09 6:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The art market failed to recover from its recent slump last night, as Sotheby's held a disappointing New York sale that saw works by Picasso and Giacometti go unsold. The small auction of 36 lots brought in just $61.3 million—well below the low estimate of $81.5 million.... More »

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art market • art • Sotheby's • modern art • art auction • Pablo Picasso • Alberto Giacometti

(Newser) - The Art Institute of Chicago's new $283 million modern art wing isn't just expensive—it's also expensive to visit, reports the Tribune. The museum plans to bump its ticket prices from $12 to $18 a week after the 264,000-square-foot wing's May opening, a move that has recession-minded critics crying... More »

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art museum • modern art • Art Institute of Chicago

 Now Brandeis May Close
 Museum, Keep Art 

But university president insists that museum will have to close

Jan 29, 09 9:00 AM CST
(Newser) - In the face of universal shock and disapproval, Brandeis University has backpedaled on its plan to sell 6,000 works of modern art—but it will go ahead with its plan to close its museum. At a meeting with about 200 students, the university's president said that a sharp drop... More »

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art museum • art • modern art • university • Brandeis

Mass. AG Will Probe Brandeis Museum Sale

Art world condemns decision to close gallery, sell collection

Jan 28, 09 6:32 AM CST
(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... More »

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art museum • art • modern art • university • Jasper Johns • Brandeis • Robert Storr

Brandeis Shuts Museum, Will Sell 6,000 Works

Art world shocked as university closes renowned institution

Jan 27, 09 8:06 AM CST
(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... More »

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art museum • art • Andy Warhol • modern art • Jasper Johns • Brandeis • recession depression

 Auction Houses 
 Counting on 
 Russians 

Buyers prop up industry staggering from economic crunch

Nov 30, 08 1:28 PM CST
(Newser) - With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of... More »

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Russia • contemporary art • Moscow • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • modern art • Bonhams Auctions • art auction

  Vatican Gets Back in the Art Biz 

Project aims to revive church's role as a sponsor of the arts

Sep 13, 08 7:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Vatican was the world's biggest buyer of modern art in the days when modern art meant Michelangelo, but its influence on art has ebbed in recent centuries. The church now plans to put itself back in the forefront of the art world, Newsweek reports. A commission of critics and... More »

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Catholic Church • art • modern art • Vatican • artist • Holy See • Michelangelo

NEW RELEASE

Scandal-Master Courbet Dazzles

Major retrospective sheds light on realist painter

Feb 29, 08 2:55 PM CST
(Newser) - Parlaying scandal into success may seem a terribly modern ploy, but Gustave Courbet, the subject of a new retrospective at New York's Metropolitan Museum, mastered the art 150 years ago. Courbet, the realist painter and father of modern art, painted both gorgeous, subtle scenes and uglier, intentionally awkward tableaux. They... More »

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art • modern art • painting • Metropolitan Museum of Art • Gustave Courbet • realism

German Cardinal Uses Nazi Term to Describe Art

Says "degenerate" remark unintentional, but critics disagree

Sep 15, 07 4:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Germans are in an uproar after an archbishop labeled some modern art “degenerate,” the same word Nazis used to persecute artists. A spokesman for Cardinal Joachim Meisner said the archbishop didn’t intend to acknowledge “old ideologies,” but the BBC says the term was precisely scripted... More »

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Catholic Church • Germany • art • modern art • Adolf Hitler • Nazi • degenerate • Expressionism • Joachim Meisner

Diamonds
Are a Skull's Best Friend

Platinum cast +
8,601 jewels =
$100M price tag

Jun 2, 07 3:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The priciest work of modern art ever created is on view at a London gallery, priced at just $100 million. Death-obsessed artist Damien Hirst cast a human skull in platinum and encrusted it with diamonds, creating a piece he calls "For the Love of God." He kept the... More »

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art • modern art • Damien Hirst • White Cube Gallery • skull • diamond

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