January 2009

Explore the Apollo archive

Look back over two vibrant years of Apollo: browse every issue from January 2006 to the present day.

Getty wins in battle for bronzes
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, has acquired two 18th-century bronze casts after the British Cultural Ministry failed to raise funds to keep them in the country. The London dealer Daniel Katz, who bought the bronzes privately in 2005 after they failed to sell at a Christie’s auction, sold the bronzes to the museum for an undisclosed price. Made in 1724 by Florentine sculptor Pietro Cipriani, the life-sized versions of the ancient sculptures known as the Venus de Medici and the Dancing Faun, were commissioned by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, for display at his family seat in Oxfordshire. Although small-scale versions of the antiques are relatively common, full-scale bronze casts are rare. The pair is in exemplary condition having been displayed inside since the bronzes were first brought to England. The treasures are to go on display as the centrepiece of the Getty Museum’s neoclassical sculpture galleries.

Titian on display in London
The campaign to keep Titian’s masterpiece Diana and Actaeon in the UK is hoping to receive a boost after the painting went on display at the National Gallery in London this week. The painting will remain in London for four weeks before returning to the National Gallery of Scotland. The two galleries need to raise £50m by 31 December in order to prevent the painting from being sold on the open market. The paintings’ owner, the Duke of Sutherland, is offering the paintings at one third of their estimated value. If the campaign to secure Diana and Actaeon is successful, the galleries will be able to attempt a similar appeal for its partner, Diana and Callisto, in four years’ time. Dr Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, said he was hopeful of raising the money needed before the December deadline. But he admitted the financial crisis was affecting the campaign, saying it was a ‘difficult time’.

Foster to redesign New York library
The British architect Norman Foster has been selected for a major renovation of the New York Public Library. Foster and his London firm, Foster & Partners, are to design a new circulation library below the Rose Reading Room overlooking Bryant Park. The area, which measures 1.25 million cubic feet, will be completely reconfigured, with new rooms for children and teenagers and numerous computer workstations. The project, which is expected to cost $250 million, will be completed by 2013.

Collector donates to Alabama
Atlanta art collector Paul R. Jones has donated his 1,700-piece art collection to the University of Alabama. Valued at $4.8 million, the collection of 20th-century African-American art is the result of more than 40 years of collecting. The university has formed an advisory board to identify venues for exhibiting the collection. The collection will be displayed in galleries and other venues on the UA campus and will be available to colleges, universities and other academic institutions, as well as museums throughout Alabama.

Herbert and Dorothy Vogel gift to S Illinois
New York collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel have decided to donate 50 contemporary works to the Southern Illinois University Museum. The Vogels, working with the National Gallery of Art in Washington and federal arts agencies, chose the gift as part of a plan announced in April to donate 50 works to one art institution in each state. 10 recipients were named in April, and announcements about the remaining 40 are expected this week.

Harvard Art Museum receives Pulitzer Gift
As museums grapple with the potential effects of the economic recession, the Harvard Art Museum has received a windfall from Emily Rauh Pulitzer, a former curator who earned a graduate degree at Harvard, including artworks worth nearly $200 million and a cash gift of $45 million. The bulk of the money will go toward the expansion and renovation of 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge, Massachussetts, the building which formerly housed the university’s Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The art donated by Mrs. Pulitzer includes 31 modern and contemporary works. Although Harvard’s art collection boasts about 265,000 objects, said Thomas W. Lentz, the museum’s director, it had ‘shocking gaps’ in the post war period that the gift will help to remedy.

Largest private museum in Germany opens
Lawyer, businessman and collector Harald Falckenberg has opened a new museum in Hamburg devoted to housing the 2,000 contemporary works that constitute his collection. With 6,225 square metres, or 67,000 square feet, of exhibition space and open storage, the Phoenix Cultural Foundation constitutes the largest private museum in Germany. The ensemble, spreading over five floors, is situated in the former Phoenix Tire Factory in Hamburg-Harburg, only a few minutes from the centre of the city. The converted interior, designed by the Berlin architect Roger Bundschuh, juxtaposes open areas with intimate, cabinet-like spaces. The collection specialises in works by the likes of John Bock, Mike Kelley and Jon Kessler. ‘I love outsiders’, Falckenberg explained, ‘and I want to show that there are alternatives to Caspar David Friedrich’.

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