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When the death of Sir Paul Getty was announced you could hear clearly even in Hackney the collective keening of museum directors up and down the land. “Oh shit,” they lamented in unison. “What the hell do we do now?” Before leaping from the National Gallery’s parapet to impale himself on the railings below, Charles Saumarez Smith summed up the situation with the eloquence usually reserved for top civil servants: “The game’s up. You’re fucked. I’m fucked. The Gallery’s fucked. We’re all completely fucked.” Brian Sewell, art critic of the Evening Standard, has been awarded the Orwell Prize for his political journalism, “for making political writing into an art” reads the citation. Even after twenty years Brian is still the best and refuses to flag. Tim Hilton has won the Bernard Denvir Memorial Award to an art critic for his review of Matisse/Picasso in the TLS. A resistant bacterial fungus is attacking the cave paintings at Lascaux, which have been closed to the public since 1963. The worrying thing is that the French are saying they will go to war on the growth just as soon as they’ve decided on the treatment. In short some time before 2050. John Virtue, a sort of Jackson Pollock of landscape, has been made associate artist of the National Gallery. He replaces Ron Mueck in the downstairs studio. According to Prospects 2003, which deals with whatever it deals with, every man, woman and child in Britain, all 59.2 million of us, spends £180 a year on art, or £6.7 billion in total. We don’t believe it. They’re probably making it up to advance some questionable cause or other. Look up Fiachra Gibbons’ brilliant piece of appropriately surreal reportage – ‘I Don’t Have Any Cash. Do You Take Mackerel?’ – on the recent auction of André Breton’s personal effects in Paris in The Guardian. It appeared on pages 12 and 13 of the Review section on April 14th. Try their website. 40 bronze imprints by Janet Lubinska, a public sculpture in Bury, Lancs, have been stolen presumably for the scrap value. Intended as “an environmental boost” for the town they have resulted in a financial boost for the thieves. It’s unlikely they’ll be missed. 750-year-old paintings have been uncovered in an East Ham church during a restoration. They are said to be typical of 13th century decorations favoured by Cistercian monks. Comprising faint rose motifs they are not exactly Giotto but, they’re ours. One of Dick Flasher’s caffs, Pharmacy, is going through a rough patch, business 30% down etc.. Undeterred, Flasher is about to open a new eatery in Ilfracombe, Devon, spotted dick its speciality. The three youngest children – of 11 – of artist Robert Lenkiewicz have contested his will for a greater share of the £6.5 million estate. The painter left each of his offspring £5,000 and the rest to a foundation. The House of Commons is to commission for its collection portraits of Diane Abbott, the first black woman MP, and Paul Boateng, the first black Cabinet minister. No news yet on the choice of painter. A pavilion designed by the “great” Brazilian architect, 95-year-old Oscar Niemeyer, will open outside the Serpentine Gallery on June 20th. When it’s taken down in mid-September you can buy it for two hundred grand. Niemeyer did Brasilia... The Hermitage Magazine has launched edited by Geraldine Norman, director of the Hermitage satellite at Somerset House. The twice-yearly will feature articles relating to aspects of the St Petersburg collection. To subscribe call 01795 414878. The new angle adopted by trendy galleries to market their stuff is to encourage young professionals with readies to put their money into art. Over the long term art might perform better than pensions. The Jackdaw has already spotted two big features along these lines. If you spot one turn over quickly. Life’s too short etc.. The Tate Gallery has the most popular website in Britain with approaching 450,000 visitors a month. Easyart, a poster company came second with 300,000 hits. Two of Easyart’s Top 5 poster sales are by the appalling Jack Vettriano, the others are by the appalling Gilbert and George, Roy Lichtenstein and Patrick Heron. The most popular subject on the NPG website is Elizabeth I and on the National Gallery’s it’s the Arnolfinis. The Arts Council gets 158,000 hits, mostly from money-grubbers. 5 miniatures depicting royalty worth £100,000, one of them by Holbein, have been stolen from Hever Castle in Kent, the home of Anne Boleyn. An American critic recently stated in the New York Times that London was an art mad city. His comment was immediately leapt on by State Art footsoldiers to justify their faith in the crap they show. Someone won the Becks Futures Prize for doing something unmemorable. From The Jackdaw No. 29 June 2003 | ||||||
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