museums

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Art History

Art Museums and Cultural Institutions Around the Globe are Sending Each Other Virtual Bouquets and Botanicals

Social media was teeming last week with floral offerings from cultural institutions around the globe. Since many are closed due to COVID-19, museums like the Guggenheim, MCA Chicago, and the New-York Historical Society, which began the botanical trend, exchanged sweet messages paired with virtual bouquets from their current collections. We’ve gathered some of them here, but be sure to check out #MuseumBouquet on Twitter and Instagram for more historical florals. (via Design You Trust)

 

During these difficult times, we think everyone needs a dancing daisy to brighten their day. Today we’re sending a virtual #MuseumBouquet to you, @mitlistarts and @theDavisMuseum 🌼💐🌷

Jennifer Steinkamp. “Dance Hall Girl, daisies,” 2004. pic.twitter.com/BTAXyo1Up0

— MassArt Art Museum (@maamboston) March 24, 2020

 

Hi @Guggenheim and @smithsonian, these ikebana arrangements courtesy of Camille Henrot made us think of you! 🌱 #MuseumBouquet

📸: “Camille Henrot: The Restless Earth” pic.twitter.com/UaioP3LhU4

— New Museum (@newmuseum) March 24, 2020

 

 

We are thinking of you, @NoguchiMuseum. We hope this Ikebana arrangement from the Denver chapter of the International Ikebana Society brings some joy to you today. #museumbouquet pic.twitter.com/i0a7hByrb6

— Denver Botanic Gardens (@botanic) March 24, 2020

 

 

To @agotoronto @VanArtGallery @visitpama @AGMengage – an Owl Bouquet to brighten your day!#MuseumBouquet #MuseumFromHome
🦉 📷 Kenojuak Ashevak, CMH 2007-012 pic.twitter.com/J94wlHTktT

— Museum of History (@CanMusHistory) March 24, 2020

 

 

🌸🌸🌸 Cherry blossoms from our sculpture garden for all of our museum friends, thinking of you this week 💕
Thank you for sending a #MuseumBouquet 💐🤗 pic.twitter.com/AuetMkx6B2

— Hirshhorn (@hirshhorn) March 24, 2020

 

 

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
This #MuseumBouquet
Is for you!@ClevelandArt

Yayoi Kusama, “Les Tulipes de Shangri-La” pic.twitter.com/RmTCFrzxOg

— FRONT International (@FrontTriennial) March 30, 2020

Art History

A New 5-Hour Advertisement Records a Single-Shot Walkthrough of Russia’s Hermitage Museum

As travel slows due to the global coronavirus pandemic, a new advertisement released by Apple provides an expansive view of one of St. Petersburg’s most-visited institutions that’s accessible without having to venture into crowded spaces. Clocking 5 hours, 19 minutes, and 28 seconds, the single-shot video spans the Hermitage Museum in the nation’s cultural center. It includes a look at 45 galleries, 588 works, and even has live performances from Russian composer Kirill Richter and a ballet duet from the Hermitage Theater.

The ad was shot to showcase the iPhone 11’s battery life but also offers an impressive view of artworks by Rembrandt, Raphael Loggias, and Caravaggio. “This video to me is all about connection through time,” filmmaker Axinya Gog told ArtNet. “Art that is timeless meets modern life and state-of-the-art technology.” Using a complex system of handheld stabilizers, cranes to span rooms, and even a custom app to control the camera, Gog and the group behind the ad created the single-shot take during the course of six hours in the museum.

If you can’t commit to the full five-hour video, check out the one-minute trailer. For a similar look at the Hermitage, take a look at the 2002 film Russian Ark by Alexander Sokurov.

Art History

Paris Musées Releases 100,000 Images of Artworks for Unrestricted Public Use

This week the Paris Musées added 100,000 digital copies of its artworks to the public domain, making them free and unrestricted for the public to download and use. From Claude Monet’s “Setting Sun on the Seine at Lavacourt” to Paul Cézanne’s “Portrait of Ambroise Vollard,” the collection contains work from artists, such as Gustave Courbet, Victor Hugo, and Rembrandt, that are housed at 14 museums in Paris like the Musée d’Art Moderne, Petit Palais, and even the catacombs.

Each file contains the high-resolution image, a description about the piece, and the location of the original work, in addition to an exhibition history and citation tips. Most of the images available right now capture 2D works, although there are lower resolution files available of pieces that are not yet in the public domain, providing visitors to the site a chance to view more of the museums’ collections. The site also offers virtual exhibitions, with a project centered on the collections at Maison de Victor Hugo currently on view. (via Hyperallergic)

 

Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art Will Collect Work Exclusively by Female-Identifying Artists in 2020

2020, with its pleasing, almost futuristic symmetry, marks a timeframe to which many visioning plans drafted in the past 20 years were tied. This coming year will show whether the cultural, sustainability, and diversity plans from cities, companies, and organizations around the world will be achieved on schedule. One institution has recently declared a 2020 plan that’s a bold step toward equity and inclusion in the canon-making field of art museum collecting.

The Baltimore Museum of Art announced that in the coming year, all new acquisitions will be works by female-identifying artists. Shown here are several new acquisitions, many of which will be on display in 2020; all 22 exhibitions planned for the coming year are centered on female artists.

According to a statement from the Museum, the BMA is “working to shift the scales within its collections, acknowledging that women artists are still underrepresented in the museum field and within museum collections. We hope this will serve as a model and a first step towards better representation within our field.”

Of the 95,000 works in the BMA’s permanent collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art, only 3,800 were created by women. Accounting for multiple pieces by the same artist, the number of female artists represented tallies 1,500.

“You don’t just purchase one painting by a female artist of color and hang it on the wall next to a painting by Mark Rothko. To rectify centuries of imbalance, you have to do something radical,” Museum director Christopher Bedford said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun.

Explore more of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s collections and upcoming shows on their website, and stay up-to-date on new acquisitions via Instagram and Twitter.

Design

The Twist: A New Gallery in Kistefos Sculpture Park Connects Two River Banks

A sinuous new gallery and bridge reaches across the Randselva River in Jevnaker, Norway. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the aluminum-clad structure joins north and south river fronts on the campus of Kistefos Sculpture Park. 15,000 square feet of space allows visitors to explore Kistefos’s large art collection while also taking in the surrounding landscape through floor-to-ceiling windows. The Twist opened to the public on September 18th, with an exhibition featuring the work of conceptual artist Martin Creed and painter Howard Hodgkin. Kistefos Sculpture Park has  ticketed admission, which includes entry to The Twist, and is open seasonally from the end of May to mid-November. (via Design Milk)

Art

Bronze Sculptures of Regal African Women by Wangechi Mutu Make History at the Metropolitan Museum

Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create four bronze sculptures of African women collectively titled “The NewOnes, will free Us.” The seated women are nearly 7 feet tall and each weigh more than 840 lbs. The sculptures are the first works of art to fill the niches of the museum’s Fifth Avenue facade since the building’s completion in 1902.

Mutu’s sculptures, individually titled The Seated I, II, III, and IV, are dressed in coiled garments and feature polished discs on different parts of their heads. This ornamentation references the jewelry and lip plates worn by women in some African tribes. They also reference the West African and Greek tradition of caryatids, female figures carved out of wood or marble that were depicted as structural or metaphorical supports.

“Caryatids throughout history have carried these buildings to express the might and the wealth of a particular place,” the Nairobi-born artist said in a video interview on The Met’s website. Looking to use her sculptures as a way to stage what The Met calls a “feminist intervention,” Mutu added that she wanted to “keep the DNA of the woman in an active pose, but I didn’t want her to carry the weight of something or someone else.”

“The NewOnes, will free Us” will remain on view in the museum’s niches through January 12, 2020. Follow along with Mutu’s travels and cultural inspirations on Instagram. (via Hyperallergic)

Design

A Geological Landmark’s Phosphorescent Glow Inspires the National Museum of Qatar’s Cavernous Gift Shop

Patches of natural and artificial light highlight the curved layers of the National Museum of Qatar’s recently completed gift shop. The massive undulating walls were constructed from over 40,000 pieces of timber that tower high above visitors’ heads and imitate the shape and feeling of the Dahl Al Misfir or Cave of Light. The Qatar landmark is an underground formation that contains a wealth of gypsum deposits, which illuminate the cave with a phosphorescent glow and often form clusters of rose-shaped crystals known as “desert roses.”

Koichi Takada Architects wanted to connect visitors to the museum back to Qatari desert landscapes, while also creating a natural extension of the “Desert Rose” concept created for the museum by French architect Jean Nouvel. In addition to the museum shop, the architects also designed its restaurants, including the Desert Rose Cafe, Cafe 875, and Jiwan Restaurant. You can see more of the firm’s previous projects on their website and Instagram, and take a look at the museum’s exterior here. (via designboom)