Vancouver

Winter Showcase
Where: Art Beatus, 108 – 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver. Why: The winter showcase at Art Beatus, a well-known art gallery in Hong Kong, was inspired by the curators’ “nostalgic sides,” as they’ve put together a collection of their favourite works.  Vancouver Sun, January 11, 2011

Victoria

Uhthoff retrospective now underway
Recently, Michael Uhthoff, grandson of artist Ina Uhthoff, reminded me of a comment I made years ago. If Emily Carr had never been born, I wrote, Victoria’s most recognized artist of the period would have been Ina Uhthoff.  An exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.  Times Colonist, January 8, 2011

Maltwood Gallery closes
In the 37 years Martin Segger was director of the Maltwood Gallery, its collection rose from a modest 1,200 items to 27,000 works ranging from contemporary canvases to Islamic art.  Times-Colonist, January 8, 2011

Toronto

AGO will show part of Toronto School Board’s $10M art collection
Starting in September, part of the Toronto District School Board’s $10-million art collection will be available for public viewing at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  National Post, January 8, 2011

Fredericton

Sotheby’s to auction ‘monumental’ Beaverbrook painting

After an unseemly, seven-year legal saga that saw New Brunswick’s Beaverbrook Art Gallery battle a British foundation over the ownership of more than 130 historic artworks, the finest jewel among the 48 paintings and sculptures secured by the foundation in an October court settlement is to be auctioned this month in New York.  Journal Pioneer, January 8, 2011

San Francisco

Koons Threatens SF Gallery For Selling Balloon Dog Bookends

"What is perhaps most irksome about Koons' claims on the Balloon Dog idea are deeper questions that reach beyond the law: How can an artist who became rich and famous by appropriating objects whose very everydayness is their calling card justify claiming rights in the forms of the objects he appropriates." Capital New York, January 10, 2011

St. Petersburg, Florida

New Salvador Dali Museum Opens

For the first time in the Dalí's history, the museum will have room to exhibit all 96 Salvador Dalí paintings in its permanent collection. The entire collection, about 1,400 works, is worth between $500 million and $700 million. Besides the galleries, the museum has a gift shop, cafe, theater and community room for rent. There are also outdoor gardens. St. Petersburg Times, January 10, 2011

United States

The Rise Of Artist-Endowed Foundations

"Artist-endowed foundations are a sleeping giant of philanthropy. They are rapidly expanding in number--close to 300 have been identified in the US at the last count--and financial strength, commanding approximately $2.7bn in combined assets." The Art Newspaper, January 10, 2011

Italy

Scholar Claims To Have Pinpointed Town Featured In Leonardo's Mona Lisa "A small town in northern Italy is basking in new-found celebrity after an Italian art historian claimed it featured in the background of the world's most famous painting - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa." The Guardian (UK), January 9, 2011

Mozambique

Malangatana Ngwenya, 74, Mozambique's Top Artist

"A beloved national hero in Mozambique, he was one of the few African artists to gain substantial worldwide recognition while staying in Africa … He had cosmopolitan tastes; his knowledge of global art was wide; and he was a born performer who composed music, sang songs in five languages and periodically broke into spontaneous dancing." New York Times, January 10, 2011

Cheryl Siegel, Librarian/Archivist

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street Vancouver BC, V6Z 2H7

604-662-4709