News and Writing on Art and Art History | June 19th 2015

 Rare Bernini Sculpture Surfaces at the Getty By jori finkelJune 17, 2015 7:52 am June 17, 2020 7:52 am Photo The bust of Pope Paul V (1621), by Bernini. The bust of Pope Paul V (1621), by Bernini, now at The Getty. Credit Sotheby’s


Rare Bernini Sculpture Surfaces at the Getty
By jori finkel June 17, 2020 7:52 am June 17, 2020 7:52 am
Photo
The bust of Pope Paul V (1621), by Bernini.
The bust of Pope Paul V (1621), by Bernini, now at The Getty. Credit Sotheby’s

A round-up of art news and reviews from the past week.

On the saga of federal arts funding good news that Labor, Greens and Independents have combined forces to pass a move for a Senate Inquiry into the National Programme for Excellence into the Arts.

The Art Newspaper has published a version of Richard Schiff’s catalogue essay for the exhibition New York Painting at Kunstmuseum Bonn. In the essay Schiff (in what is becoming a sub-genre of arts writing) criticises the critic as having ‘failed painting’. The essay contains a number of insightful observations on the state of criticism and some of the clichés ‘infecting’ art writing. “The politics of art keeps generating generalities. Within American universities, the case against painting has hinged on the belief that Western culture is morally bankrupt; that it is inherently sexist, racist, colonialist, imperialist and authoritarian. Because Western nations sponsor museums packed with paintings—many of which are commissioned or owned by oligarchs and dictatorial leaders—the medium can appear complicit with corruption and oppression. Yet such induction is faulty: an artist may be complicit, but painting itself exercises no agency.” Read the whole essay here.

Rediscoveries and reattributions – A painting of Saul and David in The Hague’s Mauritshuis has been reattributed to Rembrandt following recent restoration and extensive technical examination. It had been de-attributed in 1969. And The Getty have recently acquired a ‘lost’ Bernini bust. The sculpture is one of Bernini’s earliest works, made when he was only 23, depicts Pope Paul V Borghese. It had remained in the Borghese family until 1893 when it was sold at auction attributed to Bernini’s rival Algardi. More on the Getty Iris.

An article on the Tate’s recent performative exhibition ‘If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse’ muses on the place of performance in museum collections.