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maxwell museums
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hello! firstly: apols - it's been far too long since I last sent you museum-lovers a maxwell museums newsletter. secondly: this is still a work in progress so I've made some tweaks to this edition, including featuring even more news! so please let me know what you think on email, or Twitter and Insta @maxwellmuseums. thirdly: if you like it, please share! let's dive in
catch up
all the news
Jeff Koons has beaten a record set by British artist David Hockney for the most expensive work ever sold by a living artist. The Independent
not all bad news for Hockney though: the first exhibition in the UK for 20 years dedicated to his drawings is to open at the National Portrait Gallery next year. they've given us 10 months notice so i expect this one will be popular. Guardian
Titian masterpieces are to be displayed together for first time since 1704, on a tour to London, Edinburgh, Madrid and Boston. Guardian
2020 will a big year as Tate Modern have announced a major Andy Warhol exhibition as well as many other exciting treats across their 4 UK sites. Irish News
The National Gallery in London have been absolutely smashing it with the off-beat tour of it's £3m Artemisia Gentileschi self-portrait. The latest stop? A high school in Newcastle. BBC News
a BBC investigation found that antiquities looted in Syria and Iraq are being sold on Facebook, and advice on how to dig up sites was being shared on private groups. BBC News
the Turner Prize 2019 nominees were announced, but were completely overshadowed by questions about the sponsor and LGBT rights. The sponsor was dropped just 24 hours later. Sky News
a much less controversial nominee announcement saw the shortlist for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019 revealed. i guarantee there will be some you've never heard of. BBC Arts
The V&A has got some stunning new branding for it's monthly Friday Late programme. Design Week
this is a dream team. Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Isabelle Huppert team up with Nan Goldin for a photography show at the Palace of Versailles. The Art Newspaper
73 portrait drawings by Damien Hirst have been donated to the British Museum - some containing stains from breakfast. Guardian
if you've been living under a rock, you can catch up on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Met Gala, and see who nailed the theme of 'Camp'.....and who didn't. Vogue Australia
and some of the wealthiest people in the world, including Jeff Bezos, Oprah and Hillary Clinton attended the star-studded opening party for the new Statue of Liberty Museum opening today in New York. Mail Online
Damien Hirst UNTITLED (PORTRAIT OF FRANK), 2004. Photo: courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
weigh up
review roundup
The Venice Biennale 2019 (until 24 November) www.labiennale.org/en
"Far more disturbing – just as he likes it – is Christoph Büchel’s “intervention” in the Arsenale...To walk past this appalling conjunction is to hang one’s head in shame. How can it possibly be presented here, of all places, as a memorial, still less an exhibit?" The Observer
"get past the baffling British pavilion, and an exhilarating surprise awaits."
The Telegraph (£)
"Whether or not you conclude the curation intrudes overly on the works, this is a distinctive and focused Biennale; its message is committed and it's clear the artists are, too." The Arts Desk
"No sane person needs this much art, it is totally overwhelming while, paradoxically, also frequently being totally underwhelming. If the Venice Biennale was a climbing rose it would have been hacked back to manageable proportions long ago." BBC News
Cathy Wilkes Untitled, 2019 (detail) at the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Photo: Cristiano Corte © British Council. Courtesy of the Artist, The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
get up
what's new
It's a hugely busy time of year with opening after opening. Here's my tips on what's coming up in the next few days:
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