The LA Times traces the path of 8 Cézanne canvases originally intended for donation to the White House, and the political maneuverings that eventually sent the majority of them to the National Gallery. Through a series of closed door meetings and forceful persuasion, then chief curator John Walker III convinced the donors (who had previously intended to give the works to the White House), to instead donate them to his museum.  “I still feel ashamed,” Walker once wrote. “I behaved abominably and frightened a dear friend nearly to death.”   (more…)

Danh Vo, Mother Tongue (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

The recipient of the 2012 Hugo Boss Prize, Vietnamese-German artist Danh Vo creates works that feature a layering of significances, interrelated meanings tied together through the conception, production and presentation of his work.  It is this practice of appropriation and representation that informs his recent show of new work, Mother Tongue, at Marian Goodman Gallery in New York.

Danh Vo, Lot 12. A Vietnamese Carved Ivory Tusk (2013), via Marian Goodman

(more…)