In the Arts: Emergency Infusion for National Gallery, Masterpieces for Auckland Museum
May 8, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
President Obama’s 2010 budget proposes $40-million for an emergency face-lift for the iconic East Building of the National Gallery of Art, reports The Washington Post.
The money comes on the heels of an engineer’s report that found faults in the support system for the marble panels that make up the I.M. Pei-designed museum’s exterior. The work would increase the gallery’s 2010 federal aid to $165.2-million, up from $122.7-million this year.
In other arts news, the philanthropists and collectors Julian H. Robertson Jr. and Josie Robertson have donated works valued at $120-million to $150-million to the Auckland Museum of Art in New Zealand, according to The New York Times. The gift, which includes works by Picasso, Gauguin, and Mondrian, is reportedly the largest ever to an art museum in the Australasian region.
Also, The New York Times profiles the Rev. Jay Wegman, director of the Abron Arts Center on New York’s Lower East Side, which has hosted the likes of Lou Reed and John Cage and is gaining a reputation as a downtown locus for avant-garde performance.
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