CAA News Today
Special Conference Rates on Airfare and Hotel
posted Sep 28, 2009
Registration for the 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago opens in early October, but special deals on travel and lodging can be made now.
How to Get There
American Airlines offers a 5 percent discount to conference travelers. Tickets may be purchased through your local travel agent or by booking directly with American Airlines using 2620AC as the promotion code. You can also call 1-800-433-1790. This deal is good for travel between February 5 and 18, 2010; other restrictions apply.
Where to Stay
CAA recently renegotiated conference rates with the Hyatt Regency Chicago, the headquarters hotel, to offer rooms below the initial rate of $169 a night. Regular attendees and students can make their reservations online before October 31, 2009, to receive these special rates:
- Single: $139
- Double: $139
- Student: $120
- Additional person: $25 each
Room rates for regular attendees increase the closer we get to the conference. The student price remains the same, but this room block generally fills up quickly—make your reservation now and pay later. A valid student ID will be required at check-in.
Resources for Catalogues Raisonnés and for Art Law and Cultural Property
posted Sep 24, 2009
The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), a nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to integrity in the visual arts, has launched two important resources for the art community on its recently expanded and redesigned website: the Catalogue Raisonné Database and Art Law and Cultural Property.
The Catalogue Raisonné Database comprises two integrated electronic databases—one for published catalogues raisonnés, the other for catalogues in preparation—that can be searched individually or in unison. IFAR asks anyone who is aware of a published or in-preparation catalogue raisonné not included in our database (currently at more than two thousand entries) to contact the organization by clicking on the link “Tell Us about Catalogues Raisonnés” and completing the electronic form.
Art Law and Cultural Property helps users to navigate the mushrooming and complex body of legislation and case law relating to the acquisition, ownership, and authenticity of art objects. The website has two principal components: International Cultural Property Ownership and Export Legislation, with texts in original language and English translation from, currently, more than eighty countries; and Case Law and Statutes, with summaries of legal cases in eight subject areas relating to IFAR’s fields of interest. A section on professional guidelines, a glossary, and images are also included.
These two double the offerings from IFAR’s current online educational resources, which also include Provenance Guide and Collectors’ Corner. CAA maintains its own website resource, Intellectual Property and the Arts.
Listen to Live Audio News Briefing on US v. Stevens on Thursday
posted Sep 22, 2009
Media Coalition invites listeners to join an audio news briefing discussing the upcoming Supreme Court case US v. Stevens on Thursday, September 24, 2009, at 2:00 PM EDT. Speaking will be David Horowitz from Media Coalition; Laurie Lee Dovey of the Professional Outdoor Media Association; Joan Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship; and Chris Finan from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
In 2004, Robert J. Stevens was convicted under a federal statute, passed in 1999, which made it illegal to distribute or own media depicting animal cruelty. Stevens, a writer and filmmaker from Virginia, had assembled footage of pit bulls fighting and hunting, mainly in international locations where dogfighting is legal. Last year, Stevens’s conviction was overturned, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case on October 6, 2009. Read CAA’s description of the case and statement on this issue.
This summer, CAA signed an amicus curiae brief supporting the National Coalition Against Censorship’s claim that acts of expression, not actual involvement in illegal activities, are protected under the First Amendment and are not subject to criminal penalties. Media Coalition, a trade association that defends First Amendment rights of the mainstream media, filed its own amicus brief in late July.
To RSVP for the audio news briefing, please contact Kai-Ming Cha at 212-587-4025, ext. 12. To hear the briefing, call 1-888-387-8686 and enter access code 1066257.
Listen to Live Audio News Briefing on US v Stevens on Thursday
posted Sep 22, 2009
Media Coalition invites listeners to join an audio news briefing discussing the upcoming Supreme Court case US v. Stevens on Thursday, September 24, 2009, at 2:00 PM EDT. Speaking will be David Horowitz from Media Coalition; Laurie Lee Dovey of the Professional Outdoor Media Association; Joan Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship; and Chris Finan from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
In 2004, Robert J. Stevens was convicted under a federal statute, passed in 1999, which made it illegal to distribute or own media depicting animal cruelty. Stevens, a writer and filmmaker from Virginia, had assembled footage of pit bulls fighting and hunting, mainly in international locations where dogfighting is legal. Last year, Stevens’s conviction was overturned, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments in this case on October 6, 2009. Read CAA’s description of the case and statement on this issue.
This summer, CAA signed an amicus curiae brief supporting the National Coalition Against Censorship’s claim that acts of expression, not actual involvement in illegal activities, are protected under the First Amendment and are not subject to criminal penalties. Media Coalition, a trade association that defends First Amendment rights of the mainstream media, filed its own amicus brief in late July.
To RSVP for the audio news briefing, please contact Kai-Ming Cha at 212-587-4025, ext. 12. To hear the briefing, call 1-888-387-8686 and enter access code 1066257.
Brandeis Committee Recommends Keeping the Rose Art Museum Open
posted Sep 22, 2009
A report issued by a Brandeis University committee recommends that the school’s Rose Art Museum remain open, but the future of the collection of modern and contemporary art is still in doubt.
In the Boston Globe, Tracy Jan writes that the committee, comprising teachers, students, and university trustees and officials, also suggests better integration between the museum and academic departments, which include not just visual art but also math and science. In addition, a full-time director, who would also teach, and an education director should be hired.
This past summer several members of the Rose Art Museum’s board of overseers filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts in an attempt to prevent Brandeis from selling the art collection. Last week the university filed to dismiss that lawsuit, according to Greg Cook of the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. An October 13 hearing date has been set.
Brandeis Committee Recommends Keeping the Rose Art Museum Open
posted Sep 22, 2009
A report issued by a Brandeis University committee recommends that the school’s Rose Art Museum remain open, but the future of the collection of modern and contemporary art is still in doubt.
In the Boston Globe, Tracy Jan writes that the committee, comprising teachers, students, and university trustees and officials, also suggests better integration between the museum and academic departments, which include not just visual art but also math and science. In addition, a full-time director, who would also teach, and an education director should be hired.
This past summer several members of the Rose Art Museum’s board of overseers filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts in an attempt to prevent Brandeis from selling the art collection. Last week the university filed to dismiss that lawsuit, according to Greg Cook of the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. An October 13 hearing date has been set.
Bernard Hanson: In Memoriam
posted Sep 22, 2009
Jay Garfield is Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, professor of philosophy, and director of the Logic Program and of the Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He is also professor in the graduate faculty of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, professor of philosophy at Melbourne University, and adjunct professor of philosophy at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies.
Bernard Allen Hanson, an art historian, critic, professor, and administrator, died on June 21, 2009, after a short illness. He was 86. For years he was recognized around New Haven, Connecticut, by his blue pickup truck with its elegantly lettered moniker, “Bernard Hanson. Art Critic.”
The youngest of five children, Hanson was born to Stephen Bernard (Bert) Hanson and Stella Cook Hanson on October 11, 1922, in Williamsburg, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1944 with a degree in English. While at the university he was a two-time Big Ten gymnastics champion, performing on the side horse, and was a member of the Scottish Highlanders. He earned his MA in art history at the same school and pursued doctoral research at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Hanson enjoyed a distinguished career in art history. His research, teaching, and public lectures addressed the history of Indian art, the nature of public art, the history of architecture, and film theory. Hanson was not only a noted scholar, but also an eminent academic leader and a public intellectual. His teaching career spanned four decades, and included appointments at Northwestern University, the Philadelphia College of Art, and the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. Hanson served as director of the Humanities Division at the Philadelphia College of Art and as dean at the Hartford School of Art from 1970 to 1979 before returning to the teaching faculty until his retirement in 1987.
Hanson said once in an interview, “Before people are anything, they are human beings, and education in an art school should be basically humanistic,” and his approach to teaching, to academic leadership, and to public comment on the arts reflected this sentiment. His tenure as dean at Hartford was notable for the steady stream of distinguished artists he invited to visit the school, for the installations and happenings he initiated, for the vibrancy of the community under his leadership, and for his curricular innovations, encouraging broader academic study by art students. The Hartford Art School recently recognized his contributions by endowing the Bernard Hanson Scholarship for promising artists with financial need.
Hanson was a noted New England art critic, contributing for over two decades to the West Hartford News, the Hartford Courant (where he received an honorable mention in a national art criticism competition sponsored by Art/World Magazine), and the Middletown Press. His columns were noteworthy for their ability to bring serious erudition to bear in commentary accessible to ordinary readers.
After retiring from the University of Hartford, Hanson volunteered in Literacy Volunteers of America and as a teacher’s aide in Miss DeNuzzo’s second-grade class at the East Rock School in New Haven. He derived as much joy from contributing in these contexts as he did from his academic career.
Hanson was preceded in death by his wife and fellow art historian, Anne Coffin Hanson. He is survived by his daughter, Bridget, his stepchildren Robert, James, and Blaine Garson, his nephew Stephen, and their families, as well as his beloved dog, Sheldon.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Bernard Hanson Endowed Scholarship at the University of Hartford or the SPCA of Connecticut.
Recent Deaths in the Arts
posted Sep 22, 2009
CAA recognizes the lives and achievements of the following artists, scholars, curators, photographers, and other professionals and important figures in the visual arts. Of special note is an obituary written especially for CAA: Jay Garfield on Bernard Hanson.
- David K. Anderson, a contemporary art dealer from Buffalo, NY, who donated his art gallery and part of his collection to the University at Buffalo, died on August 15, 2009, at the age of 74
- Hyman Bloom, a Latvian-born American artist whose pre–Abstract Expressionist paintings were influenced by his interest in mysticism and spirituality, died on August 26, 2009. He was 96
- Humphrey Case, an English prehistorian and archaeologist who specialized in Neolithic Beaker culture, died on June 13, 2009, at the age of 91
- Michael Dailey, a teacher and abstract painter from Seattle who continued to paint while living with multiple sclerosis, died on August 9, 2009, at age 71
- John Edwards, a British abstract painter, sculptor, and teacher whose later work was influenced by his time spent in India, died on August 22, 2009. He was 71
- Barry Flanagan, a sculptor and printmaker whose interdisciplinary interests in dance, poetry, and literature influenced his work, died on August 31, 2009, at the age of 68. He experimented with Minimalism and land art but is best known for his bronze hares
- Donald Hamilton Fraser, a British artist and journalist for Arts Review who, at different times, employed both abstraction and figuration in his painting, died on September 2, 2009, at the age of 80
- Robinson Fredenthal, a sculptor from Philadelphia whose work was influenced by his struggle with Parkinson’s disease, died on August 31, 2009, at age 69
- Frederick Gore, an English art teacher, author, and plein-air painter of landscapes and cityscapes, died on August 31, 2009, at the age of 95
- Max Gurvich, a Seattle arts patron who supported the Seattle Art Museum and the Cornish College of the Arts, died on June 15, 2009, at age 91
- Bernard Hanson, a New England-based art historian, art critic, and professor, died on June 21, 2009. He was 86. Jay Garfield of Smith College has written a special text for CAA
- Charles Harrison, an art historian, critic, and former editor of Art-Language and Studio International, died on August 6, 2009, at age 67. He also taught, organized exhibitions, and was instrumental in creating the anthology Art in Theory 1900–1990, with Paul Wood
- James Krenov, a Russian-born woodworker, teacher, and writer whose furniture designs are responsive to the unique characteristics of the wood he used, died on September 9, 2009, at the age of 88
- James Lord, a memoirist and biographer of Pablo Picasso and Alberto Giacometti, died on August 23, 2009. He was 86
- Janet MacLeod, a British sculptor of bronze, marble, and silver who focused on the theme of regeneration, died in summer 2009 at the age of 72
- Michael Mazur, a teacher, painter, printmaker, and illustrator who specialized in monotypes, died on August 18, 2009. He was 73
- Richard Merkin, a teacher, painter, and illustrator whose colorful images appeared in various publications, including the New Yorker, died on September 5, 2009, at age 70. His extravagant and flamboyant style not only influenced his art, but also led him to write a style column for GQ
- Milo M. Naeve, a former curator of American art at the Art Institute of Chicago, died on August 10, 2009. He was 77
- Mario Cravo Neto, a Brazilian photographer whose work, often spiritual, documented the people of the Bahia region where he was from, died on August 9, 2009, at age 62
- Alexander Podlashuc, a South African artist, teacher, and cofounder, with his wife, of the Bloemfontein Group, died on September 5, 2009, at the age of 79
- Willy Ronis, a French photographer and former photojournalist who documented street scenes in Paris, died on September 12, 2009. He was 99
- Buky Schwartz, an Israeli sculptor and video artist, died on September 2, 2009, at the age of 77
- Paul Shanley, a former publisher of the magazines Art in America and Arts, died on September 2, 2009. He was 83
- David Thomson, a British writer on art and architecture of the Renaissance and a lecturer on art history, died in summer 2009, at age 57
- Maurizio Valenzi, a Tunisian-born painter and a communist politician, died on June 23, 2009. He was 99
- Christina Von Hassell, an art critic and auction reporter in New York, died on August 15, 2009, at the age of 85
- Leslie Worth, an English watercolor artist, teacher, former president of the Royal Watercolour Society, and author of The Practice of Watercolour Painting, died on July 21, 2009, at age 86
Read all past obituaries in the arts on the CAA website.
Obama Names Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Leaders
posted Sep 18, 2009
Barack Obama has appointed new leaders to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. George Stevens, Jr., and Margo Lion will serve as cochairs, and Mary Schmidt Campbell will be vice chair.
This committee, founded in 1982 and comprised of private citizens from across the United States, advocates for the arts and humanities as core of a vital society. It works with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to advance nonpartisan cultural objectives of the Obama administration.
Stevens is a writer, director, producer of motion pictures and television, founder of the American Film Institute, and creator of the Kennedy Center Honors. He fostered a new generation of documentary filmmakers as head of the US Information Agency’s Motion Picture Service during the Kennedy presidency.
As a Broadway producer, Lion has worked with Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, and George C. Wolfe, and her work has earned Tony and Olivier awards and a Pulitzer Prize. She is also an adjunct professor and a member of the Dean’s Council at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Tisch is also home to Campbell, where she is dean. A former chair of the New York State Council on the Arts, Campell was executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she wrote the catalogue for the exhibition Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940–1987.
In early August, President Obama appointed Rachel Goslins, an independent television and film producer, as the committee’s executive director.
Obama Names Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Leaders
posted Sep 18, 2009
Barack Obama has appointed new leaders to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. George Stevens, Jr., and Margo Lion will serve as cochairs, and Mary Schmidt Campbell will be vice chair.
This committee, founded in 1982 and comprised of private citizens from across the United States, advocates for the arts and humanities as core of a vital society. It works with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to advance nonpartisan cultural objectives of the Obama administration.
Stevens is a writer, director, producer of motion pictures and television, founder of the American Film Institute, and creator of the Kennedy Center Honors. He fostered a new generation of documentary filmmakers as head of the US Information Agency’s Motion Picture Service during the Kennedy presidency.
As a Broadway producer, Lion has worked with Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, and George C. Wolfe, and her work has earned Tony and Olivier awards and a Pulitzer Prize. She is also an adjunct professor and a member of the Dean’s Council at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Tisch is also home to Campbell, where she is dean. A former chair of the New York State Council on the Arts, Campell was executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she wrote the catalogue for the exhibition Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940–1987.
In early August, President Obama appointed Rachel Goslins, an independent television and film producer, as the committee’s executive director.