New Wing Debuted--The Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, FL, has opened the Gail and Melvin Nessel Wing that highlights the completion of a two-year 45,000 sq. ft. project to expand/enhance the museum. Now the largest art museum in Florida, the 14 new galleries will make continually available to the public the museum's renowned collections of Chinese, European, American and Contemporary art.

Memorial Requires Restoration--The Irish Hunger Memorial that opened last summer in Battery Park City, NY, has become a victim of sorts. A lack of cooperation from Mother Nature that ravaged parts of the memorial over winter has resulted in it being shut down for repairs at least until the end of June.

Awards Announced--The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that it will award more than $66 million through 902 grants in the second round of fiscal year 2003 grants. Recipients will include nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations across the country and 838 projects in the Access, Arts Learning, Heritage/Preservation and Leadership Initiative categories. For more info, see www.arts.gov/endownews.

Auction Results In--Christie's recent sale of post-war and contemporary art totaled $69.8 million. Six world auction records were established for artists such as Rothko, Close, Manzoni and Murakami. Top lot of the sale was Rothko's No. 9 (White and Black on Wine), which sold for over $16 million.

Milestones Reached--Marie-Claude Lalique, of the famed Lalique glass and crystal family, has died in Florida at age 67; Robert Blackburn, founder of the Printmaking Workshop and renowned lithographer, has died in New York at age 82; and Laura Houghton, matriarch of the Corning glassmaking family and philanthropist, has died at age 102.

Exhibitions

Boston, MA -- Museum of Fine Arts -- Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788 presents to American audiences for the first time the full range of one of the greatest English artists. Included are approximately one hundred paintings and drawings from fifty lenders. Opens June 15 through Sept. 14.

Washington, D.C. -- Library of Congress -- Creative Space: Fifty Years of Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop features some 60 pieces of artwork from the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Archives and Collection, now on deposit at the Library of Congress. Blackburn changed the course of American art through his groundbreaking graphic work and the Printmaking Workshop, which he founded in NYC in 1948. Through June 28.

New Orleans, LA -- New Orleans Museum of Art -- Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Celebration: Jefferson's America and Napoleon's France marks the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This unprecedented exhibition combines artworks by American and French masters, priceless historical documents and dazzling examples of jewelry, textiles and furniture reflecting the opulence of the Napoleonic era. Through Aug. 31.

Cincinnati, OH -- Cincinnati Art Museum -- The Cincinnati Wing: The Story of Art in the Queen City. Designed to tell the history of Cincinnati art from 1788 through the present day, this new installation showcases over 400 objects from the Museum's collection, including sculpture, painting, and decorative arts. The new wing occupies 15 galleries in 18,000 square feet of newly renovated exhibition space.

Brooklyn, NY -- Brooklyn Museum of Art -- Pulp Art: Vamps, Villains, and Victors from the Robert Lesser Collection presents more than one hundred now rare paintings created for the front covers of popular fiction magazines from the 1920's through the 1940's. Included are some of the most important cover artists of their day, such as J. Allen St. John, Rafael de Soto, H. Parkhurst and George Rozen.

The Art Institute Online is looking for graphic designers interested in learning additional skills, or in getting their bachelor's or associate's degree in graphic design. Make yourself more marketable in the graphic design industry. Click here to find out more. (http://quinst.com/clk/kittedatoukumushiigyo)

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Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 13 No. 8 -- June 2003