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Todd Heisler/The New York Times

‘The Shapes of Space,” the Guggenheim Museum’s spirited if sometimes disjointed display of works from its collection, might almost be titled “Welcome to the 21st Century.”

Its accomplishments are several:

It puts on view many of the museum’s latest acquisitions. While a 1913 Mondrian is the show’s earliest work, nearly half were acquired after 2000.

It allows two young assistant curators and one curatorial assistant - Ted Mann, Nat Trotman and Kevin Lotery - to spread their wings, under the supervision of Nancy Spector, the museum’s chief curator.

It shows the Guggenheim, under Lisa Dennison, its director, trying to look like a museum and make active use of its collection, rather than functioning mostly as a kunsthalle dedicated to traveling blockbusters.

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, 20 July 2007)

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Photo: Stéphane de Sakutin/Agence France-Presse

With the Louvre receiving over eight million visitors last year and other French art collections drawing millions more, further incentives would hardly appear necessary to attract people to this country’s museums.

Indeed, at weekends and during summer vacations, the Louvre, for one, often resembles a crowded railroad station, with Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” the preferred destination.

Yet there is a problem: in the case of the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and other national galleries, where entry tickets cost between €6 and €9, or about $9 and $12, some two-thirds of all visitors are foreign tourists, as are three-quarters of visitors between the ages of 18 and 25.

Now the new government of President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to alter this profile. With a view to persuading more French to enjoy art, it is pondering whether to follow the British and Danish examples of allowing free access to the permanent collections of major museums.

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, July 19, 2007)