The Week’s Muse: 10 January

A round-up of recent news and comment from The Muse Room

Cezanne goes digital

Museum’s are increasingly taking advantage of easily accessible digital technologies, with more and more art scholarship going digital. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: an online catalogue raisonné was launched last month at the Metropolitan Museum – and everywhere with internet access.

Should we be cynical about international museum franchises?

The Guggenheim Bilbao Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Lee Rosenbaum argues that we should, suggesting that ‘such forays are almost always doomed to failure: there’s a disconnect between what each side hopes to get from these international alliances.’ For Maymanah Farhat, writing about the Gulf, ‘the cynicism surrounding these developments has tapered, and the art franchises that gave rise to this expansion have been integrated into the larger regional art scene as mainstays.’

The Estorick’s conservation campaign

Leaving the Theatre (1910–11), Carlo Carrà. Estorick Collection, London

Carlo Carrà’s Leaving the Theatre is one of London’s best examples of early Futurism, but the painting requires urgent restoration work. Roberta Cremoncini, director of the Estorick Collection, talks to Apollo about the public appeal to raise £3,000.

Museum wit

The Farmer in the Artist’s Studio (c. 1839), Heinrich von Rustige

According to Apollo’s editor Thomas Marks, ‘Museums and galleries are hardly the place for stand-up or slapstick’. But is there room for wit in museum displays?