Volume 9, Number 3, Sept 1987, pp.13-14

In the News

16 April 1987. The Wall Street Journal. Under the headlines: "Wealth of Woes", "J. Paul Getty Museum In California Is Beset By Critics, Uncertainty", "Texaco-Pennzoil Fight Adds Looming Financial Cloud To an Artistic Imbroglio", and "The Uses of a Trust's Billions", and a related article "Reputation of Getty Museum Is Hurt By a Scandal Involving Art Donations", both by Frederick Rose. The latter, is a discussion of the alleged acquisition irregularities of Jiri Frel so melodramatically loosed by Thomas Hoving and Geraldine Norman in Connoisseur. Issues of Getty-bashing and a possible grudge held by Mr. Hoving against the Getty are also discussed. The former, a 51 column inch spread, begins with the Kouros controversy, launches into a critical examination of the Getty Trust, mentions Thomas Hoving's complaints, and discusses the direction, course, and recent past of The Getty Trust.

24 April 1987. The Los Angeles Times, San Diego County Edition. Alfredo Antognini, conservator of paintings at Balboa Art Conservation Center, was profiled in an article titled "Artist Feels Being Local Hurts in S.D." which concentrated on his private work as a painter. "[Alfredo] describes his paintings of California houses, beach scenes, still-lifes and portraits as being influenced by Cezanne, in particular, and to a lesser extent by an Italian named Morandi."

4 May 1987. Albuquerque Tribune. The work of Balboa Art Conservation Center in restoring two murals, Palenque and Tikal, painted by Carlos Vierra for the 1915 California-Panama Exposition which created Balboa Park in San Diego, was described. The paintings, each about four feet high and fourteen feet wide, were two of four murals on canvas which had been attached to the interior stucco walls of the San Diego Museum of Man with a linseed oil/lead white paste in 1915. BACC removed the paintings from the wall in 1981, to save them from museum remodelling. In 1986, BACC mounted the paintings on aluminum hexcel honeycomb panels for the traveling exhibition "The Maya Image in the Western World" which opened at the University of New Mexico Art Museum. A sealed negative pressure mylar tent with arm holes and exhaust system was constructed to contain the lead white particulate debris for the eight months during which the fabric reverse was prepared for lining.

7 June 1987. The Los Angeles Times. An article entitled "Fake Artwork: High Stakes for the Getty" and a related article "Experts Use Technology in Search of Art Forgeries", both by Robert A. Jones. The former discusses the Skopas Head and Stele fragment suspected of being fakes. The article goes on to discuss, in general terms, the problem of fakes in museums, always popular grist for the mill. The latter discusses scientific analysis as a tool in detecting art forgeries.

14 June 1987. The Arizona Daily Star, carrying an Associated Press story by Michael Hirsh. "Old Masters not only dead, but fading away" discusses Robert Feller's research that has found "recommended" humidity levels seem to accelerate fading by oxidation. Keiko Keyes noticed that pigments, particularly the purples, in 18th Century Japanese prints had faded dramatically in seven years. Andrea Rothe, Bert Van Zelst, and John Brealey are all quoted in the article.

14 June 1987. Los Angeles Times in the Calendar section in a three page spread under the title "Caveat Emptor, When It Comes to Fine-Art Prints, Let the Buyer Beware" by Zan Dubin and David Johnston, and the related "Buying Prints: Avoiding Pitfalls" by Dubin.

22 July 1987. The Los Angeles Times, San Diego County Edition. In an article titled "Keeping Art Safe, Sound at Museum", the activities of Louis Goldich, Registrar at the San Diego Museum of Art, are described. He has been involved in upgrading exhibit and storage conditions to new standards for disaster preparedness. "Caring and preserving art objects gives Goldich a special point of view. 'This is not a circus,' he said. 'Personally, I think our role is to protect the objects and exhibit them secondly.' "