February 9th 2021 14:02
Museums and galleries have been some of the hardest hit destinations since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as restrictions continue to hamper visitor numbers, or diminish them completely.
An October 2020 study found that, on average, US museums lost 35% of their usual operating income in 2020 and expect to lose a further 28% this year. While these institutions are innovating new ways to connect with their audiences, digital fundraising remains 34% short of the revenue typically made from in-person events.
Here in the UK, now in our third national lockdown, tourist destinations are once again closed, as are those in many other regions facing harsher restrictions. As a result, it is crucial that museums continue to offer alternative, virtual experiences to the public to increase engagement and revenue.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Apollo and Daphne, detail of upper portion, 1622-25, marble, 95 5/8 inches (2.43 meters) high, Galleria Borghese, Rome, detail. Photo source: Alvesgaspar / Wikimedia Commons.
Don’t mess with Cupid. Apollo, the most handsome of the Greco-Roman gods, was the charioteer of the Sun, as well as the god of music, poetry, eloquence, art, medicine, prophecy, and archery. But Apollo made the mistake of dissing Cupid and he paid an everlasting price. This article explores the Apollo and Daphne myth in examples of Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo art, concluding with Bernini’s extraordinary version.
Roman, Apollo Belvedere, probably reign of Hadrian, 117-138, probably a copy of a Greek or Hellenistic bronze, possibly by Leochares from c. 330-320 B.C., marble, 7.3 feet (2.24 meters) high, Vatican Museums, Vatican City. Photo Source: Vatican Museums.
Measuring the economic success of presidents: The Wake Up for Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 Cliff Pinckard, cleveland.com
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Weather
The day will start out very cold, with temperatures around 10 degrees this morning and wind chills making it feel even colder. It eventually will warm to the mid-20s with slight chances of snow showers. It will stay around 20 degrees overnight and we can expect snow, with 1-3 inches possible by Tuesday morning. Read more.
The headlines
Presidential benchmarks: How can you measure the economic success of a president? Complicated issues get broken down to the most simple data points. As Joe Biden begins his term, Rich Exner takes a look at 15 economic benchmarks, from unemployment to the cost of a Big Mac.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s revelatory “Stories from Storage’’ exhibit brings hidden gems into the light
Updated Feb 08, 2021;
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CLEVELAND, Ohio The Cleveland Museum of Art faced a curatorial nightmare last year when the coronavirus pandemic turned its precisely calibrated exhibition calendar from a Swiss watch into Swiss cheese.
Big shows on topics including 7th-century sculpture from Cambodia, and Pablo Picasso’s works on paper got postponed, punching holes in a timetable complicated further by temporary closures of the museum from March to June, and then again from November to this
January
.
The museum first addressed its exhibition dilemma by extending the run of “Proof,’ a major show on contact sheets by famous modern and contemporary photographers.
Rarely seen artworks reveal untold stories in new exhibition
Two Female Heads, 16001650s. Abraham Bloemaert (Dutch, 15641651). Red chalk heightened with white chalk; framing lines in brown ink; sheet: 7.8 x 12.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund, 1994.15.
CLEVELAND, OH
.- When the pandemic upended international travel in March 2020, temporarily delaying projects that had been in development for years, the Cleveland Museum of Art reimagined its schedule of exhibitions by drawing on its own resources. Stories from Storage offers a thoughtful and focused examination of multiple important themes through seldom-seen works of art carefully selected by each of the museums nearly two dozen curators. It conveys not a single, linear narrative but multiple stories that complement one another.