Gerhard Richter: “A public art collection is not a financial investment that can be plundered depending on the cash situation. It is a piece of art history and represents the cultural memory of its trustees.” *

On June 27, city council members will determine the fate of Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, located near Cologne. It is proposed that the modern and contemporary art museum, open since 1951, be shut down and its art collection be sold as a cost saving measure. The Detroit Institute of Arts narrowly escaped such a fate in 2014. How many others teeter on edge of such decisions?

Is a public art collection different than any other public property or commodity? If so, how?

And pointedly, how should laws effectively address this to protect what is our irreplaceable cultural heritage?

It is my hope that communities will proactively devise effective legal and policy measures now — to protect our cultural treasures — prior to unforeseen financial difficulties experienced by any given public institution.

“Art and contemporary culture are essential to a healthy individual and an enlightened global community.” (I Require Art™)

—Jules Cavanaugh

*Richter quote: Gareth Harris, © 2016 The Art Newspaper, February 29, 2016, http://bitly.com/1TCX4ES

© 2016 I Require Art Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Chuck Close: Agnes, 1998. Oil on canvas, 102-1/8 x 84 inches (259.4 cm x 213.36 cm). The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. © Chuck Close; photo: Ellen Page Wilson. © This artwork or photo may be protected by copyright. It is posted on the site in accordance with fair use principles.

What an extraordinary collection. Decades in the making, Doris and Donald Fisher put this together guided strictly by their taste and an agreement that they each liked every addition to the collection. Nearly 260 works are on view from May 14, 2016 – May 14, 2020 at the newly reopened San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in multiple ongoing exhibitions including: “Approaching American Abstraction,” “Pop, Minimal, and Figurative Art,” “German Art after 1960,” “Alexander Calder: Motion Lab,” and “British Sculptors.” This event, these fabulous works — a  must see!

—Jules Cavanaugh

© 2016 I Require Art Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Claude Monet (French, Impressionism, 1840-1926): The Promenade, Woman with a Parasol (Madame Monet and Her Son / note: Camille and Jean, Monet’s first wife and son), 1875. Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA.

The image of Camille and Jean (The Promenade, Woman with a Parasol; 1875), seen so often by so many, may at first glance feel too familiar, perhaps overexposed. But, I feel nothing but its power. Monet’s luscious brushwork and gorgeous palette capture in a solitary moment the swift and breathless flow of wind, of air, of life itself in all of its ephemeral magic — and I am swept away. I feel the magnificence of not just this one mother and son and not just this one moment, but of all. Bravo, Claude! Here’s to timeless moments, by Claude Monet…

—Jules Cavanaugh

© 2016 I Require Art Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Diego Rivera (Mexican; Social Realism, Mexican Mural Movement; 1886-1957): (central detail) Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park (Sueno de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central), 1947-48. Fresco: 7 tons, 4.8 x 15 m (13 x 50 ft). Museo Mural Diego Rivera, Mexico City, Mexico City. Originally in the Hotel del Prado on Alameda Park.

#HappyCincoDeMayo! Rivera–Dream… Alameda Park #IRequireArt #art http://bitly.com/1rtuDzu irequireart.com/blog/?p=1328

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Diego Rivera encapsulates in this robust fifty-foot, 7 ton mural, read from left to right, a significant slice of Mexican history from conquest through the Revolution of 1910. A fitting tribute for this Cinco de Mayo, 2016!