The DCMS’s figures indicate that nearly every national museum and gallery has been affected, with only seven out of 36 venues receiving an increase. In London, the Geffrye Museum, the National Gallery and Tate Modern showed an increase in attendees, whilst visitor numbers at other institutions in the capital dropped considerably. Tate Britain lost more than 100,000 visitors and the V&A lost over 350,000. Certain museum professionals cautioned that there was no concrete evidence to suggest terrorism fears as the root of the national slide in numbers, suggesting that factors such as hot weather and programming changes could also be at play. More info via the Museums Journal.
The National Portrait Gallery in London appears close to acquiring a £30 million work by the Italian mannerist painter Jacopo Pontormo, Portrait of a Man in a Red Hat (1530). The gallery looks likely to buy the work after the UK government privately agreed to a £19m grant to cover tax. The export licence deferral on the painting expires on October 22 — an announcement is therefore expected shortly. If successful, the Pontormo will become one of the most expensive acquisitions by a UK museum in recent years.The Art Newspaper has more.
TEFAF, the world’s leading art fair of art and antiques, announced that the online marketplace for fine art and antiques Invaluable will be the marquee sponsor for both TEFAF New York and TEFAF Maastricht. The new partnership will launch at the pilot edition of TEFAF New York Fall (October 22-26), a joint venture between TEFAF and Artvest Partners, and will continue for TEFAF Maastricht from March 10-19, 2017 and TEFAF New York Spring from May 4-9, 2017. In a few months’ time, TEFAF and Invaluable will launch the “TEFAF Digital Excellence Program powered by Invaluable,” a new initiative that will enable dealers to expanding their reach by connecting with new buyers online. More information is available via through Fine Books Magazine.
The Syngenta Photography Award, which aims to generate dialogue around the central global issues of our time, has announced the finalists for the third edition of the award. Photographers were asked to respond to the theme “Grow-Conserve,” which examines the tension between the growing demands on natural resources and the need to protect the planet. The nominees for the Professional Commission, the winner of which will receive a prize of $55,000, are Lucas Foglia (USA), Claudia Jaguaribe (Brazil) and Yang Wang Preston (UK/China). For the Open Competition, which offers a total of $10,000 in prize money, the finalists are Robin Friend (UK), Matt Hamon (USA) and Kenneth O’Halloran (Ireland). Winners will be announced in March 2017. More on Syngenta’s website.
