Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

In face of harsh criticism, Monet talks

Controversial or splashy show openings (think Cirque du Soleil's "Zumanity" or the new "Sirens of TI" show at Treasure Island) are what Vegas is all about. So it's probably not unusual that when the Bellagio gallery of Fine Art opened its latest exhibition in January -- 21 Monets on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston -- some art critics had a field day.

The critics questioned the unorthodox arrangement between the for-profit gallery that rents space at the resort and the nonprofit museum. The gallery is owned and operated by PaperBall, a division of New York art dealer Pace Wildenstein.

The fact that the gallery gave the Boston museum a lucrative incentive to loan the paintings -- money that the gallery would have to pay on top of the high costs for shipping, insurance and courier services involved for any institution displaying a touring exhibition -- crossed the line, critics say. The deal represented art for profit's sake rather than for art's sake, they said.

Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight summed it up this way: "The show is without intellectual merit, is educationally corrupt and puts a fast-buck premium on financial gain."

Three months later, some art watchers in New York -- arguably the nation's hub for high culture -- are wondering what all the fuss was about.P> "Museums are trying all sorts of conventional and unconventional ways to raise cash," said David Ebony, associate managing editor, news editor and writer for the trade magazine Art News. "Government is slashing funding to the arts right and left and because the economy's been in a slump, private donations to museums are declining, resulting in some enterprises that appear rather questionable."

"But it doesn't surprise me. It's been the trend the last couple of years," Ebony said.

New York-based artist Marlene Tseng Yu, who has displayed her abstract artwork in Las Vegas, said the controversy at the Monet appears misplaced.

"Some museums in New York are renting space for people to get married and are renting out space for parties," Yu said. "Even the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) has done that."

A museum in Taiwan paid about $200,000 to rent Andy Warhol artwork owned by a private collector in Central America, she added.

"For the (Boston museum) to rent their art out, I guess is necessary."

But the Association of Art Museum Directors, a group that sets industry standards and drafts policies, sees it differently.

Earlier this month association President Peter Morrin said the group is "concerned about the potential ethical conflicts arising from financial partnerships between art museums and for-profit organizations" and is reviewing the collaboration behind the Monet exhibit in Las Vegas "to determine whether it raises such issues."

"It is a matter of concern to several (membership) committees and we anticipate dealing with those issues at forthcoming meetings," said Morrin, director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky.

The association doesn't accredit museums but represents the leaders of about 175 major museums in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art Marketing Director Matthew Hileman said the exhibit has not only emerged unscathed from the criticism but has likely become the envy of many museums that are struggling to raise money in difficult economic times. With the Monet exhibit, the gallery is continuing and improving on its mission of bringing art to the masses, Hileman added.

"We saw it as more of a criticism of Las Vegas," he said of the complaints. "We always felt that if (the exhibit) wasn't in Las Vegas, the argument never would have come up."

The exhibit is one of several in recent years that has boosted the city's cultural profile among tourists and tour groups, tourism officials and others say.

Case in point: Companies that arrange business meetings in Las Vegas are now including art galleries and museums in their tours of hotels and restaurants.

"They come to see art, there's no question ... and they come away with a very favorable impression of Las Vegas," said Elizabeth Herridge, managing director at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, a nonprofit institution that rents space at the Venetian. The museum is operated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York and is affiliated with the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The issue of profiting from art lies at the heart of the critics' claims.

Peter Plagens, an artist, author and art critic for Newsweek, said his view that the arrangement behind the exhibit is "harmful to the general public's seeing great art in their local museums" hasn't changed since his first report on the Bellagio exhibit.

"The whole delicate network of major museum shows and loans is predicated on non-financial quid pro quos, e.g., 'lend us your Monet, we'll lend you our Picasso,' Plagens said. "If museums start lending the works out to commercial entities for money, then that starts to go down the drain. Museums aren't supposed to treat their holdings as assets to lend out for money or to use as collateral for loans to build new buildings, etc."

Other particular concerns about the exhibit -- including the safety of showing art in a casino and the recent three-day power outage at the Bellagio -- hasn't really registered in the art world, Plagens said.

"Thirty-six hours -- unless it's in a deep freeze or an oven -- won't do a lot of damage. I'd expect that security might be a concern, although from what I know, Las Vegas hotel-casinos are crawling with it," he said.

Gene Luntz, a manager for pop artist Peter Max in New York, dismisses Plagen and other critics of the Monet exhibit as snobs.

"I detest and abhor the snobbery of art critics who believe that art is for the one-tenth of 1 percent of our culture," Luntz said. "It is so important now more than ever for children to receive the benefit of art. No matter where it shows up, as far as I'm concerned it's positive."

Luntz said the relationship between the gallery and the museum is the "wave of the future" and will help more people see art that has previously remained in world-class museums.

"That a convention of auto dealers (in Las Vegas) has the opportunity to see a Warhol exhibit is extraordinary," he said. "I'd like to see more (public-private partnerships) elsewhere."

But New York art critic Robert Morgan, who viewed the Monet exhibit and "enjoyed it," said he now agrees with Plagens after having time to think about and research the arrangement.

"I think it sets an unfortunate precedent because only a place like the Bellagio (gallery) could afford the fee," Morgan said. "Take a poor country like Ecuador. There are probably some sophisticated people there who would probably want to see (Monets) but if the expectation was that a large fee would have to be paid, I think that would be unfortunate."

"I'm all for museums being able to cover their expenses but I'm fundamentally against getting money on top of expenses," he added.

The Bellagio gallery has a "huge educational mission" and is doing an "enormous public service" because it brings art to people who wouldn't otherwise get a chance to view it, Hileman said. About 30 percent of the gallery's estimated 4 million visitors over the past six years have never been to a museum or gallery, he said.

Museum of Fine Arts spokeswoman Dawn Griffin said the Boston museum has been pleased with the exhibit so far, adding that the power failure at the Bellagio didn't worry museum officials because emergency power at the resort maintained a constant temperature in the gallery.

"One of the most important things is the exposure we're getting because tourism is so strong and Las Vegas is such a fast-growing city," she said. In addition to raising revenue for educational programs, the Las Vegas exhibit is raising the public profile of the Boston museum, she said.

Meanwhile, the Bellagio gallery continues to be approached by several world-class museums about future exhibits, Hileman said.

Las Vegas art experts appear to be unanimously supportive.

"Anytime you can bring art to an audience of 36 million people it's wonderful," said Karen Barrett, the executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum. Viewing art is an "emotional experience" and not an intellectual debate, she said.

Joe Palermo, the museum's former executive director, is more vocal.

"I think (the criticism) is bogus," said Palermo, a local artist and gallery owner. "There are people who want to be snobbish about it."

Some local art experts have questioned whether the art that has traveled to Las Vegas on loan is of the best quality available, said Robert Tracy, curator of the College of Fine Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But that's a question that emerges whenever art is loaned to another entity for display and isn't specific to the Monet exhibit or Las Vegas, Tracy said.

"Let's say a museum has eight Rembrandts. Are they going to send their best Rembrandts (to another institution)? Probably not," he said. "The question is whether the Guggenheim and the Bellagio (galleries) are getting their money's worth. I think they are."

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