Dear pictures... the cost of looking

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It would seem that 2012 is the year for this editor to be angry at some aspects of the art world!

Last month we complained at the exorbitant cost of exhibition catalogues that are not pitched at the art loving public but at a few academics. Do send us your views about that. We think most visitors would welcome a simpler, slimmer, less costly souvenir of their visit.  

Yet this is not the only problem. We are angry at the charges that some museums make for the use of their images. This is a big problem for most of those who want to publish books about art and arguments and controversy rage on this topic continuously.

Cassone reviews many art books and catalogues and usually we are given images available for press use to illustrate each review. This month, however, a large national museum wanted to charge us for an image to illustrate a review of one of their books. We have never ever been asked for this before. We pointed out that the review gave some publicity to their book, but to little effect. Finally we stated we would put the review up with a note to say there was no illustration because this organization was going to charge us. The museum relented and we were given some images.

Our own problem here is not the point, however. Possibly someone had bequeathed the objects that were the subject of this book with the intent that they would be for the general public’s appreciation. The artists in question were long dead and so their own copyright was not an issue. In many cases, institutions seek to make money not only by legitimately publishing their own books, revenues from which accrue to the institution, but also by charging anyone else who wants to use images of these works in their own publishing projects. If you ever wonder why there are so few images in some art books, this is the reason.

Authors and publishers of art books constantly come up against these charges. I am very aware that the majority of UK museums and galleries have free admission and have had their subsidies cut, resulting in a shortage of funds; but they do charge fees for every special exhibition they stage, and one would hope make some profit to cover their overheads. In the UK, we contribute to these museums through our taxes  – shouldn’t the taxpayer then be able to see images of the artworks they hold in the form of illustrations in informative publications?

Fortunately we have secured a good number of images to illustrate this month’s crop of exhibition and gallery reviews. I was lucky to be able to visit the exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery to see the two rooms of photographs that have appeared in the last 50 years of the Sunday Times Magazine. Past covers and interior images of great historical import adorn the walls, and are superb. One of the photographers featured was the great Terry O’Neill and I managed to have just a few minutes chat.

Rosalind Ormiston has had a very informative discussion with Jeremy Cooper, who played an instrumental part in the early days of the young British artists (yBas) when he purchased awarehouse in Hoxton as a live-in loft space in the 1980s and rented floors out to emerging artistssuch as Damien Hirst, Michael Landy and Tracey Emin.

In this issue, Jenny Kingsley reports on a visit to the Stanley Spencer Gallery in a former Wesleyan chapel in Spencer’s ‘earthly paradise’ his beloved Cookham in Berkshire. Rosalind  Ormiston has been very busy indeed. She has visited the Queen Elizabeth II exhibition of photographs by the royal photographer, the late Cecil Beaton – a Diamond Jubilee celebration at the V&A. She also reports on ‘Streets of Gold’ an exhibition at the Museum of London on five foreign-born artists who migrated to the UK.

One of our US writers, Victoria Keller, reviews the Renoir exhibition at The Frick Collection, New York while Peter Jones reports on his visit to The Lightbox Gallery, Woking to see the exhibition on the use of collage in British art. Entitled ‘Transmitter/Receiver: The Persistence of Collage’, this exhibition features pieces from the Art’s Council Collection and is travelling around the UK.

This issue also includes Susan Platt with the second of her articles on art in Cuba, Mo White on Tacita Dean’s work Film in the Tate Modern Unilver Series, Janet Tyson reviews a book on  self-taught and outsider artists, while Larry Silver reviews a ‘gem of a title’: Jean de Carpentin’s Book of Hours which in Larry’s words is a book to please everyone .

As usual an eclectic mix for you to read this month and of course you can always go back and see favourites in the archive.  Remember that through the month we will be adding to ‘Our news’ items from our art spies all over the world. I do hope you enjoy it all.