[spectre] Fw: NYTimes.com: Billionaire Cancels Plan for a Museum Near Paris

franck ancel franck.ancel at wanadoo.fr
Mon May 16 18:43:15 CEST 2005


BYE BYE!



----- Original Message -----
From: nck at ifrance.com
To: franck.ancel at wanadoo.fr
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 7:33 PM
Subject: NYTimes.com: Billionaire Cancels Plan for a Museum Near Paris

ARTS / ART & DESIGN |   May 10, 2005

Billionaire Cancels Plan for a Museum Near Paris
By ALAN RIDING

PARIS, May 9 - François Pinault, a billionaire who is France's wealthiest
art lover, announced Monday that he was abandoning plans to build a $195
million contemporary art museum on the outskirts of Paris and would instead
present part of his vast collection in the Palazzo Grassi, an elegant
exhibition space on the Grand Canal in Venice that he recently acquired.

Mr. Pinault, 68, whose corporate empire includes Christie's, Gucci, Yves
Saint Laurent and three chains of department and media stores, said he was
reluctantly giving up the museum project because it was five years behind
schedule. He said the delays were caused by municipal authorities in the
Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the museum was intended to
occupy part of Île Seguin, an island in the Seine southwest of Paris that
had long been occupied by a Renault automobile plant. One of Mr. Pinault's
conditions was that the whole area would be urbanized, but so far no plans
to develop the rest of the island have been approved.

In recent months, French newspapers have reported that elected officials in
Boulogne-Billancourt were indifferent to the proposed museum, prompting
speculation that senior French politicians were less than enthusiastic about
the idea of a private citizen's entering a museum world long monopolized
here by the government.

"Eternity is for art, not for projects that aim to serve it," Mr. Pinault
noted in an article he wrote in Le Monde on Monday, adding that he was
abandoning his plan with "intense disappointment and deep sadness."

Still, after his purchase of the 18th-century Palazzo Grassi last month, his
decision to turn his back on Boulogne-Billancourt was not a surprise. The
palazzo, acquired by Fiat in 1984 and later restored by the architect Gae
Aulenti, has been the site of numerous important exhibitions in recent
years.

Last year, the city of Venice acquired the palazzo, which Mr. Pinault bought
for $37 million.

Writing in Le Monde, Mr. Pinault said he would present a selection of works
from his collection there later this year and he was also making plans to
build an extension that would double the palazzo's exhibition space.
Further, he said he was looking for space in other European cities to create
an international circuit for his art. In Le Monde he mentioned Berlin and
Lille in northern France as possibilities.

The collection, which he began 30 years ago, includes works by modern
artists like Miró, Brancusi, Picasso, Modigliani, Rothko, Pollock and Warhol
and by contemporary artists like Bruce Nauman, Cindy Sherman, Matthew
Barney, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Mr. Pinault had planned to inaugurate
his new museum with a Jeff Koons show.

"My desire to share my passion for art remains intact," he wrote, "which is
why I am seizing the extraordinary opportunity offered by the availability
of the Palazzo Grassi to start presenting my collection to the public
without delay." And he added: "Venice is neither the refuge of a
disappointed passion nor a last resort. It is - in the finest tradition of
the city - a point of departure and a firm expectation of many adventures."

Published: May 10, 2005




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