The inaugural issue of the Journal of Art Historiography is out. It's exciting to think about new and expanded models for architecture criticism; but of course the immediate test of survivability — of whether the job is doomed — won't be conceptual but economic. Going to a museum of contemporary art is now a bit like being present at a tacit contest in which "the art world" attempts to do everything but what was once called "art", in order to assert its continued dominion over all the arts. From Antiquity, a review of Cave Art by Jean Clottes. Why so many artists, from Proust to Warhol, are frequently under the weather. Oh Yoko!: 20 ways of looking at an art-world icon. Witold Rybczynski on Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and why we're still fascinated by the Bauhaus. Donald Dewey on how hard times and humour are as inseparable as cinema and celluloid. Are artists shaped by their times, or do they shape them, and does it matter where you see a piece of art? Surprising new research suggests non-experts’ receptiveness to modern artworks may be lessened when contextual information is presented. Are Vettriano, Lloyd Webber and Dan Brown really so naff?: Our judgements about art and culture are beset with insecurity and anxiety. The Museum of Bad Art: The artists of MOBA suffered for their art — now it's your turn. Robert Bruegmann on the Architect as Urbanist (and part 2). Knock Knock: Who’s There? That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore examines the delicate relationship between art and humor. Twenty years after the Gardner heist, detective Charles Hill says art thieves aren’t so clever. What's with exhibition names that are unmemorable and uninviting? A review of Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum by Michael Gross.
