Baltimore Museum of Art issues citywide survey for second time

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Baltimore Museum of Art issues citywide survey for second time | On Wednesday the Baltimore Museum of Art announced plans to send a survey to around 300 local organisations, with the results guiding the museum’s future exhibition programming and acquisitions. The museum previously surveyed the city in 1937 when a questionnaire was sent to 225 organisations, and those original questions are to be updated for the new survey. Christopher Bedford, the museum’s director, described the project as ‘a very active form of listening […] for the sake of gathering data that will meaningfully affect [the museum’s] program’.

Marble Dionysus head discovered in Rome | Archaeologists have excavated a large marble head dating from Rome’s imperial age, believed to depict the ancient Greek god Dionysus. Thought to be around 2,000 years old, the bust – which was described by the mayor of Rome as in ‘excellent condition’ – was found during excavations of a medieval wall; it appears to have been used as a building material for the wall. After conservation, the bust will eventually go on display.

Art Institute of Chicago to auction off 300 works of Chinese art | Later this year, Christie’s will auction 300 Chinese works that are being deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection. The sale, which will take place in New York on 12 September, follows the museum’s auction with Sotheby’s in March, which raised $3.15 million from the sale of jade carvings. Proceeds from the sale will go towards the museum’s Asian art acquisition fund.

Recommended reading | The Guardian examines ‘the dark side’ of the International Spy Museum, which has just opened in Washington, D.C. The Art Newspaper looks at a series of lawsuits filed by banks seeking to recover debts from the prominent Portuguese collector of modern and contemporary art José Berardo.