CultureGrrl

Marc Wilson, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in his office in the museum's Steven Holl-designed addition

The Nelson-Atkins Museum's recent announcement of 75 donors' gifts of 400 artworks in honor of the Kansas City museum's 75th anniversary and its soon-to-retire director, Marc Wilson, makes this a good moment for me to publish excerpts from my conversation with this dean of American art museum directors, which took place when I visited in November to cover the opening of the museum's new American Indian art galleries.

Surprisingly, there was no art in Wilson's office in the museum's new Bloch Building, because "the light levels are too high. I'd rather have the window." The brightest illumination came from his comments about the state of the American art museum, from the vantage point of his 28-year directorship (from which he will retire on June 1) and his lifelong commitment to Chinese art scholarship.

Rosenbaum: You mentioned to me [earlier in our conversation] that there have been shifts in fashion in museum leadership. What kinds of shifts were you referring to?

Wilson: We all now have audio guides. We all have to do them. But we often lose sight of the real core that should be guiding them. Often, it is---"I have to have exhibitions about this" or "I have to have BIG exhibitions that will draw." These trends last a while---the "hot issue" of the day. And I find there's very little real thinking about: "What does this really mean, cutting through the fashion of the decade? "

We're in a specific place with a specific mandate---getting back to the core, without getting stuck in excessive sensationalism: popcorn and calliopes. At the end of the day, you may hook people, but if they don't have some kind of rewarding time in those galleries with that art, then they're probably coming back, not for the art, but for the cupcake that you give them.

Rosenbaum: What should your museum be looking for in the new director?

Wilson: I think the director has to be passionate about art, wide open about the notion of human beings who make up this society, and understanding that it's not enough just to say that all art is good and you should look at it.

Some of the barriers---and, believe me, everybody has them---should be gotten rid of. We can say it's socio-economic, race or cultural background, but in my view, the biggest barrier is education.

For one-third of our visitors, the family income is below $55,000. If your ratchet it up, you find the income of about 80% [of our visitors] is below $70,000. What does that say to you? People say, "Art is for elitists." Well, we are elite in the sense that the works of art are superior achievements of exceptional people who have lived amongst us.

Rosenbaum: You have had some dealings with the Metropolitan Museum's new director, Tom Campbell. How do you regard him?

Wilson: He seems to be level-headed. I think he is open-minded. He seems to be flexible. He does not seem to be an ideologue. He's earnest in wanting to grow his own horizons and expand them. He seems to be trying to listen to his curators. I do not believe he is an autocrat. On the whole I believe him to be a person who seems to listen well.

He almost HAS to rely more on his staff for input. Philippe [de Montebello, the Met's previous director] would tend to hear an idea and it would come down as "yes" or "no." But I think Tom is a little more deliberate and that would be something that's in his favor as a new director.

He seems to be very smart. I think he's going to do very well. I like him. I've found him reasonable. He is not a stuffed shirt.

Rosenbaum: What are the most pressing issues that you think your institution will have to address, after you've left?

Wilson: Money is a big one. We don't get tax support and we don't charge. So we don't have a lot of alternatives. We don't have a huge vacationer population coming to us. We're not an international tourist center, the way New York is. They can charge a high fee, and the tourists are all willing to pay for it and they're willing to shell money out. We have a decent number of people from outside Kansas City, but it's not as though we're densely populated. We have to do what we can do---hustle, raise money and be very smart about how you spend it.

Rosenbaum: You mentioned to me that you want to go back to China to improve your language skills. What else will you be doing after you leave the Nelson-Atkins directorship?

Wilson: I love doing shows and exhibitions. I love making works of art come alive. It's about all those people out there and the great works of art: I love to make that connection.

In Chinese art, there's so much to do, in bringing all the research up to date. The basic scholarship on the Chinese paintings is up to date. But what we're now missing is the context of all this, in light of new discoveries.

The first thing is: I can't get ahead of the new director. I've got to be out of here and I've got to back off. You can't have an eminence gris hanging around the place. You have to completely change gears and put your self in a subordinate role.

Rosenbaum: Will that be hard to do?

Wilson: No.

University of Iowa Museum of Art's "Mural," 1943, by Jackson Pollock, as installed at the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA

The "Envisioning Committee," appointed last year by the University of Iowa's president, Sally Mason, to brainstorm about a new facility to replace its flood-ruined art museum, has just issued its final report, which calls for a new, bigger facility to be built, preferably "closer to main campus...for better integration into student life."

The committee's report states:

There is a great urgency to bring back the University's premier collection and to house it in a building worthy of it and the community....Prior to the flood, the Museum of Art had approximately 75,000 square feet of space: approximately 25,000 square feet displayed the permanent collection; 20,000 square feet was temporary exhibition space to host special shows; 7,500 square feet was storage and preparation work space; 5,000 square feet was for classrooms; 5,000 square feet was retail space, including the Museum store and coffee bar; 5,000 square feet was office space, and 7,500 square feet was public space with an atrium used for events and gatherings.

The committee wants more space in the new facility, to allow for "expansion of the permanent collection" and "more space for temporary exhibitions." It calls upon the university "to set the replacement of the Museum of Art as a high priority, on par with rebuilding all other parts of the damaged arts campus."

Where the money for this will come from is anyone's guess. In an article published before the final report was issued, B.A. Morelli of the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported:

Based on a similarly sized design [not the committee-recommended bigger facility] and current market and standards, a new museum building could cost $40 million to $50 million, said Rod Lehnertz, director of UI planning, design and construction, who served as a committee adviser.

One committee recommendation is a no-brainer:

The new facility must be built outside the 500-year flood plain, and beyond future flooding concerns.

Meanwhile, the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, an hour's drive away from the Iowa City university, continues to house the bulk of the displaced collection and to exhibit its highlights, now including a new temporary exhibition of prints.

A recently renovated temporary facility on campus keeps more than 500 works readily available to students, and a traveling exhibition organized by the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Lil Picard and Counterculture New York (scroll down), will open on Apr. 20 at New York University's Grey Art Gallery.

Pam White, who guided the university museum through the crisis caused by the 2008 flood of the Iowa River, remains as its interim director, but a search for a permanent director is in progress.

My e-mail inbox tells me that getting your exhibitions (or other art-related announcements) on CultureGrrl is the goal of many readers. But few of you will make it to the end zone: Although I'm swarmed by by galleries seeking publicity, you should know (if you read me) that I cover almost no gallery exhibitions and I generally review museum shows only if I deem them highly important and/or I've got something unique to say about them.

So take a page from the New Orleans Saints' third-quarter playbook: Try a different strategy.

As I write this (during a break in the Super Bowl action), there is an animated, color ad from a museum in my righthand column and a classified ad in my middle column from a dealers' association. Instead of waiting for me complete their pass, they've taken the ball themselves and run it down the field.

In the meantime, I HAVE caught a pass from CultureGrrl Repeat Donor 111 from Princeton, NJ. Many thanks.

In the words of a couple of half-time entertainers: "Who Are You?" Let me and my readers know through CultureGrrl Classifieds or AJ Ads. Be like the Saints: Surprise me.

Wait a minute! The game's not over yet. Gotta go.

UPDATE: The Saints' strategy worked! But my donor strategy isn't: There's one address on my Donor's ($50 and up) list that is causing me to get an error message when I try to send links to my posts to everyone on that list. I don't know which one it is, so if someone's e-mail has changed, please tell me. As of now, I'm getting a message saying, "Domain of recipient doesn't resolve." This doesn't happen with my "Subscribers" list (under $50).

Meanwhile, if you're one of my valued Donors, please check the blog itself for new posts, until I can get this issue resolved.

Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, 1997, Museum of Modern Art
© 2010 Chuck Close

I don't have a link to this yet, but the list of President Obama's six new nominees to the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) just hit my inbox. The visual-arts notable is artist Chuck Close, who served from 2000 to 2008 as the artist-member of the Whitney Museum's board of trustees.

The PCAH "advanc[es] the White House's arts and humanities objectives by working directly with the three primary cultural agencies---National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services." Current members of the committee (including Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour) are listed here.

Here are the details about the six new nominees, from the White House press office:

Chuck Close is a visual artist noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2000, Mr. Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. Close is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has served on the boards of many arts organizations.

Fred Goldring co-founded the prominent California-based entertainment law firm Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein which represents numerous global superstar recording and performing artists, and is also co-founder of entertainment strategic consultancy, MemBrain, which works with Fortune 500 companies and new media and technology enterprises regarding entertainment marketing strategy. Mr. Goldring is also the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rock The Vote, and has been the co-recipient of an Emmy Award, a Clio Award, a Global Media Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Hospitality; co-founder of Black Entertainment Television; a documentary film producer; and the only African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams. A classically trained violinist who began her career as a music teacher, Ms. Johnson is a long time advocate for the arts. She serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design and several boards including Americans for the Arts.

Pamela Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC. Her other business experiences include holding senior positions at Bowman Capital, LLC and Capital Guardian Trust Company. Ms Joyner is a former Co-Chair and current Trustee Emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet. She is a Trustee of The MacDowell Colony, The School of American Ballet and Dartmouth College. Ms. Joyner also serves a Director of The California Healthcare Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of First Republic Bank.

Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction writer whose debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, and the New Yorker magazine's Debut of the Year. Her novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize.

Ken Solomon is chairman of Ovation TV, a national cable and satellite network focused on bringing art, culture and personal creativity to all Americans. He is also chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour network dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. With more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience, Mr. Solomon has held top posts with the Walt Disney Corp., Universal Television, DreamWorks, News Corp. and Scripps. He is currently vice chairman of the Young Presidents Organization Bel-Air (YPO) and has been named "Humanitarian of the Year" by H.E.L.P. Group, one of the largest and most influential children's charities in the United States, for which he serves on the Circle of Friends advisory board.

Rendering of Frank Gehry's planned Abu Dhabi golf clubhouse

A 19th hole by Frank Gehry?

Apparently the architect is having such a good time on Saadiyat Island, where his Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is to supposed to open in late 2013, that he's accepted another commission there.

The Abu Dhabi-based The National reports that the golf clubhouse Gehry is designing will "put a postmodern twist on the traditional garb [the khandoura] worn by Arab men."

(Looking at the above-linked image of a clean-lined khandoura, I think you could say that "twist" is the operative word.)

Gehry's creation will be added to the just-opened golf course designed by legendary champion Gary Player for the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club.

But what's the status of the Guggenheim's satellite museum? Eleanor Goldhar, the Guggenheim's deputy director and chief of global communications (an upgrade from "deputy director for external affairs"?), told me that although the schedule for opening has not been altered, groundbreaking still hasn't occurred. (Director Richard Armstrong had told me last February that groundbreaking might occur as early as last autumn.)

And in other Gehry news: Julie Gustafson, development manager for the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, Biloxi, MS, informs me that her institution will open three of its five buildings in November. The project had been seriously derailed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the site just 11 months before the planned opening. Gehry has designed five new structures for the museum's new campus, which features his George Ohr Gallery Pavilion, below.

The Biloxi museum's opening exhibitions will include: the eponymous potter, George Ohr; Andy Warhol; Jun Kaneko; Richmond Barthe. (The "O'Keefe" of the museum's name refers to its family of leading benefactors, not Georgia O'Keeffe, the artist.)

Michael Brand, ex-director of the J. Paul Getty Museum

Michael Brand has now left the building and the Getty Museum is beset by yet another period of administrative instability. There has been no official explanation of why Brand threw in the towel, creating an informational vacuum inadequately filled by Jason Felch's analysis of the contretemps in the LA Times (which was entirely dependent on anonymous sources), and the Silence Dogetty blog, used by anonymous staffers to vent gripes about the administration. (See the 38 comments). In that blog's online poll, some 56 of 58 respondents said "No" to the statement, "I approve of the leadership actions of Mr. James Wood [president of the Getty Trust]." (Their views on Michael Brand were not polled.)

Trying to put his post-Getty life in order without benefit of secretaries or assistants, Brand has now decided to break his silence in a CultureGrrl Q&A. He provides significant details about his dissatisfaction with the direction the Getty has been taking and candidly discusses some of his differences with Wood. He also told me that the decision to part company was his alone: There was "no precipitating event," he said, and he was not asked to leave.

Here are his written answers to my written questions. Although he dodged my first query, he does get into substantive issues in subsequent responses:

Rosenbaum: Why did you decide to leave?

Brand: I prefer to not go into details, but I think it is fair to say that the environment became untenable.

Rosenbaum: What were your professional differences with James Wood?

Brand: With respect to the art acquisition budget, the director of the Getty Museum needs to know what level of funding is available for art acquisitions in order to be able to plan ahead strategically. It is especially important in the case of major acquisitions to be able to establish priorities.

I felt the recent centralization of most art acquisition funds in the President's office, where they can be used for several other different purposes as well, made such strategic planning much more difficult. The purposes for those funds are: "major" art acquisitions for the Getty Museum, "major" acquisitions for the Getty Research Institute, "strategic initiatives" and, less formally, contingency. The museum has retained a much smaller art acquisition fund for purchases not deemed "major."

The main difference in philosophy was in our approach to the budget cuts last spring, where, like the directors of many other major art museums, I decided to prioritize the retention of staff and their expertise when implementing the mandated 25% cut to the Getty Museum's operating budget.

Another, more specific, example was my inability last year to introduce a student and teacher discount for our museum visitors after the Getty Trust raised the parking fee from $7 to $15.

Rosenbaum: What are the problems inherent in the Getty's structure and how did those problems manifest themselves during your time there? How might this problem of structure be constructively addressed in the future?

Brand: The issues facing the next director of the Getty Museum have a history that began well before my tenure. Part of this is due to a unique structure that is unlike either the usual stand-alone museum model (where the museum director is the CEO and reports directly to a board of trustees) or the university model (where the art museum is usually one of the smaller units of a much larger group of faculties, schools and other related bodies). History shows that this has made the position of director of the Getty Museum an especially challenging one.

I believe that any constructive approach to resolving this situation would need to start by examining the intention of Mr. Getty's original gift, to look at how and why the Getty expanded and contracted over the subsequent years, and then to continue with an analysis of how best the Getty might maximize its potential as a visual arts organization in the new economic environment. Finally, it should include a discussion of what support the Getty Museum needs in order to maintain its standing as a world leader among art museums and the public face of the Getty in Los Angeles.

Rosenbaum: Is it accurate, as Ron Hartwig [the Getty Trust's vice president for communications] told me, that you have received no other benefit in connection with your departure other than the ones published in the "Compensation Disclosure" section of the Getty's website (as well as pension payment)?

Brand: This is correct. I received no further benefits upon my resignation from the Getty beyond those stipulated in my contract, with the exception of some minor details such as keeping for the next year the notebook computer on which I have my research writing and images, and which is part of my office in the Museum Director's Residence [which he can continue to occupy for a 10 months, under the severance provisions in his contract].

Rosenbaum: Are you already in talks with other future employers in the museum field? And are you also investigating other fields (which ones)? Are you hoping to direct another museum?

Brand: I have already had some informal discussions about possible future opportunities, not all of which are in the museum field, even though directing another art museum is still my central focus.

Brand also told me that he did NOT renegotiate his severance package in anticipation of his departure, as I had previously (and erroneously) stated. The Getty's website, which excerpts the severance provisions, had added more details about his contract (which had not changed) in its most recent compensation report (now updated to reflect his departure), compared to the 2008 report. This made it appear that the deal had changed, when, in fact, only the online description of it had.

My attempts to speak to James Wood about this contretemps, or at least about his vision for the Getty going forward, have thus far been unsuccessful.

In other Getty news, the Trust recently issued a stern rebuttal to this LA Times piece by Jason Felch, which now bears a correction. Felch had cited a "1976 letter in which one of J. Paul Getty's closest advisors refers to the museum's 'exploits over the bronze statue' as a "crime.'" He said that the letter had been "uncovered by a Times reporter" and was likely to be cited in closing arguments in a court case (decision now pending) in Italy regarding the ownership of the Getty Bronze.

The Getty Trust states that the "bronze statue" referred to in that letter was not the "Statue of a Victorious Youth" that is now the subject of legal proceedings in Italy.

This from the statement sent to the Getty's staff:

It would be a tragedy for the Getty, and LA residents who have come to love the "Statue of a Victorious Youth," if incorrect information contained in a Times story, available to the prosecution in Italy at a critical moment, played a role in a verdict against the Getty.

And in another Getty development, the museum, under the interim directorship of David Bomford, former associate director for collections, recently announced Brand's last major acquisitions coup---the $4.56-million purchase on Jan. 27 at Christie's, New York, of Boilly's "The Entrance to the Turkish Garden Café," 1812:

The $104.3-million man: Giacometti, "L'Homme Qui Marche I," 1960 (cast in 1961)

If you're looking for a symbol of a more robust art market, this emaciated six-footer could be it.

At today's Impressionist/modern auction at Sotheby's London, Giacometti's "L'Homme Qui Marche I," estimated to bring a "mere" £12-18 million ($19.33-28.99 million) sold for what the auction house said was a record auction price for any artwork---a staggering £65 million ($104.3 million).

But was it really a record? After a few calculations, I think the answer is yes.

I hesitated to cut and paste onto my blog Sotheby's exultant announcement, which I received many hours ago, because the total, which includes buyer's premium, was so close to the price for the previous champion, Picasso's "Garçon à la Pipe," 1905, sold at Sotheby's New York for $104,168,000 in May 2004, when the buyer's premium tacked onto the hammer price was lower than it is today. Was this merely a "buyer's premium record" or perhaps a "foreign exchange record"?

Turns out that the Giacometti's hammer price, as reported by Sotheby's was $93.09 million, compared to the $93-million hammer price for the Picasso---still (narrowly) a new record, even without figuring in this year's larger buyer's premium. The dollar is stronger against the pound now than it was in 2004, so I don't believe that conversion rates were a factor in making the London-sold Giacometti a record in dollars, as Scott Reyburn of Bloomberg seems to suggest.

Carol Vogel of the NY Times reported the Giacometti's hammer price in dollars as $92.5 million, less than what Sotheby's reported and also less than the Picasso's hammer price. Sotheby's used a conversion rate of 1.605, by which it multiplied the £58 million hammer price to arrive at today's $93.09 hammer price in dollars. Other sources quote a lower exchange rate for today, which would lower the dollar price. (You can see why my head is starting to spin. It would have been so much easier if both records has been achieved in the same currency.)

No matter how many hairs you split, though, the Giacometti does seem to have eked out a new auction record. Record or no, this monster price should give the art market a confidence boost. That said, prices and volume have dropped a long way and won't recover to former levels tomorrow. The Giacometti was an anomaly, not a definitive bellwether.

Sotheby's sale today totaled £146.8 million, compared to yesterday's Christie's London Impressionist/modern sale total of £76.83 million. The top lot at Christie's was yet another late Picasso, "Tête de Femme (Jacqueline)," 1963, £8.1 million (with buyer's premium), continuing the new vogue started by the Gagosian Gallery''s breakout Mosqueteros show.

It's an exercise in painting-by-numbers. (Scroll down to the video to see.)

The New York studio of Jeff Koons was abuzz last night with such artworld luminaries as Richard Armstrong, Adam Weinberg, Lisa Dennison, Agnes Gund, Lowery Sims, Richard Meier and, of course, CultureGrrl, ogling his paintings-in-progress, which were executed by underlings while the artist himself mingled with the crowd:



We media minions (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York magazine, New Yorker, NY Times, ARTnews and Art in America, all in the house) were invited for the announcement of a new Koonsmobile commissioned by BMW, not yet designed but due to be completed by the middle of this year. Last year, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art displayed BMW "art cars" by four of Koons' illustrious predecessors.

No one would say what Jeff will be paid for this commission or where the finished car will be rolled out. Below is Koons (on the right, with two BMW honchos), after a brief speech in which he professed himself to be "really so thrilled to be involved with BMW....It's a profound vehicle [pun intended?] to participate and to make a car on such a platform of excellence."



Here's the model of the first BMW art car, designed in 1975 by Alexander Calder:



And here's the 1999 Jenny Holzer edition:



But frankly, art-lings, I wasn't much interested in a corporate promotion for a car I can't afford to drive. (Well, perhaps I could, but luxury autos aren't where I put discretionary cash.) I was much more interested in the abundant canapés from Per Se, a restaurant where I can't afford to eat:




Wanna know what CultureGrrl's driving, instead of a BMW? I'll Twitter it, a bit later. (Full disclosure: I have eaten at Per Se---at a couple of press lunches!)