Follow-Ups on CultureGrrl News: Barnes, Fisk, Randolph-Macon, Smithsonian, Grassley, Afghanistan...

...and the kitchen sink.

It's a bit late for me to provide you with detailed follow-ups on all of the above stories, which have perversely developed in my absence.

But I can make partial amends by giving you select links to the recent news coverage of the above-mentioned topics, to make sure you're up to speed. (Actually, you're probably more alert than this jet-lagged laggard.) For the most part, you'll have to do without my usual analysis (which, I suppose, may be a GOOD thing!).

I should acknowledge that I'm especially indebted to the Art Law Blog for links to articles and documents related to the legal issues connected to many of these stories. You will also find some informed commentary in lawyer Donn Zaretsky's postings (as well as repeated digs at me for being a "radical conservative" on deaccessioning).

So here's my CultureGrrl countdown of artworld controversies that we've all been breathlessly watching:

---To keep the Barnes Foundation from moving from Merion to Philadelphia, Montgomery County offers to raise $50 million through the sale of bonds to buy the Barnes' land and buildings and lease them back to the foundation. The Barnes says no: We're moving to Philly. A good summary of the recent developments, from Michael Rubinkam of the Associated Press, is here.

---Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle rules that Fisk University can not sell any of the works in its Alfred Stieglitz Collection, given to it by Georgia O'Keeffe, including the O'Keeffe and Hartley that it had hoped to deaccession. The case is still set for trial in July, in Davidson County Chancery Court.

---The Lynchburg News & Advance publishes an editorial opposing contemplated sales of art from the Maier Museum of Randolph-Macon Woman's College. The college gets a new president, John Klein, while a group of students and donors opposing the school's decision to admit men files a petition in Virginia Supreme Court.

---Two major recent reports [via] are issued about the Smithsonian Institution's governance gaffes---one from the Smithsonian's governance committee (here); the other from an independent review committee formed by the Smithsonian in March to scrutinize former Secretary Lawrence Small's compensation, expenses and "related governance issues" (here). A search committee for Small's replacement has been named. You already know who I nominate for the job.

---The IRS publishes new proposed revisions to the Form 990 tax return filed by many nonprofits. Possibly inspired (or given more urgency) by Sen. Charles Grassley's museum-cleansing crusade, the changes are designed to enhance the transparency of nonprofit operations. Details are here and here.

---Lawrence Pollard, arts correspondent for the BBC World Service, London, and author of this piece about the exhibition of Bactrian Hoard at the Musée Guimet, Paris, e-mails me to suggest that the concerns recently raised in the NY Times about inadequate financial compensation for the Afghan lenders have merit: "I came to the conclusion that at best the Afghans were being treated ungenerously, and at worst an accusation that they were being ripped off would not have been far from the truth."