Think on These Links: NY Magazine and Washington Post Art Packages, Hirst to Hermitage

I haven't had time to absorb this material yet, but I throw you these links for those who are looking for something to occupy all your free time on this Columbus Day:

---Yesterday's Washington Post and the Oct. 15 issue of New York magazine both have big, multi-article art sections for your perusal:

The Washington Post's "Museums" section includes musings by distinguished museum directors Philippe de Montebello and Timothy Potts, who give their jaded and jaundiced views on the misguided priorities of today's museums.

---New York's The Art Rush section includes what tongue-wagging art-lings have all been longing for---an in-depth look at Lisa Dennison's rash leap from the Guggenheim to Sotheby's.

Also in the New York package: Jerry Saltz's provocatively titled Has Money Ruined Art?.

---Last, and certainly least, Bloomberg's John Varoli informs us that one of the stops on the Hirst Skull Tour will be State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. The artist told Bloomberg that he's promoting this tour because "I just want people to see it." I'm sure that the fact that Hirst is part of an "investment group" that reportedly has a $100-million stake in boosting the bauble's market value has nothing to do with this campaign for museum exposure.

Will any American museum allow itself to be co-opted into this marketing scheme? Come to think of it, wasn't Hirst's reconstituted shark, owned by hedge-fund mogul Steve Cohen, supposed to have been placed on public display at the Metropolitan Museum by now? Did it need some more work done?