I probably wouldn't have visited the recently opened 9/11 Memorial Museum, on the site of the destroyed Twin Towers, had I not been asked by my Wall Street Journal editor to do a piece on the preservation and conservation of the battered, mangled objects that were presciently preserved during the cleanup of the Ground Zero. Some 1,000 artifacts, from a collection of about … [Read more...] about My Wall Street Journal Article on Conservation at the 9/11 Memorial Museum (with slideshow)
Archives for June 2014
Tech-Centric Museum Without a Functioning Website? What Happened to CooperHewitt.Org? UPDATED
UPDATE: Almost immediately after I posted this, the Cooper Hewitt's website returned to functionality, hopefully this time for good. In yesterday's post on the renewed and renamed Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, I wrote that the website for this technologically souped up institution seemed to be down. The museum's spokesperson told me I was wrong at that it was … [Read more...] about Tech-Centric Museum Without a Functioning Website? What Happened to CooperHewitt.Org? UPDATED
Souped-Up Cooper Hewitt: Interactive Pen, Newark-Exiled Collection (with video) CORRECTED
More on this here. It's way too early to review the renewed and renamed (but not yet reinstalled) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (formerly, "Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum"). After a protracted three-year closure, it will reopen on Dec. 12. One thing that I can assuredly say right now is that the former Andrew Carnegie Mansion has great bones. The highlight, … [Read more...] about Souped-Up Cooper Hewitt: Interactive Pen, Newark-Exiled Collection (with video) CORRECTED
Damning DAM: AAMD Sanctimoniously Sanctions the Delaware Art Museum
When will the Association of Art Museum Directors wake up and realize that its sanctions against museums that flout its deaccession standards have little or no power over financially desperate museums lacking strong professional governance? As you've probably already heard, AAMD today announced that it had sanctioned the Delaware Art Museum for its sale yesterday at … [Read more...] about Damning DAM: AAMD Sanctimoniously Sanctions the Delaware Art Museum
Frick Expansion Bonus: Opening the Upstairs Rooms (with slideshow and live tweets)
How many times have you gazed at those stairs and wished you could ascend? My favorite aspect of the Frick's expansion plans won't occupy any more space on E. 70th Street, won't need government approvals, will greatly enhance the visitor experience and should attract nothing but plaudits from critics who (like me) are starting to grumble about some aspects of the Davis Brody … [Read more...] about Frick Expansion Bonus: Opening the Upstairs Rooms (with slideshow and live tweets)
Beaux Arts on Botox: The Frick Collection’s Planned Expansion
More on this here. Following in the footsteps of the Morgan Library and Museum, another New York jewel-box museum established by a Gilded Age mogul/collector---the Frick Collection, founded by Henry Clay Frick---has outgrown its space and plans to expand. But without mentioning the Morgan, the Frick's press release announcing the expansion yesterday suggests that the … [Read more...] about Beaux Arts on Botox: The Frick Collection’s Planned Expansion
Detroit Exploits: Today’s Grand Bargain Announcement (plus Detroit Institute’s more aggressive legal stance)
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) was not providing any advance details regarding its "major Grand Bargain announcement," planned for later this morning. After getting a heads-up from the museum on Friday about the planned announcement, I assumed it might have something to do with fundraising successes. At least some (if not all) of the news was leaked early to Detroit … [Read more...] about Detroit Exploits: Today’s Grand Bargain Announcement (plus Detroit Institute’s more aggressive legal stance)
My Q&A with Timothy Potts: Reinstalling the Getty Museum’s Antiquities (and more on the Getty Bronze)
The inscrutable Italian courts may have once again delayed their decision on the Getty Bronze case, but that doesn't mean CultureGrrl needs to hold off any longer from reporting about Getty Museum director Timothy Potts' plans to thoroughly overhaul the installation of his institution's antiquities holdings in the Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, where the contested "Victorious … [Read more...] about My Q&A with Timothy Potts: Reinstalling the Getty Museum’s Antiquities (and more on the Getty Bronze)
Getty Bronze Court Decision Postponed Again
Italy's highest court, the Court of Procrastination...I mean, "Cassation," punted once again in the never-ending Getty Bronze case. This just in from the Getty Museum: The Court's official report, which was issued today, simply states: "Stayed pending hearing by the Constitutional Court." Why has the court repeatedly balked on bringing this case to conclusion? Might it be … [Read more...] about Getty Bronze Court Decision Postponed Again
Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition Launched; Armstrong Walks Off TV Interview
Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation today announced in Helsinki the launch of the design competition for the Guggenheim Helsinki, which will need final approval from both the City of Helsinki and the State of Finland after the two-stage competition concludes. The winner of the competition is expected to be announced next … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition Launched; Armstrong Walks Off TV Interview
Chagrin Over Pellegrin: NY Observer and Chris Crosman on “National Academy Eight” (with video)
The NY Observer's "Gallerist" and I approached the story of the National Academy Eight---staffers abruptly fired on Thursday---from different angles in stories that we published yesterday. (Theirs came first.) Taken together, our pieces piece together the complicated, troubling situation there, still unfolding. (I suspect that the NY Times will eventually move this ball down … [Read more...] about Chagrin Over Pellegrin: NY Observer and Chris Crosman on “National Academy Eight” (with video)
News Flash: Financially Challenged National Academy Restructures and “Streamlines” Its Staff
UPDATE: More on this here. We interrupt the upbeat program of the annual meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors to bring you some downbeat news from the National Academy in New York. As you may remember, that financially challenged institution had incurred AAMD's wrath for its 2008 stealth deaccessions of important paintings by Frederic Edwin Church and Sanford … [Read more...] about News Flash: Financially Challenged National Academy Restructures and “Streamlines” Its Staff