A newsy July morning

NYTer Carol Vogel has the scoop: Guggenheim Museum director Lisa Dennison is quitting the Gugg for Sotheby's. And, in the story's last paragraph, Vogel cleverly hints at more tumult at the Gugg.

Your cocktail party topic: Is Dennison's resignation a symptom of the art market? Or is Dennison's departure a symptom of Krens-on-down problems at the Guggenheim? I can't speak to whether Krens was stepping on toes at the museum, but from my conversations with Guggers other than Dennison in the last year or so it's been abundantly clear that everything Guggenheim goes through Krens. (Or, to be fair, maybe just everything that comes from me.)

One personal note on Dennison's departure: I don't know Dennison well, but we've talked on the phone a good bit over the last couple of years. Each time she had anticipated what I wanted to talk about, had thought about the topic, and made superb observations about modern and contemporary museums. Dennison wasn't at the top of the ramp long enough to build a Cuno-ian rep as a thinker about the role of museums in our society -- but she was on her way to Cuno-of-the-contemporaries status.

In the LAT, from the Pulitzer-finalist tag-team of Felch & Frammolino: Italy and the Getty resume negotiations. In the last paragraph: A hint of what a settlement deal would include?

In the Boston Globe, from Geoff Edgers: If Barry Munitz and Lawrence Small want to form a boy band, they should dial up Citi Performing Arts Center CEO Josiah Spaulding, Jr., whose questionable pay package seems likely to attract the attention of the Massachusetts attorney general.