Archives for 2008

MoMA director Glenn Lowry (left) interviews a very outspoken Chuck Close at a recent conference in New YorkThis just in---a changing-of-the-guard press release  from the Whitney Museum:In elections held yesterday by the Board of Trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art, current Chairman Leonard A. Lauder was named Chairman Emeritus, while continuing to be a voting … [Read more...] about End of an Era for Whitney’s Board: Leonard Lauder, Chuck Close Step Down

Kathleen Foster, senior curator of American art at the Philadelphia Museum, speaking about Eakins' "The Gross Clinic" at the "American Icons" conferenceCritics of the source countries' stance in the cultural-property wars (such as Edward Rothstein in yesterday's NY Times) frequently call into question the assertion by Greeks, Italians, Egyptians and others that context is … [Read more...] about The Debate Over “Context”: From Elgin to Eakins

Laden with Leighton? Sarah Jessica Parker at the premierePhoto from sexandthecitymovieblog.comIt must be because I've proven myself such a fashionista that I've somehow gotten onto the publicity e-mail list for Fred Leighton, the jewelry firm owned by the American Folk Art Museum's financially embattled benefactor, Ralph Esmerian. Fred Leighton keeps sending me photos of … [Read more...] about Jewels and the City: Baubles from Embattled Esmerian’s Business Said to Adorn Sarah Jessica and the Girls

Edward Rothstein, in a long think piece in today's NY Times, takes James Cuno's side in the cultural property wars. (I'll have more on that later.) As CultureGrrl readers know, I have a nuanced view on these issues, and don't fit neatly into either camp. Too often, each side in the cultural-property divide exaggerates its position to make its polemical point, rendering … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Christian Kleinbub Takes Cuno’s Side on Cultural Property

Wanna be the Metropolitan Museum's next director? For what it's worth, here's the complete official job description (hard to read here, but I'll translate below):A list of possible candidates was recently submitted to the trustees' search committee by the Met's headhunters, Phillips Oppenheim. (Don't bother looking for the job description on that site; it doesn't even mention … [Read more...] about Text of Met Director’s Job Description: Could You Be the Next Philippe?

Ron Hartwig, the J. Paul Getty Trust's vice president for communications, responds to Getty Operating Deficit Soars: Wood Cuts Jobs, Goats Cut Underbrush:Sorry, but your attempt to link the Getty's "operating deficit" to our recent strategic move---to reduce and streamline operating costs, both at the Trust and within our four programs, … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Ron Hartwig on the Getty Trust’s Finances (and the Getty Goats)

New Hire at the Getty?The J. Paul Getty Trust, which recently posted its fiscal 2007 annual report online, last year incurred a staggering operating deficit of $49.36 million on a budget of $307.7 million. The previous year, the deficit was $18.29 million on a $293.57-million budget.This growing shortfall is likely one of the reasons for the recently announced elimination of … [Read more...] about Getty Operating Deficit Soars: Wood Cuts Jobs, Goats Cut Underbrush UPDATED

Readers respond to Tamayo, the First Maier Museum Deaccession, Offered Next Week: Erik Neil, executive director of the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY, writes:This is a sad expedient for a college with such a distinguished legacy in the arts. A quick fix now and then in a couple years there will be reports about new financial and management problems. This sale will … [Read more...] about BlogBacks on Randolph College’s Sale of Tamayo

I've been shirking my obligation to give you my opinion of James Cuno's new book (above), Who Owns Antiquity?, because I wasn't relishing the prospect of slamming it. But on Monday, an e-mail hit my inbox from the book's Princeton University Press publicist, sending me links to other articles mentioning the book (including a Wall Street Journal review that found it … [Read more...] about Cuno Conundrum: Whose Law Is It, Anyway?

Before the Fall: Tullio Lombardo, "Adam," ca. 1490-95, Metropolitan Museum of Art Martin Bailey's report last week in the Art Newspaper about the damage to a 500-year-old panel painting by Domenico Beccafumi at London's National Gallery (which "slipped out of its temporary frame and dropped to the ground," breaking in half) brought to mind a major 2002 mishap at the … [Read more...] about Museum Objects Falling Down: London’s National Gallery, New York’s Metropolitan Museum

I've become an expert on museum issues, on museum problems, on the history of museums, on the nature and purpose of museums. I expect what I'll be doing will be more museological than art historical. It would be closer to what I would call high art appreciation than art history.---Philippe de Montebello at his January press conference, announcing his imminent departure from the … [Read more...] about Philippe at Abu NYU: Will He Still Blast Rent-a-Louvre?

WNYC had website audio glitches for most of the day. It wasn't just my particular segment that was silenced...dispelling my paranoid fantasy that an ingenious auction minion, embedded at the radio station, had prevented my embeddng this market-analysis podcast on my blog. Just kidding (I think). Here it is (I hope): … [Read more...] about New York Public Radio Podcast: You CAN Hear Me Now (really!)

Rufino Tamayo, "Trovador," 1945 The evening Latin American sale on May 28 at Christie's includes one of the four lots from the collection of the Maier Museum, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA, that were supposed to hit the block last November---Rufino Tamayo's Trovador (above), estimated at $2-3 million. The sales were stalled by a lawsuit filed by opponents, including … [Read more...] about Tamayo, the First Maier Museum Deaccession, Offered Next Week

Roman Abramovich[UPDATE: You can now click on my podcast, at the end of this post. SECOND UPDATE: Oh what a glitchy morning! At this writing, nothing happens when you click the podcast, below. But I'm leaving it up because WNYC says it will fix the problem. We can only hope. THIRD UPDATE: There's now audio up, but it's the podcast for my WNYC auction report from last fall! … [Read more...] about Art Newspaper Pegs Russian Industrialist as Buyer of Freud and Bacon (UPDATED WITH MY WNYC PODCAST)

Art is long; technology, glitchy.Due to problems that WNYC had in establishing a phone line, I'm now scheduled to expound on the art market at 8:40 a.m. You'll note that when I inform you about my upcoming radio gigs, I always say, "if all goes according to plan"---because it frequently doesn't!So tune in, if you dare, to 93.9 FM or 820 AM, or tune in to CultureGrrl later, … [Read more...] about Due to Technical Difficulties…Hear Me on WNYC at 8:40 (maybe)