Archives for 2008

Something very strange has happened. The NY Times includes articles on its Art & Design webpage going back to Nov. 22, but it has deleted the link to yesterday's story by Randy Kennedy that followed (and referenced) my Friday post about the National Academy's secret art sales. (Kennedy's piece is likewise missing from the Times' general Arts webpage.)You can still read the … [Read more...] about NY Times Erases National Academy Deaccession Story

One small step for newspapers, one giant step for the NY Times.The last time that the Times cited me and my blog (more than two years ago), its online editors refused to link to CultureGrrl, informing me that the Times then linked exclusively to its own web pages, not to external sites.Today, in Randy Kennedy's catch-up article on the National Academy's secret art sales, I am … [Read more...] about “Lee Rosenbaum” (not alter ego, “CultureGrrl”) in NY Times Today

I now have it from two sources who requested anonymity---one of whom is 100% unimpeachable---that Sotheby's brokered the private sale of the National Academy's Frederic Church and Sanford Gifford, and that the following are the two other Academy works whose sale is being considered (assuming that its officials haven't thought better of it, in light of the Association of Art … [Read more...] about Auction House Privately Handled the National Academy Sales; Two More Possible Disposals Identified

[More on this story here.] This statement just in from the Association of Art Museum Directors, regarding the news, first reported by CultureGrrl, that the National Academy Museum had sold two masterworks to fund operations: Art museums collect works of art for the benefit of present and future generations. The conservation, exhibition, and study of the collection are the … [Read more...] about AAMD Censures National Academy, Calls on Members to End Loans and Collaboration on Exhibitions

That's right, art-lings. I'm not there again. But neither are a lot of other people. I was just ahead of my time:In today's Wall Street Journal, Kelly Crow gives a comprehensive bad-news report on the scene at Art Basel Miami, where "crowds and sales have dropped off."Alexandra Peers and Erica Orden in NY Magazine give us the then-and-now comparison of a hot art fair in a cold … [Read more...] about Third Annual Art Basel Miami Sour Grapes Soufflé

Frederic Edwin Church, "Scene on the Magdalene," 1854Sanford Robinson Gifford, "Mt. Mansfield," 1859[More developments on this story here and here.]It's been the subject of rumor among American art dealers and experts but, as far as I know, this news has not yet hit the press: In a troubling development that may become more common in these financially trying times, the National … [Read more...] about Stealth Deaccessions: National Academy Sells Major Works by Church and Gifford UPDATED

Country Singer Lee Greenwood, President Bush's recent appointee to the National Council on the Arts With Hillary named to become Secretary of State and the arts candidate, Bill Richardson, just named as Commerce Secretary, clearly the most important posts left for President-Elect Barack Obama to fill are the chairmanships of the National Endowment for the Arts and the … [Read more...] about Obama Arts and Humanities Appointments: Chairmanships Open at NEA and NEH

Albert Bierstadt, "Rocky Mountain Goats," ca. 1885, sold by the Met for $481,000 As I mentioned in passing here, the latest installment of Metropolitan Museum annual reports, always a must-read for museum wonks, is now online.I've already told you about the operating deficit of $3.22 million for the year ended June 30, compared to the surplus of $2.63 million the previous … [Read more...] about Attention Met Museumologists: Fiscal 2008 Report Now Online

The Euphronios krater in its last days at the Met Yesterday was apparently Tom Campbell's day to be bombarded with advice neither solicited nor desired. It wasn't just my Ten Suggestions, presumptuously instructing the Met's director-elect on how he should run the show. It was also Sharon Waxman's NY Times piece on yesterday's Op-Ed page---How Did That Vase Wind Up in the … [Read more...] about NY Times Antiquities Op-Ed: Waxman Waxes Indignantly Over Museum “Sins of Omission”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Here's hoping that the Metropolitan Museum's new director, Tom Campbell, will hit the ground running when he assumes his prestigious post one month from today. He's been at the institution for 13 years, knows the players, and will have had the benefit of four months of intensive on-site training. There's no reason for him to be tentative or … [Read more...] about Ten Suggestions for Tom Campbell, Incoming Director at the Met

Virginia Curry, a retired FBI agent who was involved in art-crime investigations in Los Angeles, responds to Italian Museum "Super-Manager": Illustrious Artworld Signatories Oppose New Profit-Driven Post: The Italian museum system has no money, save what they receive for the foreign loans of their collection. Italy is proof that under socialism there is barely money left for … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Reader Defends Appointment of Italian Museum “Super-Manager” Resca

Robert Henri, "Jessica Penn in Black with White Plumes," 1908, Crystal Bridges MuseumI recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal about how art auction houses report results in a way that make their sales appear more successful than they really are.But thanks to a tip from a reporter in Arkansas, Leslie Newell Peacock of the Arkansas Times, I recently came across one way in … [Read more...] about Go Ask Alice: Where’s the Top Lot (Robert Henri) That’s Gone Missing from a Christie’s Price List? UPDATED

I.M. Pei's new Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar In one of the more puzzling turns by an architecture critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff in yesterday's NY Times published a 640-word dispatch from Qatar, in which he described but never really evaluated the much anticipated new Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, opening to the public next Monday. According to Ouroussoff, architect I.M. … [Read more...] about The Un-Review and the Review: Ouroussoff Merely Describes I.M. Pei’s Qatar Museum, Lauds Ito’s Unbuilt Berkeley Museum

         Mario RescaAs of yesterday, some 2,400 art historians, museum luminaries and other concerned artworld notables had signed the petition against the planned appointment (scroll to the bottom) of Mario Resca, former head of McDonald's Italy, to the new position of "super manager" for Italy's museums. The petition (including English … [Read more...] about Italian Museum “Super-Manager”: Illustrious Artworld Signatories Oppose New Profit-Driven Post

"Mummy Mask of the Lady Ka-nefer-nefer," Egyptian, Dynasty 19, St. Louis Art MuseumThe fight over the St. Louis Art Museum's "Mummy Mask of the Lady Ka-nefer-nefer"continues, with the stakes raised higher by the recent appointment of the museum's director, Brent Benjamin, to the U.S. State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which considers (and usually grants) … [Read more...] about Mummy Mask Morass: Egypt’s Hawass Again Threatens to Haul St. Louis Director into Court