In an Op-Ed piece to appear in tomorrow's (Saturday's) LA Times, businessman/collector Eli Broad, who was the founding chairman of LA MOCA, challenged the Los Angeles philanthropic community to join him in stepping up to the (collection) plate for the financially beleaguered museum. Broad writes: I'd like to make a proposal to the MOCA board and to the civic angels of Los … [Read more...] about Eli Broad Offers LA MOCA a $30-Million Challenge Grant
Archives for 2008
Terrorism’s Cultural Toll: 55 Syrian Loans Excluded from Met’s “Beyond Babylon” Show
It's a wall label so small and inconspicuous near the beginning of the Metropolitan Museum's just opened Beyond Babylon show (to Mar. 15) that if you didn't look for it, you would probably miss it: What IS that recent U.S. legislation referred to in this cryptic label, and how did it make it "too difficult and risky" for Syria to lend to the Met 55 works, already … [Read more...] about Terrorism’s Cultural Toll: 55 Syrian Loans Excluded from Met’s “Beyond Babylon” Show
LA MOCA’s Crisis Fact-Sheet Scenario: Keep Identity and Programing, Expand Collection, Raise $$$$
LA MOCA's Geffen Contemporary: Closing Jan 6 to June 30Because there's been so much concern and speculation about the endangered LA MOCA, I thought I'd publish the fact sheet just issued by the financially beleaguered institution. The clinchers, which come at the end, are these: MOCA is exploring several options, and in doing so talking to many partners in the Los Angeles … [Read more...] about LA MOCA’s Crisis Fact-Sheet Scenario: Keep Identity and Programing, Expand Collection, Raise $$$$
More on Cleveland Museum’s Returns to Italy: 25-Year Loans
Relinquished by Cleveland: Apulian Volute-Krater, Darius Painter, ca. 330 BC Steven Litt, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's art critic, is the go-to person for the full details on yesterday's agreement by the Cleveland Museum to relinquish 14 objects to Italy, in exchange for collegial cooperation on various projects, as well as "13 antiquities similar to those being returned to … [Read more...] about More on Cleveland Museum’s Returns to Italy: 25-Year Loans
Major News from All Over: Eli Broad, LA MOCA, Cleveland Repatriations, New Manager of Italy’s Museums
If figures that on my birthday, when I wanted to blog lite, there are more major news stories than candles on my cake. (Well, not quite.) I may flesh out some of these later. But for now:---Bloomberg and the NY Times (on the web only) both report that collector Eli Broad has changed his mind about not opening a museum of his own.CultureGrrl readers will remember that shortly … [Read more...] about Major News from All Over: Eli Broad, LA MOCA, Cleveland Repatriations, New Manager of Italy’s Museums
Artists Talk Market at Guggenheim Gala; Hirst Says He’ll Lower Prices
Catherine Opie talks about her day job on NY Times video of Guggenheim GalaWhile we're on the subject of the Guggenheim: Do you wish you could have attended last week's Guggenheim Gala? Now you can---via video on the NY Times website.Listen in as the Guggenheim's new director, Richard Armstrong, entertains the assembled swells with his dry wit, saying that he's "very happy to … [Read more...] about Artists Talk Market at Guggenheim Gala; Hirst Says He’ll Lower Prices
BlogBack: Guggenheim President Jennifer Stockman on Trustees’ Conflict-of-Interest
Jennifer Stockman, above, the president of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, responds to Conflicts of Interest: Museum Trustees Play the Market: The director and the curators, not the trustees, of the Guggenheim make all decisions as to the exhibitions that are shown at the museum. I in no way influenced the Guggenheim's decision to hold the 2007 retrospective of Richard … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Guggenheim President Jennifer Stockman on Trustees’ Conflict-of-Interest
Why Aren’t All Smithsonian Board Meetings Public?
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Chancellor of the Smithsonian's BoardBilled as its first public meeting, the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents' question-and-answer session yesterday with Smithsonian-ologists may have been therapeutic but it wasn't a sufficient step towards greater transparency: It didn't reveal to the public what goes on at the … [Read more...] about Why Aren’t All Smithsonian Board Meetings Public?
Kimbell Museum to Construct Piano Building Beside Kahn’s Masterpiece UPDATED TWICE
The lawn to the west of the Kimbell Art Museum, site of its planned Renzo Piano buildingThe Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, has opted to court controversy with plans (to be announced at a 9 a.m. press conference today) that will plant a new 90,000-square-foot, Renzo Piano-designed building just west of Louis Kahn's 120,000-square-foot 1972 masterpiece.According to the press … [Read more...] about Kimbell Museum to Construct Piano Building Beside Kahn’s Masterpiece UPDATED TWICE
Christie’s, Like Sotheby’s, Goes Back-to-Basics
At the end of my last post (on Sotheby's losses from contemporary art guarantees), I noted that "since Christie's is not a publicly traded company and doesn't have Sotheby's financial reporting requirements, we don't know whether its experience with guarantees this month was similarly unfavorable."Now Carol Vogel has weighed in with her market-crash post mortem in the NY Times. … [Read more...] about Christie’s, Like Sotheby’s, Goes Back-to-Basics
Sotheby’s Loses $28.2 Million on Contemporary Art Guarantees
Form 8-K Current Report Filed Nov 14, 2008 As I previously reported, Sotheby's announced on Nov. 7 that it was predicting a loss of about $17 million on its contemporary art sales this month. Now that the sales are over, Sotheby's has reported that the actual loss on contemporary art guarantees was much worse: On the Form 8-K that it filed with the Securities and Exchange … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Loses $28.2 Million on Contemporary Art Guarantees
My Auctions Article in Tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal UPDATED
If I've been blogging lite since the big auctions, it's because I've been on desperate deadline for an article on p. W11 of the "Weekend" section of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal. It concerns an auction-related pet peeve of mine, already quite familiar to CultureGrrl readers. I'll link to it when it's up, probably late tonight.UPDATE: You can read me now---Making Sales Look … [Read more...] about My Auctions Article in Tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal UPDATED
Tom Campbell, Met’s Director-Elect, Meets the Press (again)
Tom Campbell, back in his open-collar daysI couldn't get a good shot of Tom Campbell at the Metropolitan Museum's press lunch earlier this week, because I was seated at the far rear, facing the back corner. (Are they trying to tell me something?)So since he recently said he's an "open collar kind of guy" and since I'm tired of running the same old headshot, I thought I'd show … [Read more...] about Tom Campbell, Met’s Director-Elect, Meets the Press (again)
Contemporary at Christie’s: Gaveling the Nail in the Coffin
Joseph Cornell, "Pharmacy," 1943, subject of a rare bidding warIs there an art-market anodyne in there?Let's put me and this season of lackluster evening sales to bed quickly, if not painlessly.First, the good news:The chief excitement at Christie's contemporary sale tonight was for Yayoi Kusama's "No.2" (one of her white dot paintings). It was the only work that soared above … [Read more...] about Contemporary at Christie’s: Gaveling the Nail in the Coffin
NYC Opera Rescue: Enlisting “Turnaround” Expert Michael Kaiser
Michael KaiserThe New York City Opera, urgently needing to stop the press-fed rumors that it might cease to exist after the sudden departure of Gerard Mortier, must have rushed right out to the bookstore to pick up Michael Kaiser's new book on "The Art of the Turnaround," after reading about it yesterday in the NY Times. (Just kidding about the last part.)They liked it so much … [Read more...] about NYC Opera Rescue: Enlisting “Turnaround” Expert Michael Kaiser