Archives for 2008

Attention Firefox Devotees:If you want to watch tonight's contemporary evening sale on "Christie's Live" tonight and your default browser is the latest version of Firefox, dial this number immediately: 877-641-7704. The very helpful tech support agent, David, or one of his colleagues, will walk you through a complicated procedure (which you could never have figured out by … [Read more...] about Department of Tech Trauma: “Christie’s Live” (except on Firefox)

Edward Ruscha's "Strength," selling below-estimate last night at $1.14 million. It's a good visual metaphor for the art market's downward slide.At the press conference last night touting Sotheby's contemporary art results, auctioneer Tobias Meyer expressed gratitude to the "collector community" who had "supported the sale." It was actually life support---enough to maintain a … [Read more...] about Buyer’s Market Continues at Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale UPDATED

Anthony Grant, Sotheby's senior specialist for contemporary art In CultureGrrl, I commented last week on such arcane, mysteriously coded auction-house initiation rites as "irrevocable guarantees," "third-party guarantees," "interested parties" and house "ownership interests." I nostalgically asked: Whatever happened to auctioneers' time-honored role as impartial brokers … [Read more...] about Fallout from the Fallen Market: Sotheby’s Goes Back to Basics

You may well have missed this, but buried on p. 24 of the special "Giving" section in today's NY Times (not linked on the "Arts" web page) is Robin Pogrebin's article, The Nonprofit's Guide to Surviving a Downturn, which draws attention to two timely new books by long-time masters of cultural fundraising. From her description (and considering the prestige and experience of the … [Read more...] about New Cultural Fundraising Bibles Are Spotlighted in NY Times

Gerard Mortier, subject of yesterday's "SundayArts" profile that was overtaken by eventsMetropolitan Museum director Philippe de Montebello's first outing as a TV host, on New York Public Television's (WNET's) SundayArts program yesterday, turned out to be an extended infomercial for his institution, with a focus on its current exhibition, The Philippe de Montebello Years. He … [Read more...] about TV’s “SundayArts”: The Philippe Show Presents…the Philippe Show

Robert Lepage, director of Metropolitan Opera's "The Damnation of Faust"I am a disgruntled survivor of the tacky, ugly and gratuitously busy staging of "The Damnation of Faust" that opened last night at the Metropolitan Opera. It's bad enough to inflict such shallow shenanigans on the lush, lyrical score of a Berlioz opera-house rarity, but I'm horrified by the prospect, … [Read more...] about “Damnation” of the Met Opera: Director Threatens to Make Three-Ring Circus of the “Ring” UPDATED

Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn, cultural co-anchorsYou mean they hired Philippe and not me? Back in February, I received an announcement about a casting call for a "female arts reporter" for Channel Thirteen's (New York's public television's) new culture program, SundayArts. I figured that that since I'm an established radio star, I'm SO ready for television!I e-mailed … [Read more...] about “The Philippe Show”: Leno and Letterman, Watch Out!

Auctioneer Christopher Burge consults with Guy Bennett (left), Christie's international co-head of Impressionist/modern art, before last night's auction.In a kind of French poetic justice, yesterday's big Impressionist/modern sale at Christie's was another gray night, except for Gris. Pun intended, for those of you who know what "Livre, Pipe et Verres" means. That's the title … [Read more...] about Christie’s Does Well with Gris on a Gray Night

Michael Crichton's 1977 Whitney Museum CatalogueEveryone knows Michael Crichton as the author of page-turners like "The Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park." But the author, who died Tuesday at the age of 66, was also a collector of works by Jasper Johns, who chose Crichton to author the catalogue (revised and reissued in 1994) for his 1977 retrospective at the Whitney … [Read more...] about Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns Catalogue Author (and best-selling novelist) Dies

Alice Neel, "Robert Smithson," 1962Remember Christie's Wild and Wacky Night? That was then; this is now:When asked about the prospects for the big New York sales, for an article published earlier today by the Assocated Press, Guy Bennett, Christie's co-head of Impressionist and modern art said:I think we found the right balance in terms of price points and also the quality of … [Read more...] about Christie’s Wan and Woeful Night

I take it back.A couple of weeks ago I blasted (without naming it) the new book Loot, a chronicle of the recent antiquities wars, by former NY Times culture reporter Sharon Waxman. The only thing I then knew about the book's contents was the outrageously irrelevant bit of tabloid journalism that was excerpted for advance publication on Tina Brown's recently launched … [Read more...] about Sharon Waxman’s “Loot”: A Definitive History of the Antiquities Wars

HELP ME! Auctioneer Tobias Meyer, about to be possessed by the "Vampire" behind himFair warning. Last chance. Passed.That, or some variation on that, was heard 25 times as Tobias Meyer dutifully slogged through what must have been his roughest outing ever on the Sotheby's podium. ("Passed," of course, means that the work failed to sell because bids didn't reach the level of the … [Read more...] about Curse of the “Vampire”: A Scary Night at Sotheby’s

It's the beginning of New York's big auction season, art-lings, and lots more than the lots is at stake. Just remember that in these financially challenging times, anything short of a bloodbath will be touted as evidence that there's still some money around for quality art. The auction houses have reportedly been hammering down consignors' expectations in an attempt to lower … [Read more...] about Auction-House Cryptography: What the “∆□OV” Are These Crazy Symbols?

The Met's Tom Campbell: Role model for curators-turned-directors The Center for Curatorial Leadership has just named its second class of curators who wish to be groomed for leadership positions. Actually, two of the 10, listed below, already have "director" in their titles. I guess they're hoping for bigger and better things, or more expertise in handling their current … [Read more...] about Who Wants to Be a Museum Director? New Crop of CCL Fellows

Ganesha Stele, 11th century (Pala period), India, newly acquired by Portland Art MuseumRemember the Association of Art Museum Directors' objectless Objects Registry, created last June to disclose (to the public and potential claimants) new acquisitions by member institutions of "archaeological material and ancient art lacking complete provenance after November 1970"?It has, at … [Read more...] about Portland’s Incomplete-Provenance Stele: First Entry on AAMD’s Antiquities Registry