Archives for 2009

I WILL!If all goes according to plan, my plane will be taking off at noon tomorrow to transport me to the (very) Windy (and thunderstorm-y) City, to cover (for the Wall Street Journal) the opening of the Art Institute of Chicago's Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing. The last time I was in Chicago, I was researching a WSJ story about the difficulties then confronting the now … [Read more...] about Virago in Chicago: Winging to the Modern Wing

Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Met's Costume Institute, at the entrance to its new extravaganza, "The Model as Muse"There are elephants in the room at the Metropolitan Museum's absorbing, highly entertaining (but also highly problematic) The Model as Muse show (to Aug. 9). And those conspicuous pachyderms are not the huge cutouts looming at the entrance to the Costume … [Read more...] about Sponsor As Muse: Wintour, Jacobs and the Met’s Latest Fashion Faux Pas

Ned RifkinA year after his resignation from the top art spot at the Smithsonian Institution, Ned Rifkin has been named director of the Blanton Museum of the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his departure from his federal post as undersecretary of art, he oversaw a major report by a panel of distinguished art museum officials. The report's findings were particularly … [Read more...] about Ned Rifkin Goes Back to Texas: From Smithsonian Undersecretary to Blanton Museum Head

Monet, "Sailboat on the Little Branch of the Seine, Argenteuil," 1872 ($3.5 million at Sotheby's)Two of the three Havemeyer paintings that sold well above their presale estimates at Sotheby's on Tuesday had a connection to the Metropolitan Museum going far beyond their 1993 appearance in the museum's exhibition of the Havemeyer Collection.As disclosed in Sotheby's auction … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum Got First Chance to Buy Auctioned Havemeyer Pictures

Picasso, "Musketeer with Pipe," 1968, sold for $14.64 millionI didn't stand watch at Christie's tonight with the rest of the art-scribe tribe, but it seems clear from the results of this evening's Impressionist/Modern sale that gloating must have occurred at the post-sale press conference: Some 38 of the 48 lots offered found buyers---about the same sold-lot percentage as at … [Read more...] about Christie’s Solid $102.77-Million Sale: One Star Lot (Picasso) Sells; Another (Ernst) Withdrawn Beforehand

Sotheby's unsold Picasso, the auction's cover lotI'm not going to exhaustively cover the evening sales this season. It's probably better to avert our eyes from the shrunken catalogues with their shrunken estimates.So let's get this over with quickly: Sotheby's Impressionist/Modern sale tonight fetched a hammer total of $52.95 million, against its presale estimate of $81.5-118.8 … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Depressing Start to the Spring Evening Sales

Ron Hartwig, the J. Paul Getty Trust's vice president for communications, responds to my comments about the Getty's label for its so-called "Aphrodite," which I discussed in the last part of Iowa's Pollock at the Figge: The Masterpiece and the Myth:To answer your question about why gallery labels sometimes disagree with scholarship, and with regard to our particular case, I'd … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Ron Hartwig of the Getty on “Probably Aphrodite” (or not)

Pollock, "Mural," 1943, University of Iowa Museum of Art, as installed at the Figge Art Museum "I'm just totally awed and amazed by it," I lamely told an Iowa television interviewer, who popped the "what-do-you-think?" question, only a few moments after I had set eyes on "Mural." That monumental 1943 Pollock, owned by the flood-ravaged University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa … [Read more...] about Iowa’s Pollock at the Figge: The Masterpiece and the Myth

On Tuesday evening, I sent an e-mail blast to those of you who have donated to the blog, to let you know that I will be sending you e-mail notifications of future postings, now that I'm slowing down the pace of my additions. If you donated and did not receive the message that I sent, please let me know by clicking the "Contact Me" link in the middle column. I think I got … [Read more...] about A Bit of Housekeeping: Future CultureGrrl Alerts for Donors

Now for the upbeat part of the story of the flooding of the University of Iowa Museum of Art: It resulted in a terrific, beautifully installed exhibition---A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's "Mural" and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art . That show is the most visible part of the new, win-win cooperative relationship between UIMA, Iowa City, and the Figge … [Read more...] about Figge Gig: O’Harrow Gives Shelter to University of Iowa’s Homeless Collection

Douglas Crimp at the Met's "Pictures Generation" press preview For me, the Metropolitan Museum's much discussed, uncharacteristically risk-taking theme show, Pictures Generation (to Aug. 2) is more remarkable for that conservative institution's willingness to tackle a worthy, complex contemporary subject than for the actual rewards derived from viewing it. While the … [Read more...] about Q&A with Douglas Crimp: Responses to the Met’s “Picture Generation” from the Group’s First Proponent

The Founders: Bertha and Edward RoseThe Rose Family is now contending that closing or repurposing Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum would violate the terms of the will of their forebear, Edward Rose, founding donor of the museum.Alana Abramson of the student newspaper, The Justice, reports:Meryl Rose [a Rose Museum board member] said that she does not believe the … [Read more...] about Rose Family to Brandeis: Honor Edward Rose’s Will!

WARNING: This post includes graphic content that will cause emotional distress to anyone who cares about art museums (i.e., all of you). When I visited the former home of the University of Iowa Museum of Art in Iowa City earlier this month, the lettering announcing its past purpose had not yet been removed from its façade (as it has been now): This 1969 building, emptied and … [Read more...] about Sorriest Sight: Inside Iowa’s Flooded, Evacuated Museum

Tom Freudenheim, the Smithsonian Institution's former assistant secretary for museums, responds to comments (at the end of this post) about three works by Eakins to be sold at Christie's on May 20 by the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington (which is part of the Smithsonian):The Hirshhorn Museum has disposed of stuff regularly for years. But Joe Hirshhorn's gift specifically allowed … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Tom Freudenheim on Hirshhorn Deaccessions

Montclair Art MuseumYesterday, I reported that I had not yet received from the Montclair Art Museum the list of deaccessions I had been promised. (I commented further on the Montclair disposals here and here.)Today, the list of consignments to Christie's (including the three June sales, whose details are not yet posted on the auction house's website) was sent to my inbox by … [Read more...] about Updates on Montclair Deaccessions: Two Gilbert Stuart Portraits; Audubon “Birds of America”