Archives for 2009

He didn't trade wisecracks, but last night Tom Campbell, the Metropolitan Museum's director, good humoredly tried to reason with that self-described "blue-collar Joe Six Pack," Stephen Colbert. Our host asked the dumbest imaginable questions about art and let Tom gamely parlay them with intelligence. The director (shall we stop calling him "new"?) was no comedian, but he showed … [Read more...] about Tom Campbell’s Star Turn on the Colbert Report

James Draper with the purported MichelangeloAt the Metropolitan Museum's recent press preview unveiling The Young Archer, James Draper, the museum's curator of European sculpture and decorative arts, made it clear that he thoroughly believes that the waif, labeled as "attributed to" Michelangelo, is in fact the real deal---a very early Michelangelo owned by Jacopo Galli in … [Read more...] about The Met’s “Michelangelo” Show: A Truth-in-Advertising Alert

Judith DolkartI told you last month that the Barnes Foundation had chosen a chief curator. Now the name has been announced. Nothing is up on the Barnes' website at this writing, but Stephan Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the designee is Judith Dolkart, associate curator of European art at the Brooklyn Museum. You can read more about her here, while her bio … [Read more...] about Barnes Names Brooklyn’s Judith Dolkart as Chief Curator

Jim Bondelid, a CultureGrrl reader from Oreland, PA (a Philadelphia suburb), who volunteers at the Curtis Institute of Music, responds to my Cultural Conversation with Rocco Landesman that appeared in the Wall Street Journal:As a fanatical lover of classical music, a sometime lover of modern dance, and a middle-brow theater consumer, I doubt that I would prefer Rocco … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Reader Calls for an NEA Voucher System

I'm still traveling and time-pressed, but I had to share with you this press release (not online at this writing) about the Dia Art Foundation's plans to build a new facility in New York City, where it surely belongs: DIA ART FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES PLAN TO OPEN A NEW SPACE IN CHELSEA New building will house artists' commissions and installations and serve as site for innovative … [Read more...] about News Flash: Dia to Build New Facility in Chelsea

Where am I going? Where have I been? (This is a clue.)I'm taking my own advice, for the time being, shifting my attention towards remunerated mainstream media work. Having rocked with Rocco, I'm headed out tomorrow on a week-long trip, the first part of which involves another paid assignment. And I've got another one lined up after that.Therefore, I won't be covering for you … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl’s Novel Idea: Paid Journalism, for a Change

Portrait of Rocco Landesman from my Wall Street Journal article, by Ken FallinMy Cultural Conversation with the National Endowment for the Arts' new chairman, Rocco Landesman, ran long today (the whole above-the-fold space on P. D7 of the Personal Journal section), but still not long enough to encompass our entire conversation, which lasted only about 25 minutes but was … [Read more...] about Rockin’ with Rocco: More from Our WSJ Conversation

Rocco Landesman, speaking last month in Brooklyn, NYWhen Rocco Landesman, the new chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, was in New York on Oct. 21, I didn't merely attend his speech. I also interviewed him. On the "Leisure & Arts" page of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal, you'll see that Landesman has in no way curbed his tongue since the infamous Peoria incident. I … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My WSJ Conversation with NEA’s Rocco Landesman UPDATED

The putative Michelangelo of Fifth Avenue, as it appeared in June in the entrance rotunda of the French Cultural Services headquarters, New York If all goes according to plan, I'll be going later today to the Metropolitan Museum's press preview for the putative "Michelangelo of Fifth Avenue," as it became known from a 1996 NY Times article by the late John Russell. It will … [Read more...] about Is “The Young Archer” by Michelangelo? It Fails the Testicles Test. UPDATED

Chief curator Ann Temkin, flanked by Peter Reed, MoMA's senior deputy director for curatorial affairs, left, and director Glenn Lowry, at the museum's recent press breakfast The expected has now happened: The NY City Council yesterday afternoon voted overwhelmingly (only three dissenters) to approve the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA Monster, now reduced in height to a "mere" … [Read more...] about More Space for Temkin’s Rehang: NY City Council Approves the MoMA/Hines Tower

Timothy Rub, speaking to the press outside the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum's Gorky retrospectiveI was grateful that Timothy Rub, director of the Philadelphia Museum, was willing to talk to me at all, given my harsh criticism of the Cleveland Museum's decision (made during his directorship there) to funnel to its expansion project up to $75 million in income from funds … [Read more...] about My Q&A with Timothy Rub on Cleveland’s Deviation from Donor Intent

Timothy Rub, left, former director of the Cleveland Museum, and Terence Riley, right, former director of the Miami Art MuseumMuseum directors know that an important part of their job description is raising big bucks from culturally-minded and civic-minded donors. But few (none that I know of) become directors because soliciting money is their passion. It's a means to an end, … [Read more...] about Miami and Cleveland: When the Financial Going Got Tough, the Directors Got Going

Terence Riley, former director of Miami Art MuseumThis is a shocker. I know nothing about the resignation of Terence Riley from the directorship of the Miami Art Museum, other than what's in the press release that just hit my inbox with a loud thud. What makes this even more surprising is that he resigned "effective immediately"---usually a sign that something is amiss. … [Read more...] about News Flash: Terence Riley Resigns Directorship of Miami Art Museum UPDATED

Philippe de Montebello, left; his successor, Tom Campbell, right, speaking at the MetThe Metropolitan Museum's illustrious director emeritus, Professor Philippe de Montebello, is well into his fall semester course, "The Meaning of Museums," at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. But what will he be teaching this spring? Let's go to the prof's NYU webpage:Spring 2010 … [Read more...] about Philippe, the Spring Semester: His Cultural-Property Colloquium (and Kimmelman’s crash course)

Who am I to talk about an "unsustainable business model"?Only one CultureGrrl reader got this message of a week ago and actually decided to act upon it. I've run out of ideas of how to impress upon those who appreciate the blog how loath I am to continue this work merely for the love of it.In the meantime, though, many warm thanks to CultureGrrl Donor 78 from Little Compton, … [Read more...] about Guilt for Gelt: No CultureGrrl Pals on PayPal