Archives for 2010

There's a lot from what Thomas Campbell told me about what he hopes to change during his directorship at the Metropolitan Museum that, for space reasons, didn't make it into my Marathon Man profile of him in today's Wall Street Journal.Fortunately, I videoed him giving a speech at a Jan. 15 luncheon at Le Cirque restaurant in New York, where he covered a lot of the ground that … [Read more...] about MeTube: Tom Campbell Describes the Changes He’s Making at the Met

Zina Saunders' image of Tom Campbell for the Wall Street JournalYou can read me (and Tom) now on the Wall Street Journal's website: The Met's Marathon Man. Wait a minute! I just got word from the Metropolitan Museum's PR people that he was born in Singapore, not Cambridge. I guess I shouldn't have relied on the Met's press release that announced his appointment ("born and … [Read more...] about Online Now: My WSJ Piece on Thomas Campbell UPDATED

It's a little bit late, you might say. Actually, no. Pegged to the first anniversary of what's likely to be a long reign as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my "Cultural Conversation" with Tom Campbell on the "Leisure & Arts" page of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will focus on what he's actually accomplishing, now that he has hit his stride and made some … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My WSJ “Cultural Conversation” with the Met’s Tom Campbell

The NEA's current "Art Works" logoWhere's Sen. William Proxmire when we really need him?The late legislator from Wisconsin famously delighted in bestowing his "Golden Fleece Awards" upon what he considered absurd applications of federal funds.What might he have thought of the Request for Proposals just issued by the National Endowment for the Arts, which asks applicants to … [Read more...] about Department of Wasteful Federal Spending: “Art Works” Logo Redesign

President ObamaPhoto: whitehouse.govPresident Obama today rolled out his proposed 2011 austerity budget, so let's comb his list of Terminations, Reductions and Savings for culture cuts. But first, here's news that I couldn't find on the "reductions" list. In response to my query, Victoria Hutter, spokesperson for the National Endowment for the Arts, has just informed me:In the … [Read more...] about Obama’s Budget: The Cultural Cutback List

Will GompertzAnother day, another new arts blog. But this one is something of a watershed:The BBC recently announced the debut of its new blog by Will Gompertz, the recently-appointed arts editor for BBC News. Gompertz had previously run the Tate's website, which, he says, "became established as the U.K.'s most popular art website."The BBC states:This is the first move … [Read more...] about BBC’s New Arts Blog: “Higher Profile” for Cultural News

A detail from a wall panel in Metropolitan Museum's past exhibition about the discovery of Michelangelo's first painting, "The Torment of Saint Anthony" There seems to be a new vogue in museum exhibitions---the who-dunnit show. It's fun for the public to participate in the discovery of a (possibly) new work by a master and it's fun for curators to exercise their scholarly … [Read more...] about Attribution Exhibitions: The Allure of Detective Mysteries

CultureGrrl's very porous paywallIf newspapers want to make money online, they've got to beef up their online offerings---not just by adding more bells and whistles, but also by ramping up the types of serious content that only digital media can provide. For this, they're going to need journalists who think in terms of links and multimedia at the same time they're pounding out … [Read more...] about Paywall Pitfall: Making Online Content Worth the Price

During the grim aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, saving endangered lives is the most urgent priority. But preserving heritage is important too. Above is a vivid video accompanying Pooja Bhatia's article, Art Trove Among Nation's Losses, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. In this clip, she surveys the severe damage to the privately established Galerie and Musée Nader in … [Read more...] about Haitian Earthquake Crisis: Cultural Calamity, Relief Efforts

"Mona/Leo" by Lillian Schwartz: Fusion or delusion?To the arsenal of Leonardo da Vinci researchers, we may now have to add not only medical science but also grave digging.The Times of London, which earlier this month brought us Mona Lisa's cholesterol problem, now reports:Scientists seeking permission to exhume the remains [in France] of Leonardo da Vinci plan to reconstruct … [Read more...] about Ghoulish Art History: Will Leonardo Be Exhumed for “Mona Lisa” Comparison?

Cross section. left, of Renzo Piano's planned addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, right, connected by glass walkwayBoth the Boston Globe's Sebastian Smee (in a negative review) and the NY Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff (in a positive review) have serious misgivings about an important aspect of Renzo Piano's just unveiled plans for a 70,000-square-foot addition to the … [Read more...] about The Gardner, the Morgan, the Barnes: Modern Additions vs. Founders’ Visions

Rendering of the planned Philly Barnes: Permanent collection galleries are the rectangle in the foreground; behind and above, the light box over a connecting courtyard; behind and wrapping around the light box, the L-shaped entry pavilion with temporary exhibition space on the right  During my recent conversation with architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien after their … [Read more...] about Williams and Tsien on How Philly Barnes Will Be Different (and whether it should move)

Materials of the Philly Barnes (presented at Philadelphia Arts Commission meeting)[Part 1 is here. The video of my visit to the Barnes Foundation's Philadelphia construction site, showing a prototype fragment of the new facility, is here.]I've been intending to follow up on my first post (linked above) about the Philadelphia Arts Commission's approval of the Barnes plans, … [Read more...] about MeTube: Architect Tod Williams Presents Barnes Site Plans to Philly Arts Commission—Part 2

Sean O'Harrow of the Figge Art Museum, during my visit last AprilThe Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA, which owns a large Haitian art collection, has announced that it will donate to the Red Cross, for Haitian earthquake relief, all of its admissions revenue for this week (through Sunday)."We would like to publicly challenge other art institutions to contribute to the Haiti … [Read more...] about Haitian Earthquake Crisis: Figge Art Museum Responds (and how to help)

Wish you could have taken as seat at the Association of Art Museum Directors' mid-winter meeting in Saratoga (oops, I meant Sarasota, but Florida's been so cold)?Thanks to the iPhone and TwitPic page of Max Anderson, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now you can! (If only Max had brought a video camera.)Some of the attendees at last week's joint meeting of AAMD's … [Read more...] about Max Flash: Scene from AAMD’s Mid-Winter Meeting