Archives for 2010

Judith Dobrzynski The Association of Art Museum Directors has now joined the American Association of Museums in reasserting the core principle that museums' art-sale proceeds should be used to enhance the collection, not to defray operating expenses or debts. These restatements came on the heels of Judith Dobrzynski's recent NY Times Op-Ed piece, in which she argued that, … [Read more...] about AAMD on Deaccessioning: Reaffirmation of Proceeds-for-Collections Policy

Front row, left to right: Assemblymen Steve Englebright, Richard Brodsky and Matthew TitoneThe usual arguments about government regulation of museum deaccessioning, pro and con, were rehashed at a meeting in Manhattan called yesterday by the NY State Assembly's Committee on Tourism, Parks, Art and Sports to discuss the Brodsky Bill (A6959), which would regulate art sales by … [Read more...] about Deaccession Meeting: NY State Cultural Officials Discuss Brodsky Bill

Michael, a Los Angeles artists (who identified himself to me but did not want me to disclose his last name) responds to The Getty's Revolving Door: Harmful Brew of Instability and Secrecy:Michael Brand was flatly the most competent and charismatic leader the Getty has thus far had. From the moment James Wood arrived, he has been diminishing the director's position. I think he … [Read more...] about BlogBacks on the Getty and LA MOCA Directorships

"Victorious Youth," Greek, 300 - 100 B.C., J. Paul Getty Museum Did the J. Paul Getty Museum act in good faith when it acquired the Getty Bronze? Back in December 2006, in this post, I concluded no. What I wrote back then, and, more importantly, what the late Thomas Hoving, the Metropolitan Museum's former director, wrote to me in a published CultureGrrl BlogBack, becomes … [Read more...] about BlogBack from the Grave: Thomas Hoving on the Getty Bronze

Derek Gillman, the Barnes Foundation's executive director, at Philadelphia Arts Commission meeting this monthIf you think I was angry about having my interview with Jeffrey Deitch cancelled, you should have heard the opponents of the Barnes Foundation's planned move from Merion to Philly, when they learned from my blog that revised plans for the site were presented and … [Read more...] about MeTube: Architect Tod Williams Presents Barnes Site Plans to Philly Arts Commission—Part I

Block that Pollock! Left to right, LA MOCA co-chairs David Johnson and Maria Bell, director-designate Jeffrey Deitch, Councilwoman Jan Perry, founding chairman Eli BroadI had a tentative appointment for a phone interview with LA MOCA's director-designate Jeffrey Deitch scheduled for today at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. It's been canceled.Three hours before my scheduled 20 minutes … [Read more...] about Interview Scratched: My Questions for Jeffrey Deitch Go Unanswered

While we wait for someone to get to the bottom of what's going on at the Getty Museum, I can report to you the reception that soon-to-be ex-director Michael Brand has been getting from his colleagues:He received, I am told, a standing ovation from the assembled Getty Museum staff last Thursday when he announced to them his impending departure. Upon his arrival for a strategic … [Read more...] about Rounds of Applause: Michael Brand’s Peer Validation (and his music)

LA MOCA's director-designateWish you could have been a fly on the wall of today's Jeffrey Deitch roll-out at LA MOCA? Now you can! Having flown in for Monday's press conference, and flown out when it got postponed (just kidding about my travels!), I asked the museum's press people if they had any audio, video or transcript of today's proceedings. Nothin' doing. But thanks to … [Read more...] about YouTube Special: LA MOCA’s Question-less “Press Conference”

There was a bit of a disconnect between the slideshow and the text of my Wall Street Journal article today on the new American Indian galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Only one of the objects that I mentioned in the piece, the Arikara shield, was in the slideshow. So here's a photo essay with views of the galleries and more of the objects I mentioned (as well as a … [Read more...] about Scenes from the Nelson-Atkins’ New American Indian Galleries

Jeffrey Deitch's new project: LA MOCA's Geffen Contemporary The membrane between the commercial and nonprofit artworlds has become considerably more permeable in recent years. As recently as 10 years ago (in connection with the Brooklyn Museum's "Sensation" exhibition, for example), it was considered inappropriate for museums to receive financial backing from dealers for … [Read more...] about Dealer-to-Director: Why Jeffrey Deitch is Wrong for LA MOCA UPDATED

You can read tomorrow's Wall Street Journal piece today: Elevating American Indian Art. And don't miss the slideshow, particularly the eighth image---the Arikara shield of a buffalo bull that curator Gaylord Torrence called, "probably the most important object that I will acquire."Here's my own inadequate photo:Not in the article is what Torrence told me about the "ambiguous … [Read more...] about Now Online: My WSJ Piece on Nelson-Atkins American Indian Galleries

Candace Jackson of the Wall Street Journal gets an early shot at talking to Jeffrey Deitch in his new capacity as director-designate of LA MOCA.Here's the part I'm interested in:Asked about possible conflicts, Mr. Deitch, who has been in the art business since the mid 1970s said, "there are too many long term relationships to be completely restrictive. We will do what … [Read more...] about Deitch Speaks! (to the Wall Street Journal)

Remember when I posted the above image, as a clue to where I would be traveling?I later reported you about the other places that I had visited during that trip, but never mentioned my first stop, where I was on a top-secret(!) mission for the Wall Street Journal.Tomorrow my article on the new American Indian galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City will at last … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My WSJ Appraisal of Nelson-Atkins’ New American Indian Galleries

Jay Benzel, editor of the NY Times' ArtsBeat blog, responds to Department of No News: LA MOCA Appointment Still Stalled:In your post about Carol Vogel's item Monday in the "Arts, Briefly" column, you say that the item was "pulled" from ArtsBeat. That is not the case. It ran online, as nearly all Sunday-for-Monday "Arts, Briefly" items do, only in the "Arts, Briefly" column, … [Read more...] about BlogBack: NY Times “ArtsBeat” Editor on Today’s LA MOCA Coverage

The rumor is now reality. LA MOCA has just issued a press release announcing the appointment of dealer Jeffrey Deitch as the museum's new director, replacing Charles Young, the interim CEO. Deitch even gets the Glenn Lowry and Michael Govan seals of approval, as if to head off criticism that appointing a commercial dealer to lead a nonprofit art museum is unseemly or even … [Read more...] about It’s Deitch (by press release): LA MOCA Press Conference Tomorrow