Archives for 2010

New York State Assembly ChamberWhen it comes to the Brodsky Bill to regulate museum deaccessions in New York State, it appears, alas, that the museum lobby has gotten its way.Robin Pogrebin writes this for tomorrow's NY Times (online now): A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in … [Read more...] about Deaccession Diversion: CultureGrrl Infiltrates NY Times’ Pogrebin Piece UPDATED TWICE

The Brooklyn Museum [NOTE: Part II is here.] Robin Pogrebin's initial NY Times article, imputing "diminished stature" to the Brooklyn Museum, provoked considerable backlash from the museum profession. But Robin didn't back down; she doubled down. In Sunday's astonishing front-page Arts & Leisure piece, she took it upon herself to convene an ad hoc panel of 17 … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part I

The differences between the "before" and "after" photos that I recently published of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic"---pre- and post-conservation---were indeed "startling," as I had opined in both CultureGrrl and the Huffington Post.But even more startling was the museum's subsequent admission to me and other art journalists that it had sent us the wrong images. (See, for example, … [Read more...] about Conservation Confusion: Philadelphia Museum’s “Gross Clinic” Photo Flub

Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912 At the commemorative ceremony celebrating the settlement of the Nazi loot-related dispute over Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," David Marwell, the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (which hosted the event), highlighted a lesson to be learned from "Wally": She can teach us about justice, even justice that comes after more than … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally” Settlement: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

[For my analysis of the settlement, go here.]Lawyers, prosecutors and a Bondi family member did all the talking at Thursday's commemorative ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement of the Bondi family's claims against the Leopold Museum, Vienna, in connection with Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," expropriated by the Nazis from Lea Bondi Jaray in 1939 and later acquired by … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally”: Spotlight on the Offstage Heroes

Brandeis in the fallBrandeis University's embattled Rose Art Museum finds itself without a fall show...again.The Boston Globe reported today that James Rosenquist suddenly had second thoughts about supplying his works for a one-man show that had been hastily scheduled at the embattled museum after three other artists---Bill Viola, Eric Fischl and April Gornik---had abruptly … [Read more...] about Rose Blows: Rosenquist Pulls Out of Brandeis Commitment

The stage is set: Photo of Lea Bondi[More on the settlement, here and here.]The lobby of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York had the festive air of a Bar Mitzvah reception, sans liquor and hors d'oeuvres, with perhaps 50 farflung Bondis from all generations reuniting for the ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement from the Leopold Museum, Vienna, to the heirs of … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally’s” Unveiling: Tearful, Joyful Reunion of Lea Bondi’s Descendants

Janet Landay, AAMD's executive director: Who's in charge here?This appears to be a case of the left side of the mouth not knowing what the right side is saying:As I reported on Monday, Kaywin Feldman, the new president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, stated in her July President's Message, posted on AAMD's website, that member institutions (including her own … [Read more...] about Deaccession Confusion: Mixed Messages from AAMD

Anne-Marie Wagener, director of press and PR at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), responds to AAMD Tweets Again: President Feldman's Inaugural Missive:Just to let you know that you are correct in saying that the MIA does not have any deaccessions posted online. That's because we do not currently have any deaccessions in the queue. In Kaywin's letter she did say that the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Deaccession Transparency

Kaywin FeldmanHaving dipped its toes into the roiling social-media waters with its AAMDIndy tweets (which chronicled last month's annual meeting), the Association of Art Museum Directors recently launched a permanent MuseumDirectors page on Twitter. At this writing, it features only one substantive tweet---a link to Kaywin Feldman's first president's letter. That missive … [Read more...] about AAMD Tweets (again): President Feldman’s Inaugural Missive UPDATED

Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912 It's getting to be a familiar scenario: After years of legal wrangling, a cultural-property dispute gets settled in favor of the claimants, right on the brink of the trial date. It happened last year, when the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum settled with the heirs of Paul and Elsa von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the Nazi-era … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally” Freed: $19-Million Settlement to Nazi Victim’s Heirs

[CLARIFICATION: Due to the Philadelphia Museum's inaccurate characterizations of the images that it originally sent me, my comparative analysis, below, of "The Gross Clinic," before and after conservation, is in error. For my clarifying post, with the correct before-and-after images, please go here.]This is going to take some getting used to.Thomas Eakins' celebrated "The Gross … [Read more...] about “The Gross Clinic’s” Startling Restoration: Before-and-After Photos of Eakins’ Masterpiece CLARIFIED

Over at HuffPost Arts, I've amplified a bit on my recent CultureGrrl post about the Museum of Modern Art's new Matisse show. I included a couple of additional photos and quoted from the conclusion of curator John Elderfield's remarks to the press, which got cut off at the end of my CultureGrrl Video.When I opened my July 26 issue of the New Yorker today, I was amused to find … [Read more...] about HuffPuff: My Further Matisse Musings for the Huffington Post

On the Outskirts: The Rose Art Museum on the Brandeis campus mapLast Wednesday I reported that Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum had suddenly subbed a Rosenquist exhibition for its previously announced fall show, "Atmospheric Conditions," which was to have featured works by Bill Viola, Eric Fischl and April Gornik. The museum's website had said (and still says, at this … [Read more...] about Rose Blows: Protest Withdrawal by Three Artists from Brandeis Museum’s Fall Show