Speaking to me by phone today, Ada Louise Huxtable's estate attorney, Robert Shapiro, declined to confirm or deny that his client had been in discussions with the New York Public Library or other possible recipients of her archives before her last-minute surprise deal with the J. Paul Getty Trust. Citing the confidentiality of his relationships with clients, he would only … [Read more...] about Ada Louise Huxtable’s Estate Attorney Discusses Her Getty Surprise
Archives for January 2013
Ada Louise Huxtable’s Posthumous Commentary? Her Entire Estate to the Getty
The startling news that the late, preeminent architecture critic and inveterate New Yorker Ada Louise Huxtable arranged for the transfer of not only her archives but her entire estate to the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles raises the obvious question: What was she thinking? In his obit for the LA Times, architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne noted that the bequest … [Read more...] about Ada Louise Huxtable’s Posthumous Commentary? Her Entire Estate to the Getty
Warhol Museum Regards the Met’s “Regarding Warhol,” Plans Major Changes
What do you do when you sign onto what sounds like a very promising project---the Metropolitan Museum's Regarding Warhol exhibition (now closed), only to find that it's a popular success but a critical train wreck? You reconceive it. Eric Shiner, director of the most sympathetic place to see Warhol's work---the Andy Warhol Museum, where the show travels (Feb. 3-Apr. … [Read more...] about Warhol Museum Regards the Met’s “Regarding Warhol,” Plans Major Changes
Ada Louise Huxtable, Doyenne of Architecture Criticism, Dies at 91
The world of architecture is in mourning. Ada Louise Huxtable, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, high spirited, fiercely opinionated architecture critic, revered by architecture historians and feared by developers, was the pioneer who brought serious, informed architecture criticism to daily newspapers. Her writing was invariably erudite, lucid and witty. The few times when she … [Read more...] about Ada Louise Huxtable, Doyenne of Architecture Criticism, Dies at 91
Masterpiece Postage: Museum-Owners of “Modern Art in America” Identified
Late on Friday, a CultureGrrl reader/librarian and a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service almost simultaneously e-mailed to me the list I was waiting for---the names of the museums that own the originals reproduced on the glorious Modern Art in America stamps, above, to be issued on Mar. 7 (but available for pre-order now). The Whitney Museum is one of three institutions … [Read more...] about Masterpiece Postage: Museum-Owners of “Modern Art in America” Identified
Masterpiece Postage: USPS Commemorates the Armory Show’s 100th Anniversary UPDATED
UPDATE: The first day of issue for the "Modern Art in America" stamps will be Mar. 7. The release will be celebrated at New York's very different but identically named Armory Show at Piers 92 and 94, which opens to the public on the same day when the stamps will be issued. Should a new stamp be launched in connection with the opening of a commercial art fair? Maybe it should … [Read more...] about Masterpiece Postage: USPS Commemorates the Armory Show’s 100th Anniversary UPDATED
Who Is William Cole and Why Is He Leading a NY Times Online Discussion on the Art Market?
Readers of the Letters column of the NY Times may have been surprised to see this Invitation to a Dialogue: An Art Market Bubble? by one William Cole of Sitges, Spain, who "is working on a book [to be published by whom?] on art connoisseurship." He is one of the growing gaggle of contemporary art detractors who deride high-priced works as "outright junk." Times readers are … [Read more...] about Who Is William Cole and Why Is He Leading a NY Times Online Discussion on the Art Market?
Culture Editor Jonathan Landman Leaves the New York Times; Blogger Andrew Sullivan Leaves the Daily Beast
Jonathan Landman First Landesman. Now Landman. Jonathan Landman, who was named the NY Times' culture editor in September 2009, announced by e-mail to his staff today (as reported by Andrew Beaujon on the Poynter website) that he would be taking a buyout and leaving the newspaper. No successor has been announced at this writing. (The similarly named Rocco Landesman, as you … [Read more...] about Culture Editor Jonathan Landman Leaves the New York Times; Blogger Andrew Sullivan Leaves the Daily Beast