More on this here and here. Ever since he was named to the Metropolitan Museum's directorship, I've had serious qualms about whether Tom Campbell embodied The Peter Principle---the notion that talented employees eventually rise to a level beyond their competence. Robin Pogrebin today reported on the NY Times' website that Campbell is on his way out from the Met after 22 … [Read more...] about Who Should Lead the Met? Tom Campbell Decamps UPDATED
Archives for February 2017
Burying the Bad News: Sotheby’s Earnings Call Ignores 30% Drop in 2016 Adjusted Net Income
"I feel good," Tad Smith repeatedly declared during Sotheby's earnings call with securities analysts this morning. Buoyed by New Year's hopes for better performance in 2017 after a lackluster 2016, Sotheby's president and CEO enumerated the ways in which his firm had upped its game---the addition of an advisory service for artists and their estates to Art Agency, Partners … [Read more...] about Burying the Bad News: Sotheby’s Earnings Call Ignores 30% Drop in 2016 Adjusted Net Income
The “Leveraging Effect”: Why Small Grants from the Endangered NEA & NEH Matter
Arts and humanities constituents rose to the challenge of meeting Monday's deadline to gather more that 100,000 signatures on a petition to the White House calling for the federal government "to support the arts by not defunding" the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. All 107,779 of us (at this writing, and still counting) can now pat ourselves on the back and … [Read more...] about The “Leveraging Effect”: Why Small Grants from the Endangered NEA & NEH Matter
Salves for Trump Bumps: Getty’s Direct Salvo vs. MoMA’s Discreet Indirection
One of the two major museum stories that broke while I was doting early this month on my newborn CultureGrandson (a Silicon Valley native) involved the Museum of Modern Art's decision to respond to the Trump travel ban (now in abeyance) by interpolating seven works in its fifth-floor permanent-collection galleries and one in its Garden Lobby, "to affirm the ideals of welcome … [Read more...] about Salves for Trump Bumps: Getty’s Direct Salvo vs. MoMA’s Discreet Indirection
Buck Stops with the CEO: Holding Tom Campbell Accountable for The Met Mess (with podcasts, video)
Robin Pogrebin's damning NY Times report about the "tensions" and "challenged morale" among staffers at the Metropolitan Museum has emboldened me to say what I've been thinking for a long time about Tom Campbell's stewardship: Sadly, the misgivings that I expressed more than eight years ago, when the respected tapestry curator was named to succeed the revered Philippe de … [Read more...] about Buck Stops with the CEO: Holding Tom Campbell Accountable for The Met Mess (with podcasts, video)
The Met Mess in the NY Times: Are Tom Campbell’s Director Days Numbered?
More on this here. Catching up on museum news after five days in California, blissfully cuddling my precociously two-weeks-early new grandson (CultureDaughter's first child), I did a double-take at the online headline for Robin Pogrebin's Page One piece in Sunday's NY Times: Is the Met Museum "a Great Institution in Decline"? The print headline was only slightly less ominous … [Read more...] about The Met Mess in the NY Times: Are Tom Campbell’s Director Days Numbered?