Archives for January 2023

My May 2005 NY Times Op-Ed page commentary---Fashion Victim---now has a CultureGrrl sequel, thanks to the Met's announcement of its upcoming Costume Institute show---"Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty" (May 5–July 16). In my Op-Ed piece, I had decried the excessive influence of Lagerfeld over the Metropolitan Museum's Chanel show, which was co-curated by Andrew Bolton (now the … [Read more...] about “Fashion Victim” (Part II): “Lagerfeld” Subverts the Met

Kenneth Griffin has done a great deal for the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), as the vice chairman and benefactor of the premier art museum in what had long been his home city and also the home base for his investment firm, Citadel Securities. But he recently decided to pick up his marbles and play elsewhere---relocating his primary residence, his investment company's … [Read more...] about Supportin’ the Norton, Kenneth Griffin Parts Ways with the Art Institute of Chicago

Whether by sheer coincidence or deliberate plan, New York City is currently the venue for simultaneous ambitious museums shows featuring works from the collection of one of the two art-collecting sons of late cosmetics magnate Estée Lauder. While both displays (five blocks apart on Fifth Avenue) are well worth a visit, the concept and execution underlying each of them couldn't … [Read more...] about Lauders’ Orders: Sibling Rivalry at Leonard’s & Ronald’s Dueling Shows at Metropolitan Museum & Neue Galerie

Call me "the Covid Coward." For someone whose recent writings have focused chiefly on museums---their missions, their practices, their holdings and the people who manage them and visit them---I've spent regrettably little time inside their galleries again this year (like last year), trying (successfully, so far) not to become another casualty of Tridemic Triage, which has … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2022 Edition: Cowering, Glowering and Flowering