main

Donn Zaretsky, in his indispensible Art Law Blog, almost (but not quite) grants my legal argument that American-based, foreign-museum "friends" groups are "mere conduits" of U.S. donations to foreign institutions and that contributions to them, and therefore are not properly eligible for U.S. tax deductions. Why didn't I follow my father's footsteps to Harvard Law School? Are … [Read more...] about Art Law Blog: “Friends” Groups Do Push the Legal Envelope

New assignments for CultureGrrl's silly syllabus: ---"Erudite" foodie Jonathan Gold in LA Weekly on Home of the Porno Burrito, fodder for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. (How can I possibly top his take on the potato taco?) ---Tyler Green's needed screed in Modern Art Notes on the aftermath of the Pulitzers ---Georgina Adam in The Art Newspaper on The Changing Landscape … [Read more...] about A Few Must-Reads

The answer is [drumroll]...Ellen Futter. Hers is not one of the many names that have been bandied about in the press for the top spot at the embattled Smithsonian Institution, and perhaps she's too committed a New Yorker to make the move. But for 13 years Futter has been quietly and effectively running a large institution with strong similarities to the Smithsonian---the … [Read more...] about Who Should Succeed Lawrence Small at the Smithsonian?

So many loose ends, so little time: ---The broken link for viewing last Wednesday's Smithsonian hearings by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is finally working, writes Liz Horrell, on behalf of the Senate Webmaster. ---Denver Art Museum spokeperson Andrea Kalivas Fulton updates me on who will foot the bill for replacing and/or repairing the leaky roof on the … [Read more...] about Kitchen-Sink Updates: Smithsonian Hearings, Denver’s Roof, Antiquities, Saltz, Pulitzers

Two CultureGrrl readers, responding to recent posts (here and here), have sent me e-mails supporting the Tyler Green argument for the appropriateness of tax breaks for U.S. donors to American-based, foreign-museum "friends" groups. These are organized as 501(c) (3) organizations to provide U.S. tax deductions for financial support of foreign museums. The proponents' favorite … [Read more...] about More on U.S. Tax Deductions for Donors to Foreign Museums

At the end of a flurry of CultureGrrl posts (here, here and here), in which Lee Rosenbaum, Alex Ross and Anne Midgette named our picks to succeed Lorin Maazel as the NY Philharmonic's next music director, I issued a plaintive query: Anthony Tommasini, where are you? At last, almost three months later, the NY Times' chief music critic has cautiously tipped his hand. He did it so … [Read more...] about NY Times Weighs in on Who Should Direct the NY Philharmonic

Today Tyler Green eloquently takes the other side of an argument I raised about whether the U.S. tax code should be used to help funnel American funds to foreign museums. This is accomplished through "friends" groups that are established in the U.S. as 501(c) (3) U.S. charities, giving them full tax-exempt status. That allows donors to get the same financial benefits that they … [Read more...] about U.S. Tax Deductions for Donations to Foreign Museums—The Other Side

Since I'm an Edith Wharton fan and I am planning to write a biography (but not of her!), I went to hear Hermoine Lee, an Oxford University English professor, speak at Columbia University this evening about her just published biography of the novelist. I wanted to learn some tricks of the trade. I arrived early at Low Library and took a seat in the third row of the nearly … [Read more...] about Philip Roth: Another Missed Opportunity

DAM's Staff Before the Cuts: Preview Party of the New Hamilton Building, Sept. 10, 2006. Photo by Brendan Harrington and the DAM photographic services department. This has been a bad news week for Daniel Libeskind: First this report of suspected arson at his first completed building, the Felix Nussbaum Museum in Germany. (Karsten Luecke, a CultureGrrl reader in Germany, today … [Read more...] about Libeskind’s Fire and Rain: You Mean It Snows a Lot in Denver?

Now you can. The prepared statements by Smithsonian honchos are already up on the website of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. And in her opening remarks today, Sen. Diane Feinstein wasted no time in calling for an overhaul of the Smithsonian's board. The GAO's Mark Goldstein was also on hand, to report on how the infrastructure is crumbing. The link for viewing … [Read more...] about Do You Wish You Could Have Attended the Senate’s Smithsonian Hearings?

...she tries again...and wins. Two Thomas Jefferson University Eakins sales done, one more to go---"Portrait of William S. Forbes." And we still haven't heard whether the Philadelphia Museum will sell another Eakins, to help pay for "The Gross Clinic." No messy price-matching grace period this time, and no sharing with the National Gallery (let alone a Philadelphia … [Read more...] about If at First Alice Walton Doesn’t Succeed…

I don't know why this is happening, but I do know that it's happening: Christie's has cancelled its May 24 American Indian art auction, while Sotheby's has two such sales scheduled for next month: the Saul and Marsha Stanoff Collection, May 17 and a mixed-owner sale May 18 that includes a Zuni jar deaccessioned by the Albright-Knox Gallery. Regina Kolbe of Antiques and the Arts … [Read more...] about Christie’s Cedes American Indian Territory to Sotheby’s

This is a statement that no U.S. museum officials could get away with, even if it might accurately reflect their thinking: The British Museum is here to present world culture. In principle the trustees are against restitution because it would detract from that mission. This from Hannah Boulton, the British Museum's spokesperson, reacting to a demand by President Imamali … [Read more...] about No Restitution Please, We’re British

Nussbaum Museum, Osnabrück, Germany A sad new development to contemplate at observances this Sunday of Yom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day): Agence France-Press reports that suspected arson has caused extensive damage to the wooden façade of the Felix Nussbaum Museum in Osnabrück, Germany, which opened in 1998 and was Daniel Libeskind's first completed building. The museum … [Read more...] about Suspected Arson at Felix Nussbaum Museum

An article today from Agence France-Presse, quoting Kevin Ching, incoming CEO of Sotheby's Asia, contained so many puzzling "did he really say that?" moments that we can only hope it's the reporter, not Ching, who was confused. First head-scratcher: Kevin Ching says one of his aims as the newly-appointed chairman of Sotheby's in Asia is to see the first Asian bid for a European … [Read more...] about Learning Curve for New Sotheby’s Asia CEO