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My apologies to Dottie Cannon, Griddle Griswold's pancake partner, who has politely informed me that she is not Miss Black Minnesota, as the director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts had identified her at the press preview for the museum's new wing. She is, in fact, Miss Minnesota USA---a contestant in the recent Miss USA pageant. CultureGrrl deeply regrets the error. I did … [Read more...] about Miss-identification

In my WSJ piece, I mentioned in that some 80 percent of the prehistoric caves that have been discovered in France are thought to be privately owned. There's a bit more to this story: My discussions with experts in the Dordogne region indicated that many of those who discover such sites on their property don't report them to the government, as legally required. So there could, … [Read more...] about Private Prehistory

It was take-my-daughter-to-work day earlier this week, when Joyce accompanied me to the press preview of MoMA's Dada, which opens to the public (aptly) on Fathers Day. No frequent museum visitor, despite (or maybe because of) my best efforts, my future acoustics engineer perceived a connection between two exhibited works that even the show's curator, Anne Umland, had … [Read more...] about From the Eyes of Babes

In case you missed my piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, I'm posting it here (with the enhancement of added links). The WSJ doesn't allow any linking to its subscribers-only site, but as its author, I'm allowed to reprint my text: Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France For those seeking refuge from an overheated contemporary art scene that seems fixated on the wet canvases of young … [Read more...] about The Prehistoric Art Scene

Back when using technology to enhance museum visits was the next new thing, I wrote a whole series of articles about art CD-ROMs, museum websites, high-tech audio tours and the use of computer stations in galleries. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, under the leadership of its then tech expert, Scott Sayre, was king of the kiosks, installing interactive media throughout the … [Read more...] about The Dreck of Tech

A number of you have been inspired to click on my seven-week-old blog for the first time, thanks to the author's ID at the end of my piece in today's Wall Street Journal ("Prehistoric Artistry, Real and Recreated," Page D6). So, to get you up to speed, here's a selective link-list of CultureGrrl's provocative posts, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous: Black Cloud Over … [Read more...] about A Bullish Welcome to My WSJ Readers

You are cordially invited to join CultureGrrl tomorrow on the "Leisure & Arts" page of the Wall Street Journal, as she explores and exposes the prehistoric art scene in France, including Lascaux, "where the visitors, not just the bison, rove in herds." And you thought I wisecracked only on my blog? … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl Goes Primitive

Maxwell Anderson, director of the the Indianapolis Museum of Art, former director of the Whitney Museum and past president of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), responds here to Rooting Out Loot. Keep those e-mails coming! You've raised an important issue facing art museums: retrospective research on works lacking clear provenance. This has to be approached … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Max Anderson on Antiquities

Last week, I promised to create some big trouble for myself by making explicit the implicit analogy between museums' handling of the Nazi loot issue and their response to the latest loot contretemps---the antiquities mess. In both cases, American museums assert they want to do the right thing, by returning improperly expropriated objects to their rightful owners. And in both … [Read more...] about Rooting Out Loot

Right again, art-lings: The answer to the question posed in my last post is, of course, Minneapolis, also known as Target City, home to the retail giant's headquarters. After the more serious members of the press had flown home to file stories, CultureGrrl brought her appetite for culture to the Sunday-morning public opening's pancake breakfast, so that she could faithfully … [Read more...] about Meandering in Minneapolis

A museum wing named for a corporation? That would be the new Target Wing for 20th-century art, a main attraction at a greatly expanded American museum, opening to the public on Sunday. It's named for the philanthropic mega-retailer. I guess this is not the first wing to bear a corporate moniker (think the London National Gallery's Sainsbury, funded by the supermarket … [Read more...] about Where in the World is Lee Going?

Turns out the Russian post with my name in it is not a translation, as I had thought yesterday , but merely a sympathetic reference to my piece, by a blogger with ties to the contemporary art market in Russia. That bilingual scribe, Julia Volfson, has now helpfully (if haltingly) provided an English translation for all of you CultureGrrl link-clickers. (Speaking of links, there … [Read more...] about Russian Roulette

It was an unusual concurrence of stories, all hitting the newspapers at about the same time: The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, relinquished a major J.M.W. Turner painting, discovered to have been Nazi loot; another Turner broke the record for a British watercolor at Christie's, London; Sotheby's announced it will share the database of its Nazi-loot Restitution Department with … [Read more...] about As the Turner Turns

This must be my readers' interactive day: I have just found a link on the web to what appears to be a Russian translation of my art-market post that appeared yesterday. The Russian-language site also includes readers' comments about that post. Is just another indication that Russians are big art-market players? So, to all you Russian oligarchs who are fans of CultureGrrl: What … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl in Russian???

Announcing a new CultureGrrl feature, BlogBack, inviting thoughtful readers to take issue with my intemperate observations. (Tom, Glenn, wanna blog? My guess is Tom won't; Glenn might.) First up---Baxter Jones, a lawyer, art collector, member of the board of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and member of the Contemporary Art Society, a support group for the High Museum of … [Read more...] about BlogBack: An Admirer of the High