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Malcolm Bell, professor emeritus of Greek art at the University of Virginia and co-director of the American excavations at MorgantinaWe interrupt your urgent business at the beach, swimming pool, tennis courts and golf course to offer you a diversion from today's Wall Street Journal---archaeologist Malcolm Bell's deeply informed but sure-to-be-controversial review of Jason … [Read more...] about Malcolm Bell’s Ringing Critique of “Chasing Aphrodite” in the WSJ

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has quietly launched a completely revamped website, in conjunction with its launch today in the Bentonville, AR, of its membership drive.Here's the card being proffered to "Original Members" who sign up at the tents in the town square (or online, for those of us who can't make it in person):Eat your heart out, New York! Asher B. … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Museum Update: The Mysterious Disappearing Collection

Brandeis University President Frederick LawrenceWhat a difference a new president makes!Thanks in part to personal conversations initiated by Brandeis University President Frederick Lawrence, who assumed his post Jan. 1, an agreement has now been struck between Brandeis University and the three board members of the university's Rose Art Museum who had filed a lawsuit in July … [Read more...] about Rose Art Museum Flash: Brandeis President Lawrence Discusses Amicable Legal Settlement, Future Museum Plans

Randolph College President John KleinThe Association of Art Museum Directors has now posted online the link to its June 22 letter to Randolph College President John Klein, reaffirming AAMD's previous censure of deaccessions (past and possibly future) by the Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA, to raise funds for the college's general financial needs.Now Klein has responded to … [Read more...] about Fighting Words: Randolph College Responds to AAMD’s Censure

Signature of Dan Monroe, AAMD's new president, affixed to letter sent to Randolph College's president condemning Maier Museum's past and (possibly) future deaccessionsBack in October 2007, the Association of Art Museum Directors condemned Randolph College's plan to sell four artworks from its Maier Museum, with proceeds to be used for general university purposes. (The Maier is … [Read more...] about AAMD Reaffirms Condemnation of Maier Museum Art Disposals, After Visits to Randolph College

Yikes! It's GROWING! The view from the webcam of the Philly BarnesThe Barnes Foundation, which plans to close its Merion galleries on Sunday, in anticipation of its eventual move to Philadelphia, today announced (in an e-mail, not on its website) that it had raised "more than $200 million," which, in the foundation's words, "fulfills campaign promises to fund both the new home … [Read more...] about $200-Million Illusion: Barnes’ Fundraising “Success” Depended on Halving Its Endowment Goal CLARIFIED

Most Wanted: Vermeer, "The Concert," 1658-1660 It seems like a longshot. But Jason Felch's and Ralph Frammolino's "Chasing Aphrodite" Twitter page now tantalizes us with the following: Coming tomorrow: a story in the LA Times about how the arrest of #whiteybulger could help crack the biggest art heist in history.That could only be the 1990 theft of 13 artworks from the … [Read more...] about Bulger/Gardner? Speculation on Whether Arrest of Fugitive Mobster Will Solve Boston Art Heist

Tom Armstrong, left, and artist Mark di Suvero (whose work Tom showed at the Whitney), attending a 2008 luncheon at Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NYPhoto: NY Social DiaryI feel I ought to write a proper appreciation of Thomas N. Armstrong III, the former director of the Whitney Museum, who died on Monday at age 78. It was under his leadership, from 1974 to 1990, when, … [Read more...] about Tom Armstrong, 78: Whitney’s Former Director Gave It a Forward-Looking Focus

Ai Weiwei on Metropolitan Museum's roof gardenPhoto from the website of upcoming film, Ai Weiwei: Never SorryI've been away from the computer all day, for personal reasons---my own diagnosis this morning of "patellofemoral syndrome" (aka "bum knee"); my friend's need for me to accompany her to an afternoon hospital appointment. So I'm now just catching up with the cheering news … [Read more...] about Ai Weiwei Is Released (but his freedom of expression isn’t) UPDATED

Yesterday was a banner day for the Walton clan. The family business, Wal-Mart, had a huge win when the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a huge class-action suit on behalf of female employees who had claimed discrimination on both pay and promotions.In less momentous news (unless you're an art enthusiast), Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, scheduled to open on … [Read more...] about New Yorker Corker: “Crystal Bridges Has Earned the Respect of the Museum Establishment”

Pollock, "Lucifer," 1947, Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Collection Win one, lose one. One can only speculate that when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art signed its deal to borrow (for at least 100 years) the 1,100-work Donald and Doris Fisher Collection, it may also have unintentionally helped Stanford University sign its deal to acquire highly important works … [Read more...] about Chunk of the “Hunk”: Andersons’ Collection Bypasses SFMOMA for Stanford

You couldn't have had a more rapt audience for a movie filmed largely inside the NY Times' newsroom than the attendees at the recent Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Orlando, with whom I got an advance look last week at Page One, Andrew Rossi's inside-baseball documentary (opening today) about the goings-on, over the course of a year, within a few marginal … [Read more...] about “Page One” Documentary: The NY Times as a Stoppard Play CORRECTED

André Harvey, "Stella," 2009, installed on outdoor path on the grounds of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Interviewing Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton about her in-construction Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art was, journalistically speaking, a good get. Alice didn't appear, let alone make herself available for interviews, during the press tour of the facility that … [Read more...] about Alice Walton’s “World-Class Museum”: Does NY Times Know Something We Don’t about Crystal Bridges?

Cover of new book, depicting the purported Michelangelo of BuffaloBy now, we've had enough of the Michelangelo of Fifth Avenue, which was taken off view at the Metropolitan Museum and dispatched to its conservation department (as Keith Christiansen, the museum's chairman of European paintings, recently told me, when I asked why it wasn't on view).But we now have a new … [Read more...] about The Michelangelo of Buffalo? Uncanny Resemblance to Gardner’s Drawing (plus the Met’s Giaquinto find)

First things first. I need to warmly thank those of you who rose to the Send CultureGrrl to Orlando challenge, which, I'm delighted to report, exceeded my goal of paying for my two nights at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference hotel. (Let's forget about the cost of airport taxis in Orlando or parking at Newark airport.) I surpassed my fundraising target (by … [Read more...] about Invigorated by Investigators: Adventures at the IRE Conference (plus video from my panel)