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"Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor" (detail), Qianlong Period (1736-95), Palace Museum, BeijingIt's Asia Week in New York and Qianlong Week on CultureGrrl. Having just posted about the over-the-top price at Sotheby's for what bidders apparently believed to be a Qianlong vase, let's wander crosstown to the Metropolitan Museum's exhibition of over-the-top objects, The Emperor's … [Read more...] about Exotic Opulence at the Met: Qianlong Emperor’s Hidden Furnishings from the Forbidden City

The $18-million vase: Front and side views (Click photos for magnified images.) A Sotheby's auction yesterday, grandly titled, "Informing the Eye of the Collector: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from J.T. Tai & Co.," achieved a strong $36.31 million, which, according to the auction house, "reflect[ed] the reverence for Tai's legendary connoisseurship and the electric … [Read more...] about Underpriced at Sotheby’s: The “$1,000” Chinese Vase that Sold for $18 Million UPDATED

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough, addressing attendees this morning at "Legal Issues in Museum Administration," a three-day course in Washington organized by American Law Institute-American Bar Association (screenshot of webcast)At today's opening of the 39th annual course for museum attorneys (inside and outside counsel) on the subject of "Legal Issues in Museum … [Read more...] about Blame the Bloggers: Clough Briefs Museum Lawyers on “Hide/Seek” Controversy

Seiichi Kondo, Japan's Commissioner for Cultural Affairs My attempt to get further information about the impact of Japan's disaster on museums and cultural sites resulted in my receiving by e-mail this document from Japan's Agency of Cultural Affairs: Damages of cultural properties of 2011 Tohoku - Pacific Ocean Earthquake.As of Thursday, according to this list, there were some … [Read more...] about Japanese Cultural Properties: 246 Instances of Damage; Sendai’s “Pompeii” Exhibition

Celebrating its 15-year anniversary, Artnet magazine has unearthed a shard from my online past---an example of my "Visual Reality" columns from the time of Artnet's birth."Visual Reality," as described by Artnet mag's original and still-going-strong editor, Walter Robinson, "cast a skeptical and informed eye on the doings of the official art-museum world (an endeavor that … [Read more...] about Artnet Resurrects CultureGrrl’s Progenitor, “Visual Reality”

UNESCO Director-General Irina BokovaAt last, the crisis of looting and damage to archaeological sites and museums in those Middle East nations that have been roiled by uprisings may receive some concerted international attention.While international experts in cultural-property issues were meeting in at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris over the last two days (belatedly … [Read more...] about UNESCO Coordinates International Response to Middle East Antiquities Crisis

Nancy Rosoff, co-curator of the Brooklyn Museum's "Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains," in front of Lyle Heavy Runner's "Blackfeet Tipi," 2010, commissioned for the showI wasn't originally planning to lavish a long CultureGrrl post on the Brooklyn Museum's Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains exhibition (to May 15), which I had described as both "deeply informative" and … [Read more...] about Beyond the Tepid Tepees: Brooklyn’s Engrossing Plains Indian Show

Early Rendering of Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Human Rights Watch, which has long been critical of conditions for construction workers at the Gehry-designed Guggenheim and other projects on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island, issued a statement today endorsing the announced boycott of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by a group of artists who are concerned about alleged … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Workers’ Rights: New Statements Issued UPDATED

First the inventory. Now, happily, some recoveries:The Luxor Tmes reports [via] that seven statues and five necklaces (one gold, the others faience and coloured glass) that were missing from the Egyptian Museum have been recovered, and the alleged ringleader of the theft and two alleged accomplices, who were "offered" $50 million in a sting operation, were arrested, according … [Read more...] about 12 Objects Stolen from Egyptian Museum Recovered

Left to Right in Abu Dhabi: Lee Tabler, CEO of Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company; Richard Armstrong, director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; architect Frank Gehry; Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Guggenheim's chief officer for global strategies and director, Guggenheim Bilbao; Frederick Henry, former Guggenheim trusteeI know you're all waiting for tomorrow's … [Read more...] about New Workers’ Rights Concerns for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Quarzite Head of an Amarna Princess, 7 cm. high, missing from Egyptian Museum Photo from list published by Supreme Council on Antiquities It's about time! The website of Egypt's Supreme Council on Antiquities (which still lists Zahi Hawass as its "secretary general") has now posted a link to what it says is the final list, with (mostly grainy) photographs, of 54 objects … [Read more...] about Egypt Releases Illustrated List of 54 Objects Missing from Egyptian Museum

Leo Steinberg With wide-ranging interests from the Renaissance to Rauschenberg, the art historian extraordinaire and Penn professor emeritus Leo Steinberg, dead at the age of 90, was as provocative and profane as he was erudite. Ken Johnson has written the definitive obit for the NY Times. But I have a personal revelation: He almost died prematurely at my own hands (just … [Read more...] about The Late Leo Steinberg and Me: Speaking of Michelangelo

Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, in his office overlooking the CapitolAt left: Mateo Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), "Tewa, Tiwa, Towa," circa 1995, National Museum of the American IndianIn middle: David Bradley, "Indian Self Rule," lithograph, 1985, from Gover's personal collectionAt right: Partial view of a pottery/ceramic jar by Hubert … [Read more...] about Online Now: My WSJ Piece on American Indian Installations

Tokyo National MuseumIt's a bit early to worry about museums and cultural sites when the human costs are so high and the nuclear plants so imperiled. Nevertheless, I'm trying to get some answers.All that I know so far is that museums in Tokyo---both the Mori Art Museum and the Tokyo National Museum---have closed temporarily to conserve electricity but say that they have not … [Read more...] about Japan Watch: Two Tokyo Museums Are Safe but Shuttered UPDATED

Whenever I visit Philadelphia (as I did late last month), I indulge my morbid fascination for the slow-motion death of a great single-collector facility, to be interred at the construction site of the new home for the Barnes Foundation on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, scheduled to open in late spring of next year. Construction is now so far along that, notwithstanding the … [Read more...] about Barnes Developments: Desperation Lawsuit, Merion Closure, Philly Update UPDATED