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Arnold Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum It's taken almost a week for me to post the second part of my Q&A with Arnold Lehman, the ever controversial (never dull) director of the Brooklyn Museum. (Here's Part I of our conversation.) Now there's a new news peg---the opening last weekend of "Work of Art: Abdi Farah," the exhibition that the museum promised to the … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part II

Michael Maharam, co-organizer (with bicycle maker Sacha White) of Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle (closing today at New York's Museum of Arts and Design), responds to Bicycle Madness at MAD:Very thoughtful, entertaining and bright observations about "Bespoke." Wish we could have indulged your [guest blogger Lee Gorny's] technical tendencies more effectively, but the need for … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Maharam, MAD’s Guest Curator, on His “Bespoke” Bicycle Show

Guest Blogger Lee GornyNOTE from CultureGrrl: Last weekend, while my family gathered for CultureNiece's wedding, CultureDaughter vanished for bridesmaid beautification rituals (hair, nails, whatever) and I tried to exploit those hours by demonstrating to her visiting boyfriend the joys of eventually living in the NYC area. (He's a sophisticated but small-town boy.)He loves … [Read more...] about Bicycle Madness at MAD: Lee Gorny, Guest Blogger

Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum and an outspoken supporter of the Brodsky Bill that would have regulated museum deaccessions in New York State, responds to this recent post on the bill's unfortunate fate in the state legislature:I think it is problematic to say the bill was killed by the "museum lobby." I think the vast majority of museums in the state … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Botwinick on NY State’s Moribund Brodsky Bill on Deaccessions

Susan Edwards, director of the Frist Center, NashvilleAt 12:30 p.m. today, Round Four in the never-ending legal battle between Fisk University and Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper over the university's Stieglitz Collection is scheduled for a return bout at its original venue, Davidson County Chancery Court, after detours to the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the … [Read more...] about Today’s Crystal Bridges/Fisk Collection-Sharing Trial Gets a Frist Twist

New York State Assembly ChamberWhen it comes to the Brodsky Bill to regulate museum deaccessions in New York State, it appears, alas, that the museum lobby has gotten its way.Robin Pogrebin writes this for tomorrow's NY Times (online now): A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in … [Read more...] about Deaccession Diversion: CultureGrrl Infiltrates NY Times’ Pogrebin Piece UPDATED TWICE

The Brooklyn Museum [NOTE: Part II is here.] Robin Pogrebin's initial NY Times article, imputing "diminished stature" to the Brooklyn Museum, provoked considerable backlash from the museum profession. But Robin didn't back down; she doubled down. In Sunday's astonishing front-page Arts & Leisure piece, she took it upon herself to convene an ad hoc panel of 17 … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part I

The differences between the "before" and "after" photos that I recently published of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic"---pre- and post-conservation---were indeed "startling," as I had opined in both CultureGrrl and the Huffington Post.But even more startling was the museum's subsequent admission to me and other art journalists that it had sent us the wrong images. (See, for example, … [Read more...] about Conservation Confusion: Philadelphia Museum’s “Gross Clinic” Photo Flub

Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912 At the commemorative ceremony celebrating the settlement of the Nazi loot-related dispute over Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," David Marwell, the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (which hosted the event), highlighted a lesson to be learned from "Wally": She can teach us about justice, even justice that comes after more than … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally” Settlement: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

[For my analysis of the settlement, go here.]Lawyers, prosecutors and a Bondi family member did all the talking at Thursday's commemorative ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement of the Bondi family's claims against the Leopold Museum, Vienna, in connection with Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," expropriated by the Nazis from Lea Bondi Jaray in 1939 and later acquired by … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally”: Spotlight on the Offstage Heroes

Brandeis in the fallBrandeis University's embattled Rose Art Museum finds itself without a fall show...again.The Boston Globe reported today that James Rosenquist suddenly had second thoughts about supplying his works for a one-man show that had been hastily scheduled at the embattled museum after three other artists---Bill Viola, Eric Fischl and April Gornik---had abruptly … [Read more...] about Rose Blows: Rosenquist Pulls Out of Brandeis Commitment

The stage is set: Photo of Lea Bondi[More on the settlement, here and here.]The lobby of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York had the festive air of a Bar Mitzvah reception, sans liquor and hors d'oeuvres, with perhaps 50 farflung Bondis from all generations reuniting for the ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement from the Leopold Museum, Vienna, to the heirs of … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally’s” Unveiling: Tearful, Joyful Reunion of Lea Bondi’s Descendants

Janet Landay, AAMD's executive director: Who's in charge here?This appears to be a case of the left side of the mouth not knowing what the right side is saying:As I reported on Monday, Kaywin Feldman, the new president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, stated in her July President's Message, posted on AAMD's website, that member institutions (including her own … [Read more...] about Deaccession Confusion: Mixed Messages from AAMD

Anne-Marie Wagener, director of press and PR at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), responds to AAMD Tweets Again: President Feldman's Inaugural Missive:Just to let you know that you are correct in saying that the MIA does not have any deaccessions posted online. That's because we do not currently have any deaccessions in the queue. In Kaywin's letter she did say that the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Deaccession Transparency