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Maya Ahluwalia, marketing and public relations manager for Gurhan, responds to my criticism (in Golden "Afghanistan" Now at the Met) of the high-priced Gurhan-designed jewelry sold at the Metropolitan Museum's shop in connection with Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul:I thought that a little background on Gurhan [Orhan], his collaboration with the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Gurhan’s Spokesperson Defends the Met’s High-Priced “Afghanistan” Jewelry

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, for whom a planned museum in Abu Dhabi is to be named There's not going to be a British Museum Abu Dhabi, but Neil MacGregor is joining his directorial colleagues from the Louvre and the Guggenheim in contributing his institution's expertise and lending its objects to another new museum in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District. … [Read more...] about Abu Dhabi Update: British Museum Participates in Saadiyat Island’s Museum-Development Spree

Installing Christoph Büchel's "Training Ground for Democracy" at MASS MoCA (before it was dismantled, unfinished)Just when we thought MASS MoCA had moved on from its Büchel Debacle, we've learned from Martin Bromirski's Anaba blog that artist Christoph Büchel has pursued the appeal of his case against the North Adams, MA, museum to the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, … [Read more...] about “Training Ground” for Lawyers: Büchel Debacle Back in Court

Readers respond to Serota and MacGregor: Why They Don't Want to Direct U.S. Museums.Alan Wallach, professor of art and art history and of American studies at the College of William and Mary, writes:England has a social-democratic political culture ("socialist," according to the current U.S. right-wing political lexicon) and the English public takes certain prerogatives as … [Read more...] about BlogBacks on the MacGregor/Serota Putdown of U.S. Museums

Neil MacGregor, director of the British MuseumIt was one of those astonishing "did he really say that?" moments.The speaker was Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, near the end of his riff on why the Elgin Marbles should remain at the British Museum (which he directs). His comments were part of this conversation with Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate. John … [Read more...] about MacGregor Whopper: Greek Government “Simply Continued Elgin’s Practice”

Tom Campbell speaking at his first Met press conference last September as director-designate, while his predecessor listensRebecca Mead's July 27 New Yorker profile of the Metropolitan Museum's new director, Tom Campbell, is now online. While I learned more about his impressive expertise regarding tapestries, his personal qualities, not to mention his aspirations, vision and … [Read more...] about New Yorker’s Tom Campbell Profile: Met’s New Director Still an Enigma

Don't just dispose of museum objects. Repurpose them!That's the mischievously subversive concept behind Recycle LACMA, the parodic blog of Los Angeles-based artist Robert Fontenot. Here's the blog's description of his project:On Jan. 14th, 2009 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced [link added] that it was deaccessioning more than 100 items from its costumes … [Read more...] about “Recycle LACMA”: Hilarious Send-Up of Deaccessioning, LA-Style

Museum wonks (that's all of you, right?) will need to see this video [via], of a recent conversation at the London School of Economics and Political Science between Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, who mutually pondered, in wry and witty fashion, "The Museum of the 21st Century." One of the many compatibilities of these … [Read more...] about Serota and MacGregor: Why They Don’t Want to Direct U.S. Museums

Designer labels: Metropolitan Museum ancient Near Eastern art curators Elisabetta Valtz Fino (left) and Joan AruzAddressing the press at the Metropolitan Museum, the final U.S. venue for Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (to Sept. 20), Fredrik Hiebert, curator for the National Geographic Society, the show's co-organizer, caused me to do a double-take … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum’s Hidden Treasures of “Afghanistan”: Its Curators

Philippe de Montebello in the waning days of his reign (last fall at the Metropolitan Museum)Here it is, studious art-lings---the course description (scroll to P. 6) for the former Metropolitan Museum director's fall foray into academia at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts: THE MEANING OF MUSEUMS (Lecture) G43.2035.002 Philippe de Montebello Tuesday 10:00am-Noon The … [Read more...] about Professor Philippe de Montebello’s NYU Graduate Course: “The Meaning of Museums”

Fisk University's exultant press release, summarizing yesterday's 19-page decision by the Tennessee Court of Appeals that keeps alive the university's hope to monetize its Stieglitz Collection, misleadingly suggests that the proposed collection-sharing arrangement with Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum is nearly a done deal:Fisk University announced today that the Tennessee … [Read more...] about Fisk-Walton News Flash: Appeals Court Decision Puts Collection-Sharing Deal Back in Play

Picasso, "The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro," 1909, Museum of Modern Art, fractional and promised gift of David Rockefeller © 2009 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York At last, David Rockefeller's 1909 seminal Cubist Picasso, above, will return to view on Friday at the Museum of Modern Art, after an absence of more than four years. It will be part of … [Read more...] about David Rockefeller’s Absent Cubist Picasso to Return to MoMA (finally!) UPDATED

WQXR is the soundtrack of my life. After 65 years of ownership, the NY Times is ditching New York City's only all-classical music station to save its dying journalistic model---news printed daily on paper. As I said in last night's tweet, I'd rather give up the hardcopy newspaper (and read the Times online) than lose the station.WQXR will be owned and operated by WNYC, New York … [Read more...] about Civilization Disintegration: NY Times Ditches Its Classical Music Station

Jay Raymond, a former student and teacher at the Barnes Foundation, and a founding member of Friends of the Barnes Foundation (the ad hoc group opposing its move to Philly), responds to Barnes Design (Non)Update: The most damning news in your report is Andrew Stewart's [the Barnes' spokesperson's] statement that they have raised $156 million. In May 2006, the [Philadelphia] … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Critic of Barnes’ Move Flags Its Stalled Fundraising

Afghan silver and lapis tiered necklace from Artizan Sarai, $135Mariam Atash Nawabi, co-founder of Artizan Sarai, an exporter of objects by artisans in economically disadvantaged areas of the world, including Afghanistan, India, Turkey, and Morocco, reponds to Golden Afghanistan Now at the Met: A Blockbuster for Love, Not Money:I agree with you that the exhibition [the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Contemporary Afghan Jewelry Exporter Scorns Met’s Pricey Wares