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Floundering founder: William Merritt Chase, "Portrait of William B. Dickson," 1905[Updated here, with subsequent Hirshhorn disposal of Eakinses at Sotheby's.] At yesterday's American art sale at Christie's, the Montclair Art Museum attempted to sell some 28 works and the Hirshhorn Museum put three Eakinses on the block. Montclair sold 23 works (five unsold), for a hammer total … [Read more...] about Deaccession Updates: Montclair, Hirshhorn

Dressing the First Lady is the best revenge.Fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, who went public with his displeasure over being omitted from the Metropolitan Museum's "The Model as Muse" exhibition, blaming it on the influence of Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue, got even when America's new arbiter of taste, Michelle Obama, wore one of his creations to the opening night … [Read more...] about Wintour Detour: Michelle Models Alaïa for ABT Gala (attended by Anna)

National Arts Club: Cocktails, anyone? Who needs the Pulitzer anyway? CultureGrrl has just been awarded the "Best Blog" designation from the Newswomen's Club of New York, whose distinguished 2009 winners also include Kelly Crow, my Wall Street Journal colleague. I got the blog nod for "Stealth Deaccessions by the National Academy"---this post and the subsequent … [Read more...] about “Best Blog”: CultureGrrl Wins “Front Page Award” of Newswomen’s Club of NY

Michelle Obama's official portraitIf, like me, you would have liked to have been present at today's ribbon cutting by First Lady Michelle Obama at the Metropolitan Museum's renovated and reimagined American Wing, now you can! (I abandoned my own request to be included, when I learned on Saturday that I would have a more pressing commitment---my aunt's funeral.)I've posted in … [Read more...] about Text of Michelle Obama’s Speech at Metropolitan Museum’s Ribbon Cutting

Where is that Rose Museum arrow (above) pointing?Geoff Edgers reports in today's Boston Globe:Yesterday marked the closing of the Rose's temporary exhibitions on 20th-century abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann and a second show, "Saints & Sinners." The day had special significance because on July 22, when the museum's doors reopen, the Rose will probably not have a proper … [Read more...] about The Rose Closes (for now)

At the press preview for the Metropolitan Museum's "The Model as Muse" show, an E! television reporter had asked the museum's curator, Harold Koda, whether Michelle Obama would be attending the Costume Institute's gala that night. He deftly sidestepped, saying that he hoped that the President's wife would at some point visit the museum, to demonstrate her support for the … [Read more...] about First Lady as Muse: Michelle Obama to Visit the Met (and the ABT)

I WILL!If all goes according to plan, my plane will be taking off at noon tomorrow to transport me to the (very) Windy (and thunderstorm-y) City, to cover (for the Wall Street Journal) the opening of the Art Institute of Chicago's Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing. The last time I was in Chicago, I was researching a WSJ story about the difficulties then confronting the now … [Read more...] about Virago in Chicago: Winging to the Modern Wing

Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Met's Costume Institute, at the entrance to its new extravaganza, "The Model as Muse"There are elephants in the room at the Metropolitan Museum's absorbing, highly entertaining (but also highly problematic) The Model as Muse show (to Aug. 9). And those conspicuous pachyderms are not the huge cutouts looming at the entrance to the Costume … [Read more...] about Sponsor As Muse: Wintour, Jacobs and the Met’s Latest Fashion Faux Pas

Ned RifkinA year after his resignation from the top art spot at the Smithsonian Institution, Ned Rifkin has been named director of the Blanton Museum of the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his departure from his federal post as undersecretary of art, he oversaw a major report by a panel of distinguished art museum officials. The report's findings were particularly … [Read more...] about Ned Rifkin Goes Back to Texas: From Smithsonian Undersecretary to Blanton Museum Head

Monet, "Sailboat on the Little Branch of the Seine, Argenteuil," 1872 ($3.5 million at Sotheby's)Two of the three Havemeyer paintings that sold well above their presale estimates at Sotheby's on Tuesday had a connection to the Metropolitan Museum going far beyond their 1993 appearance in the museum's exhibition of the Havemeyer Collection.As disclosed in Sotheby's auction … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum Got First Chance to Buy Auctioned Havemeyer Pictures

Picasso, "Musketeer with Pipe," 1968, sold for $14.64 millionI didn't stand watch at Christie's tonight with the rest of the art-scribe tribe, but it seems clear from the results of this evening's Impressionist/Modern sale that gloating must have occurred at the post-sale press conference: Some 38 of the 48 lots offered found buyers---about the same sold-lot percentage as at … [Read more...] about Christie’s Solid $102.77-Million Sale: One Star Lot (Picasso) Sells; Another (Ernst) Withdrawn Beforehand

Sotheby's unsold Picasso, the auction's cover lotI'm not going to exhaustively cover the evening sales this season. It's probably better to avert our eyes from the shrunken catalogues with their shrunken estimates.So let's get this over with quickly: Sotheby's Impressionist/Modern sale tonight fetched a hammer total of $52.95 million, against its presale estimate of $81.5-118.8 … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Depressing Start to the Spring Evening Sales

Ron Hartwig, the J. Paul Getty Trust's vice president for communications, responds to my comments about the Getty's label for its so-called "Aphrodite," which I discussed in the last part of Iowa's Pollock at the Figge: The Masterpiece and the Myth:To answer your question about why gallery labels sometimes disagree with scholarship, and with regard to our particular case, I'd … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Ron Hartwig of the Getty on “Probably Aphrodite” (or not)

Pollock, "Mural," 1943, University of Iowa Museum of Art, as installed at the Figge Art Museum "I'm just totally awed and amazed by it," I lamely told an Iowa television interviewer, who popped the "what-do-you-think?" question, only a few moments after I had set eyes on "Mural." That monumental 1943 Pollock, owned by the flood-ravaged University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa … [Read more...] about Iowa’s Pollock at the Figge: The Masterpiece and the Myth

On Tuesday evening, I sent an e-mail blast to those of you who have donated to the blog, to let you know that I will be sending you e-mail notifications of future postings, now that I'm slowing down the pace of my additions. If you donated and did not receive the message that I sent, please let me know by clicking the "Contact Me" link in the middle column. I think I got … [Read more...] about A Bit of Housekeeping: Future CultureGrrl Alerts for Donors