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Steve Wynn's "Le Rêve," right, on the original catalogue cover from MoMA's landmark 2003 showHolland Cotter, whose art criticism I generally esteem, owns the front page of today's "Fine Arts" section in the NY Times, with reviews of both Acquavella's Picasso show (which I discussed here) and the Metropolitan Museum's "The Philippe de Montebello Years," which opens today (and … [Read more...] about Holland Cotter’s Bad-News Day: Off-Base Times Reviews of Philippe and Picasso Shows

Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the four Eliasson waterfalls at duskThe New York City government's number crunchers are at it again, trying to quantify the "economic impact" of a public art project whose chief value was not monetary but aesthetic and experiential---Olafur Eliasson's "Waterfalls." In announcing that "Waterfalls" had "an estimated economic impact of $69 … [Read more...] about “Waterfalls” Trickle-Down Theory: Did Eliasson Really Generate $69 Million for the City?

Robert Irwin's garden at the Getty Center last winter The very real dangers of fire and earthquake have always made the Getty Center a risky venue for masterpieces. This morning, for the first time that I can remember, the threat, temporarily, became frighteningly real: Andrew Blankstein, Ari Bloomekatz and Jia-Rui Chong of the LA Times report: Firefighters have … [Read more...] about Getty Closed Today Due to Nearby Blaze, Now Extinguished

"Ancient Egyptian Dog Collar," $85 at the Tut Show in PhiladelphiaHe's baa-a-a-ack!The controversial and sometimes downright tacky King Tut extravaganza is the zombie that refuses to die: The de Young museum, San Francisco, recently announced that the bells-and-whistles blockbuster will pack 'em in next year at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, from June 27, 2009 through Mar. … [Read more...] about Golden Boy to Golden Gate Park: King Tut to Visit San Francisco

November ARTnewsHow will the Global Guggenheim change under the directorship of Richard Armstrong, who replaces Tom Krens as director on Nov. 4?According to executive editor Robin Cembalest's piece for the November issue of ARTnews (now online):The vision now is of a kinder, gentler globalism, focused not so much on building multimillion-dollar megastructures by starchitects … [Read more...] about ARTnews on Armstrong-ing the Guggenheim

I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this: Posted Sunday on a general-interest news and blog site was an excerpt from an about-to-be-published book ostensibly dealing with a serious subject that I frequently blog about. But the only subject that this long excerpt concerns itself with is the allegedly lurid side of personal lives (in the past, if not the present) at a major … [Read more...] about Prurient Publication: Do We Care About the Sex Lives of Museum Staffers?

Steve Wynn's restored Picasso, "Le Rêve, at Acquavella Galleries, New York, with Steve Cohen's Picasso, "Femme Nu Couchée," on right  After I wrote harshly about museums' lending works to commercial gallery shows in general and to Acquavella's just-opened Picasso show in particular, the gallery's diplomatic director, Michael Findlay, graciously invited me to peruse the … [Read more...] about Acquavella Displays Wynn’s Restored “Le Rêve” and Two Picassos that Steve Cohen DID Buy

Celebrants at last week's Barnes-raising ceremony included: Bernard Watson, chairman of the Barnes Foundation's board, second from left; Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, fifth from left; Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, sixth from left; Barnes president and CEO Derek Gillman, third from rightPennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell dropped two surprises into his comments at last … [Read more...] about Philadelphia Museum Connection: Gov. Rendell Reveals Perelman’s Role in the Philly Barnes

New book by the Metropolitan Museum's head of external affairsHarold Holzer, who moonlights as a Lincoln scholar when he's not working as the Metropolitan Museum's senior vice president for external affairs (or is he moonlighting at the Met?), will publish later this month yet another of his many books on the 16th President: Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the … [Read more...] about Met’s Harold Holzer Focuses on Director-Elect and a President-Elect

Withdrawn from Bonhams: Large early Apulian red-figure hydria, attributed to the Painter of the Berlin Dancing Girl, ca. 410-400 B.C. Estimate: £80,000-120,000 Bonhams is starting to seem like the auction house of choice for sellers who are concerned that their disposals might meet with disapproval if information about them were more widely disseminated, as would happen if the … [Read more...] about Bonhams Antiquities Controversy: 10 Works Withdrawn After Italy Intervenes

Wharton Esherick cherrywood table, consigned by Museum of Arts and Design to be sold Dec. 10 at Bonhams While the Museum of Arts and Design was loudly trumpeting the opening of its new facility on Columbus Circle, it was also quietly planning the sale of objects from its collection---not at Sotheby's or Christie's, but at the more under-the-radar, British-based Bonhams. My … [Read more...] about MAD Deaccessions: Museum of Arts and Design’s Disposals at Bonhams

Fisk University's Carl Van Vechten Art GalleryI could find nothing to indicate this on Fisk University's website, which still says that the Carl Van Vechten Gallery is "currently closed to the public." But Blake Farmer of Nashville Public Radio reports [via]:The famous Stieglitz collection at Fisk University is in the public eye for the first time in nearly three years. People … [Read more...] about Fisk’s Stieglitz Collection: Back on View at Last?

Catherine Opie, "Mitch," 1994, courtesy of the artist and Regen Projects, Los AngelesAt the end of her NY Times review of the Elizabeth Peyton show that just opened at the New Museum, Roberta Smith heralded the "girly art" movement, which she described as "a strand of painting that has historically been dismissed or marginalized, and for which respect tends to come late, if at … [Read more...] about NYC’s Season of the Woman: Peyton, Opie, Dumas, Heilman

Pablo Picasso, "Le Rêve," 1932, Private CollectionThe list of commercial dealers shows to which museums have imprudently lent both their art and their prestige is growing: Picasso's Marie-Thérèse, opening Tuesday at Acquavella Galleries, New York, includes examples from the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum and the Tate, in addition to collector Steve … [Read more...] about Acquavella’s Wynnsome Show: Another Museum/Commercial Gallery Nexus

This is, of course, the sequel to a previous CultureGrrl post, Desperately Seeking John McCain's Arts Policy.With two debates down and one to go, neither Presidential candidate has had anything to say on national television about the arts. This would seem to indicate that the economy, health care and foreign policy are more important issues than funding for the National … [Read more...] about Finally Finding John McCain’s Arts Policy