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Jackson Pollock, "Mural," 1943, University of Iowa Museum of ArtLet's dispel the rumors and misinformed speculation that have been percolating in the blogosphere:First and most importantly: The University of Iowa will not be selling its Pollock "Mural." Let me repeat that (as Joe Biden would say): THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA IS NOT GOING TO SELL ITS POLLOCK "MURAL."This was first … [Read more...] about Iowa’s Pollock “Mural” Will NOT Be Sold; Q&A with Museum Director Pamela White

Click the image below for a video tour of the inaugural show, The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art, at the new Saatchi Gallery, set to open in London on Thursday. Given the weak results of Sotheby's Chinese contemporary art sales last week in Hong Kong, has collector Charles Saatchi lost his uncanny talent for market timing? The London Telegraph's veteran art critic, … [Read more...] about The New Saatchi Gallery: Telegraph’s Richard Dorment Narrates a Video Preview

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's two-volume catalogue of the Friede CollectionCultureGrrl applies one of two adjectives to the arts writers she most admires: "estimable" for the excellent, "indispensable" for the super-excellent.Kate Taylor, ace art reporter of the now-defunct NY Sun, ascended to the latter category. Today I was delighted to see her name and reportage … [Read more...] about Another John Friede Fracas: Kate Taylor’s NY Times Story UPDATED

Thomas Cole, "Return from the Tournament," 1841, consigned by the Corcoran Gallery to Christie'sIt has now been disclosed that the 10 American paintings selected for sale by the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, will be offered at the American paintings auction at Christie's, New York, on Dec. 4, with a total presale estimate of $4-6 million. Jacqueline Trescott of the Washington … [Read more...] about Corcoran Sends 10 American Paintings to Christie’s: Who Needs “Depth in the Collection”?

Seattle Art Museum, shouldering the offices of WaMuIn his remarks at last year's press preview for the expanded Seattle Art Museum, John Walsh, former director of the Getty Museum and a long-time friend of SAM's director, Mimi Gates, declared that Washington Mutual Bank (which jointly developed the museum-owned land) was "certainly a more reliable partner" than the … [Read more...] about Washington Washout: Seattle Art Museum’s WaMu Whammy

It's too late for me to append an update to my original post on 2007's highest salaried art museum directors, as (incompletely) identified by the Chronicle of Philanthropy's survey: Those of you who get to me from the ArtsJournal home page would miss the update, since two days (during which I celebrated the Jewish New Year) and a lot of other bloggers' posts have intervened. … [Read more...] about Museum Directors’ Salary Survey: An Update

Number One: MoMA's director, Glenn LowryPatrick Cole in today's Bloomberg, citing this article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (for which you'll need to purchase a day pass, if you don't subscribe), reports that the Museum of Modern Art's director, Glenn Lowry, was "the best-paid chief executive of a U.S. nonprofit art institution last year, with a total compensation package … [Read more...] about Who Are the Highest-Salaried Art Museum Directors?

Brad Cloepfil, architect of the Museum of Arts and Design (alias MAD)I've just learned a new tech trick. Click here to see my captioned slideshow of the Museum of Arts and Design. As you will see, both the museum and my slideshow have some foibles. I don't know why the photos look blurrier than they would if I merely posted them on the blog, and I can't eliminate the ad that … [Read more...] about Museum of Arts and Design: An Irreverent Slideshow

Nicolai OuroussoffNY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, in his review for tomorrow's NY Times "Arts & Leisure" section (online today), demonstrates astoundingly meanspirited wrongheadedness: He puts the brand new Museum of Arts and Design at the end of his top-seven list of New York City buildings that he believes ought to be "candidates for demolition."It's time … [Read more...] about Critical Meltdown: Ouroussoff Recommends Demolition for Cloepfil’s Just-Completed Museum of Arts and Design

Alejandro Puente, "Everything Goes," 1968-70, New AcquisitionThe Museum of Modern Art's latest installation of contemporary works from its collection, Here is Every, has fallen below the critical radar. But it's the best of the five deployments of its contemporary forces since the Taniguchi-designed museum expansion opened almost four years ago. It's also the most … [Read more...] about MoMA Conquers Curator-Devouring Second Floor, Makes Plans for Nouvel’s Mega-Tower CORRECTED

The Guardian's Jonathan JonesJonathan Jones, in his blog for the British Guardian newspaper, has a beef with the Queen.In his post today, Someone should rescue this royal loot (pegged to the upcoming Buckingham Palace exhibition, Bruegel to Rubens: Masters of Flemish Painting), he declares:The fact is, the exhibitions at the Queen's Gallery are just public relations. The whole … [Read more...] about Art Revolt: Should the Queen’s Collection Be Liberated?

G. Wayne Clough in his Georgia Tech daysA donor might want programming input---there is always going to be that element of nuance there. You have to understand the dangers and the possibilities.So said G. Wayne Clough, the new secretary of the Smithsonian, in his recent interview with the NY Times' Robin Pogrebin.The only "possibility" that can emerge from allowing patrons to … [Read more...] about G. Wayne Clough and the Problem of Smithsonian Donor Influence

Waiting to speak at yesterday's Guggenheim ribbon-cutting ceremoney, left to right: Tom Krens, Peter Lewis, Mayor Bloomberg, Jennifer Blei Stockman (Guggenheim board president)Both parts of the above headline are akin to "Dog Bites Man": They are so expected as to be hardly news at all. But for the record, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has just made the expected official … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Anoints Armstrong; Peter Lewis Jabs Tom Krens UPDATED

Here are my comments that were aired early this morning on New York Public Radio, which has more on its website, including a slideshow of objects. Click the arrow on the left. below, to listen now:There's one small way in which I wish I could fix what I said: In describing Michael Rakowitz's piece, "The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist (Recovered, Missing, Stolen Series)," … [Read more...] about Audio’s Up: Listen to My WNYC Appraisal of the New Museum of Arts and Design

Jenny Holzer, "For the Guggenheim": one masterpiece meets anotherEverything's happening at once this week in the New York art museum world: ---The opening of the striking new facility for the Museum of Arts and Design (about which I will post more later). The ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Bloomberg is at 11:30 a.m. today. The museum opens to the public Saturday.---The … [Read more...] about New York’s Banner Week for Museums: MAD, Whitney, Guggenheim