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Renzo Piano's design for the new downtown WhitneyCourtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Cooper, Robertson & Partners In a press release dated today, the Whitney Museum misleadingly said that it "today released plans" for its "new six-floor, 185,000-square-foot building" in downtown Manhattan's Meatpacking District. Actually, it released those plans earlier than … [Read more...] about Westside Whitney: Fortress Mentality?

Sandro BondiAccording to Louis Godart, advisor on culture to Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, Sandro Bondi (above) is likely be named that country's new minister of culture, succeeding the high-profile activist, Francesco Rutelli. Bondi is head of Forza Italia, the political party of Silvio Berlusconi, the recently elected prime minister.Rutelli is not only losing his … [Read more...] about Berlusconi Crony: Is This Italy’s New Culture Minister?

Thomas Eakins, two sketches for the 1888 painting "Cowboys in the Badlands" Maybe it's time for the Association of Art Museum Directors to trash its "Criteria for Deaccessioning and Disposal." These published guidelines are being conspicuously and repeatedly ignored by institutions eager to acquire works that they believe they can't pay for without selling other works … [Read more...] about What’s Gross About the “Gross Clinic” Deaccessions

Mary BeardI was once enshrined on the "Worst of the Web" list of another art blogger (who shall remain nameless). So just at the moment when I've decided to slow down (have I done that yet?), it was nice to make the "excellent blog" list of a colleague I greatly admire, Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge, classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and the … [Read more...] about Vote of Confidence: Blog Slogger Makes British Prof’s Top-10 List

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl," 1918 (unfinished) E. Randol Schoenberg, the lawyer who obtained restitution from Austria to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer of five works by Gustav Klimt (including the famed "Adele Bloch-Bauer I"), informs me that the Austrian Supreme Court last week rejected the heirs' appeal of a 2006 arbitration decision against the return … [Read more...] about News Flash: Austrian Supreme Court Rejects Bloch-Bauer Heirs’ Appeal for Sixth Klimt

Architect's rendering of 80 South Street, Santiago CalatravaGeorge Howe's and William Lescaze's model of unexecuted proposal for the new Museum of Modern Art, 1930, on recent display at MoMABy Guest Blogger Martin FillerFor superstar architect Santiago Calatrava, the cruelest month has indeed been April, which witnessed the demise of one of his headline-making New York City … [Read more...] about Calatrava Trauma: Bird Man Gets His Wings Clipped in Manhattan

As if the U.S. News & World Report college rankings weren't bad enough, now we've got the Chronicle of Higher Education's 2007 Art History and Criticism Productivity Index [via Art History Newsletter]. The index "compiles overall institutional rankings on 375 universities that offer the Ph.D. degree." (I'll give you one guess as to which school is Number One.) Yardsticks … [Read more...] about Art History Productivity Index: Rankled by Another University Ranking

As much as I appreciate them, I don't usually post the many "love your blog" comments that hit my inbox, since my egotistical vanity is already amply in evidence in this space. But my semi-valedictory Middle-Aged Blog Slog post evoked such an outpouring of warm responses that I felt I should gratefully acknowledge them by adding a few (with permission) to the end of that essay, … [Read more...] about Cult of CultureGrrl: Readers’ “Blog Slog” Comments Posted

You can hear my Philadelphia Public Radio soundbite on the disposal of three Eakinses by the Philadelphia Museum here. They did use my comment that I thought the sale was inappropriate but executed in the most responsible way possible, under the circumstances. This was followed by museum director Anne d'Harnoncourt's observation that "you don't part with anything by Eakins … [Read more...] about My Public Radio Commentary on the Philadelphia Museum’s Eakins Disposals

Sold by Philadelphia Museum:Thomas Eakins, "Cowboy Singing," 1892Kept by Philadelphia Museum:Thomas Eakins, "Home Ranch," 1892Just when I had decided I wasn't going to rush to comment about the Philadelphia Museum's Eakins disposals that have raised the last of the funds needed to help defray its $34-million half-share of the purchase price for "The Gross Clinic," WHYY, … [Read more...] about “Gross Clinic” Disposals: Why is this “Cowboy Singing”?

Tatami Whammy: Me and My TeaWhat's this? Blogging can be hazardous to your health?Matt Richtel's recent story about dropped-dead middle-aged bloggers, published in the NY Times on the day that I left for my (non-working) vacation in Japan, struck a chord. So did a comment by a Buddhist monk who spoke to my tour group before a CliffsNotes version of a Japanese tea ceremony … [Read more...] about Middle-Aged Blog Slog: CultureGrrl’s Second-Anniversary Makeover

Jeff Koons in yesterday's press scrum at the Metropolitan Museum's roof gardenMemo to the Metropolitan Museum: Does the artworld really need another high-profile showcase for Jeff Koons' faux inflatables? Is it particularly desirable to borrow two of them from the coveted private collection of Steve Cohen, whose loans have recently been seen enriching just about every New York … [Read more...] about Koons Lampoon: Joy to the Met, Sorrow at LACMA

Brett Campbell, a Portland-based arts writer, responds to Martin Filler's guest blog post, MAD's Striptease: Cloepfil Shows New York What He's Got: Brad Cloepfil has done some magnificent work around the country and is on his way to becoming one of America's leading museum architects. This project [the new Museum of Arts & Design] was fraught with challenges from … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Arts Writer Brett Campbell Defends Brad Cloepfil

Life is short for Italian culture ministers (as you can see on this list of past officeholders). The Great Repatriator, Francesco Rutelli (above), is no exception: With the recent election of Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's new (and former) prime minister, a new culture minister will be named, according to Louis Godart, advisor on culture to Italy's president, responding to my … [Read more...] about News Flash: Rutelli Out as Culture Minister

Architect's rendering of 53 W. 53rd Street---the "Tour Verre"Photo: Ateliers Jean NouvelWhy am I not surprised? While I was away in Japan (where I marveled at I.M. Pei's awe-inspiring Miho Museum and the "wow"-worthy Kansai International Airport Terminal on a manmade island in Osaka, which I later discovered had been designed by Renzo Piano), Jean Nouvel's MoMA Monster was … [Read more...] about Nouvel News: MoMA Monster Gets Drubbed (and defended)