Wondering who would be chosen to be the Wall Street Journal's next drama critic (in the wake of the sudden, unexpected demise of Terry Teachout on Jan. 13), I did a double take when I came upon this review in Saturday's paper---a harsh putdown of the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's “Plaza Suite,” starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker (a married couple in real … [Read more...] about Charles Isherwood’s Surprising, Unheralded Debut as the Wall Street Journal‘s New Theater Critic
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Assaying Ringgold: Feeling the City Vibe While Grappling with My Ambivalence
For a variety of reasons, it's taken me too long to write this appraisal of a show that I saw 1½ months ago. For one thing, I was knocked sideways by the events in Ukraine. When I finally stumbled back to the keyboard, the international crisis' impact on the artworld (as well as other breaking cultural news) seemed to me more urgent than an exhibition review. Also holding … [Read more...] about Assaying Ringgold: Feeling the City Vibe While Grappling with My Ambivalence
Next Round in the Artists’ Resale Royalties Battle: Can Fairchain Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
Fairchain, a self-described new platform for "granting artists tradable residual rights [emphasis added] to their creative product" is "gaining traction with artists and gallerists," writes Robin Pogrebin in today's NY Times. "Tradable residual rights"? That would seem to be a new version of what we formerly referred to as "artists' resale royalties" (back in the heydays of … [Read more...] about Next Round in the Artists’ Resale Royalties Battle: Can Fairchain Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
Increased Cultural Isolation of Russia: Hermitage’s International Board of Museum Leaders Is Suspended UPDATED
UPDATE: In response to my query, the National Gallery, Washington, sent me this explanation as to why Kaywin Feldman, its director, was no longer on the Hermitage's International Advisory Board: Kaywin resigned from her Hermitage IAB board service in early March, consistent with the spirit of guidance issued by the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce, as part … [Read more...] about Increased Cultural Isolation of Russia: Hermitage’s International Board of Museum Leaders Is Suspended UPDATED
More on the MoMA Stabbing: Where Were the Guards? UPDATED
UPDATE: As reported by the NY Times and others, the alleged assailant of two Museum of Modern Art employees was arrested early today (Tuesday) in Philadelphia. And MoMA, which had been mum about this disturbing, much publicized incident, finally broke its silence with a tweet this morning, prior to reopening its doors to visitors after a two-day closure: We’ve reopened today … [Read more...] about More on the MoMA Stabbing: Where Were the Guards? UPDATED
Two Reportedly Stabbed at Museum of Modern Art (Multiple Reports)–UPDATED THRICE
According to reports in the NY Times, the NY Post and others, two women were stabbed this afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art and were said to be in "stable" (NY Times) or in "not life-threatening" (NY Post) condition. The suspect, according to the Post, was "believed to be a disgruntled former employee" and "is known to police." UPDATE: According to a spokesperson for the NY … [Read more...] about Two Reportedly Stabbed at Museum of Modern Art (Multiple Reports)–UPDATED THRICE
Ukraine’s Pain: How the Artworld Has Responded (and how you might too)
For the past week, I've been paralyzed by blogger's block, unable to focus on artworld controversies that seemed inconsequential in the context of what's been happening in Ukraine. I've been transfixed by Ukrainian news on my Twitter feed, particularly the posts of the Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent)---a good on-the-ground English-language source of breaking news that … [Read more...] about Ukraine’s Pain: How the Artworld Has Responded (and how you might too)
Henninger’s Non Sequiturs: Wall Street Journal’s Deputy Editor Blunders Through Clumsy Cultural Commentary
In authoring articles for a major newspaper, no journalist---not even a highly regarded veteran like Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page---should be exempt from the exacting scrutiny of fact-checkers, particularly when trying to navigate through territory outside the writer's usual stomping grounds. In venturing outside of politics (and … [Read more...] about Henninger’s Non Sequiturs: Wall Street Journal’s Deputy Editor Blunders Through Clumsy Cultural Commentary
Minimalist Paintings, Maximal Life: Carmen Herrera, Belatedly Appreciated, Dies at 106
In my review of Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight, which opened in September 2016, I praised the Whitney Museum for organizing it, but I took it to task for waiting too long: Given her centenarian status, I was astonished by the Whitney Museum’s decision to schedule its Carmen Herrera show to open more than a year after the Whitney had unveiled its new facility. I felt the show … [Read more...] about Minimalist Paintings, Maximal Life: Carmen Herrera, Belatedly Appreciated, Dies at 106
Material Confusion: Anachronistic Pigments in Botticelli’s “Man of Sorrows” Are Explained as “Restorations”
Knowledgeable experts must have been more than a little perplexed by the description published in The Art Newspaper (TAN) on Jan. 11 (and republished by CNN Style, an editorial partner of TAN), regarding Botticelli's "The Man of Sorrows," which sold at Sotheby's on Jan.27 for $45.4 million. One veteran conservator of old masters, having read published comments by Christopher … [Read more...] about Material Confusion: Anachronistic Pigments in Botticelli’s “Man of Sorrows” Are Explained as “Restorations”
Questions (& Conflicting Answers) About the $45.4-Million “Reattributed” Botticelli
In Sotheby's recap of its "Masters Week," headlined by the $45.4-million sale on of its much-touted "late masterpiece by Botticelli," the auction house noted that the painting was "previously believed to be produced by the artist’s students [but] in 2009 the Städel Museum in Frankfurt reattributed it to Botticelli, in part due to technical analysis conducted by Sotheby’s … [Read more...] about Questions (& Conflicting Answers) About the $45.4-Million “Reattributed” Botticelli
Unsettling Settlement: Montreal MFA & Bondil (Museum’s “Profoundly Hurt” Ex-Director) End Their Legal Dispute
When I last wrote (here and here) about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the place was in an unseemly state of administrative disarray: Its internationally respected but locally embattled director, Nathalie Bondil, having been summarily fired on July 13, 2020 from her 13-year position at the helm of the museum, fired back with a lawsuit seeking $2 million (Canadian dollars) in … [Read more...] about Unsettling Settlement: Montreal MFA & Bondil (Museum’s “Profoundly Hurt” Ex-Director) End Their Legal Dispute
Brooklyn Museum Strikes Gold with Ringgold (but misgivings dull the luster)
As you have probably by now heard, Faith Ringgold's panegyrical painting, titled: "For the Women's House" (short for: "Women's House of Detention"), is now being repurposed from a source of aspiration for female inmates to an attraction for Brooklyn museumgoers. According to Zachary Small's NY Times report (online today), the artist believes that this is "absolutely wonderful. … [Read more...] about Brooklyn Museum Strikes Gold with Ringgold (but misgivings dull the luster)
Finagled Finances: A MetMuseum-ologist (me) Fleshes Out Our Premier Museum’s Anorexic Annual Report
The Metropolitan Museum's pandemic-related "Emergency Relief Fund" (ERF), parsed by me in this post, was just one of several recent aberrations in that financially challenged museum's erratic money-management maneuvers. In my decades of scrutinizing the Met's annual reports, I've never seen one as anorexic as the Annual Report for Fiscal 2021 (ended June 30). Usually a hefty … [Read more...] about Finagled Finances: A MetMuseum-ologist (me) Fleshes Out Our Premier Museum’s Anorexic Annual Report
The Year in CultureGrrl, 2021 Edition: Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in a Covid-Clouded Universe
Meet the New Year. Same as the Old Year. My riff on "Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss"---the cynical sign-off of The Who's counterculture anthem, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”---is my summation of our situation at the end of 2021, with our lives still on hold at year's end, as they were at the beginning, and with pestilence having taken its grim toll. Those of us who were … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2021 Edition: Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in a Covid-Clouded Universe