Uncategorized

Carmen Giménez, Guggenheim Museum's curator of 20th-century art, speaking at "Picasso Black and White" press preview On right: "Woman with Outstretched Arms," 1961, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Photo by Lee Rosenbaum At yesterday morning's press preview for the Guggenheim Museum's Picasso: Black and White (to Jan. 23), director Richard Armstrong informed the scribe tribe … [Read more...] about Playing Favorites in “Black and White”: Guggenheim Refuses to Release Conservators’ Findings on Picasso’s “Woman Ironing”

David and Gladys Wright House, 1950-52, designed by Frank Lloyd WrightPhoto from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy's preservation petition We are not going to let them demolish that building!Brendan Mahoney, senior policy advisor to Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, today made this unequivocal declaration to CultureGrrl, regarding the endangered Frank Lloyd Wright house … [Read more...] about News Flash: Police Guard Phoenix’s Wright House; “Stand Still” Agreement Forestalls a Knock-Down

Late this morning, this intriguing announcement landed in my inbox from LA MOCA:This seemed eminently newsworthy, especially since director Jeffrey Deitch had promised to the LA Times that he would beef up his battle-scarred board with "two significant new trustees...within days." (That was on Aug. 4.) I was even more interested in learning what the press release would say … [Read more...] about MOCA’s “Attack” Press Release: Two New Trustees and a “Support[ive]” Board

Worth Preserving: A staircase at the CorcoranPhoto by Lee RosenbaumRebecca Miller, executive director of the DC Preservation League, responds to Preservationist Battle: National Historic Places Designation Sought for Interior of Corcoran Gallery: Although I appreciate the coverage of our filing, I'm concerned by the perception that it was a hostile act. Your … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Executive Director of DC Preservation League on the Corcoran Filing

"One Way" to the Corcoran Photo by Lee Rosenbaum When I visited the Corcoran Gallery during a brief sojourn in Washington two Saturdays ago, I was forcefully struck by how sadly inappropriate it would be for this grand, skylit art palace to be relegated to more mundane commercial purposes, as would likely happen if the financially pressed museum and school were to opt for … [Read more...] about Preservationist Battle: National Historic Places Designation Sought for Interior of Corcoran Gallery

President Obama in the Oval Office (with a bronze on the left that looks inauspiciously like an "end of the trail" piece)Ordinarily I ignore Presidential (and Gubernatorial and Mayoral) proclamations as more ceremonial than substantive. But in this election year, with Mitt Romney repeatedly expressing his commitment to ax federal arts support, it's worth noting that in addition … [Read more...] about “National Arts & Humanities Month”: President Obama Reasserts His Arts Support

Van Gogh via Puccini, on the opera stage: "Starry Night" from MoMA to MomusWhile we're on the topic of the Barnes Foundation, did you know that it's finally lending some of its paintings?This just in from the Opera Company of Philadelphia:An inspired new production of Puccini's ultra-romantic blockbuster [!?!], "La Bohème," prominently features an array of the world's most … [Read more...] about Bel Canto: Barnes, Philadelphia Museum and MoMA “Lend” Masterpieces to “La Boheme”

Image of Arkell Museum from its homepageBy Jonathan HillyerI was amused by this idealized image of the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, which appears on the museum's homepage and is the sole illustration for my Wall Street Journal article today that focuses on this art-rich, cash-poor, under-the-radar museum. If my praise of the Arkell's collection induces you to take a … [Read more...] about Arkell Museum Slideshow: Companion to My WSJ “Hidden in the Valley” Piece

The Barnes Foundation's green roofAll photos by Lee RosenbaumThe Barnes Foundation has just announced that at 2 p.m. today its Tod Williams- and Billie Tsien-designed new facility will receive LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it "the first major art and education institution in the country" to achieve this highest level of … [Read more...] about “Green Machine”: Barnes Foundation Honored with LEED Platinum Designation UPDATED

Diane Forsberg, director of the Arkell Museum, with one of her favorite paintings in its American art collection George Inness, "The Passing Shower," c. 1860-68Photo by Lee RosenbaumLast month I wrote (here and here) about five well known art museums that are currently in extremis or slowly recovering from near-death experiences---the Detroit Institute of Arts, Corcoran … [Read more...] about Who Knew? My WSJ Piece on the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, NY

Photo by Lee RosenbaumThose of you who follow @CultureGrrl on Twitter know that I took a busman's holiday to museums in both Philadelphia and Washington last weekend.In Philadelphia, during this 10-day period of the Jewish high holidays, I paid a long overdue first visit to the two-year-old James Polshek-designed National Museum of American Jewish History, which is featuring an … [Read more...] about “Most Important Document in American Jewish History” at Philadelphia’s Jewish Museum CORRECTED

Olga VisoPresident Obama (or whoever advises him on cultural appointments) must have a thing for female art museum directors with strong Washington connections. Having last July nominated Dorothy Kosinski, the director of the Phillips Collection, Washington, for a spot on the National Council on the Humanities, he yesterday announced his intention to nominate Olga Viso, the … [Read more...] about Olga Viso, Walker Art Center’s Director, Named to National Council on the Arts (but will she serve?)

The calm before the storm: Entrance to Metropolitan Museum's critically slammed exhibition, enlivened by two Andy Warhol 1967 self-portraits from the Detroit Institute of ArtsAll photos by Lee RosenbaumWith the reviews mostly in, the Metropolitan Museum's Regarding Warhol is starting to seem like a train wreck: Wife-and-husband art critics Roberta Smith (NY Times) and Jerry … [Read more...] about MeTube: Warhol’s Campbell (the soup, not the Met’s director)

It's just getting underway on these shores, but across the pond, Ask A Curator, today's Twitter-based conversation with museums around the world, is in full swing. Here's a clickable list of U.S. museums that will cheerfully entertain your inquiries. The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney are on board, but not the Metropolitan Museum or the Guggenheim. [CORRECTION: The … [Read more...] about “Ask A Curator” Is Live on Twitter: Join the International Conversation! CORRECTED and UPDATED

Video-blogger at workPhoto © by Jill KrementzMy blog posts are strictly the result of my own news sense (or lack thereof). As you know, I choose to write about (and point my cameras at) only a select group of exhibitions, events and publications. I have enough enthusiastic feedback and visitor traffic to know that what I'm interested in, you're interested in.While my coverage … [Read more...] about How to Get Yourself on CultureGrrl UPDATED