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The Incredible Reappearing Minister: Zahi HawassHow many times can Zahi Hawass come back from the dead?  The Art Newspaper (along with several Middle Eastern news sources, in Arabic) has reported that Hawass has been asked to stay on the job as Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, at least for now. Martin Bailey of the Art Newspaper writes:On July 19 he [Hawass] told the Art … [Read more...] about He’s Ba-a-a-ck! Hawass Reportedly Reassumes Antiquities Post (for now)

Late Friday afternoon, Stephen Bonadies, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' deputy director for collections and facilities management, responded with laudable swiftness and thoroughness to my request for a complete list of ancient Egyptian objects loaned to the museum by Virginia collector Joseph Lewis II, who was recently indicted (along with three dealers) for the alleged … [Read more...] about Dept. of Transparency: Virginia MFA Provides Complete List of Lewis’ Egyptian Loans (with images & provenance)

Farewell, Abdel-Fattah El-Banna. We hardly knew you. Erupting protests by Egyptian archaeologists (which I gave you a first heads-up about in my previous post) were evidently so effective that Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said, in effect, "Just kidding!" and withdrew his nomination of El-Banna to succeed Zahi Hawass as that country's antiquities minister. The nomination … [Read more...] about Egyptian Antiquities Ministry Revolving Door: El-Banna Out Before Sworn In

Abdel-Fattah El-Banna, Egypt's new Minister of AntiquitiesIn what the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram has described as "the latest cabinet reshuffle," Zahi Hawass is being replaced as Egypt's Minister of Antiquities by Abdel-Fattah El-Banna---one of many new appointments just announced by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. UPDATE: The link in the above paragraph now calls up a "Page … [Read more...] about Egypt’s Revamped Cabinet: Zahi Hawass Replaced by Abdel-Fattah El-Banna UPDATED and CORRECTED

Alex Nyerges, director, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts In my previous post about the indictment of collector Joseph Lewis II for alleged antiquities smuggling, I mentioned that this case "could reverberate through the U.S. museum and collecting communities." I have not yet heard form Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts says … [Read more...] about Virginia MFA’s Lewis Loans: More on Museums & the Indicted Egyptian Antiquities Collector

Under indictment: Egyptian art collector Joseph A. Lewis II A criminal indictment concerning alleged smuggling of Egyptian antiquities and money laundering, unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, could reverberate through the U.S. museum and collecting communities. Egyptian art collector Joseph A. Lewis II of Chesterfield County, VA, from … [Read more...] about Museum Alert: Egyptian Art Collector Joseph Lewis Charged with Smuggling, Money Laundering

Sign in Asia Society's lobby heralds show postponed from March to next month.In the history of exasperatingly difficult-to-organize exhibitions, few can top Asia Society's upcoming Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara, now expected to open on or about Aug. 9 for a run of about three months, as its curator, Adriana Proser, told me today. The show of sculptures, … [Read more...] about Logistical & Diplomatic Nightmare: Asia Society’s Postponed Pakistan Show Gets Back on Track

With the $31.2-million sale (to be consummated on July 22) of its flagship building on New York's W. 53rd Street, the financial trainwreck that is the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) was given 90 days to clear out of its 10-year-old Tod Williams Billie Tsien-designed facility. It will settle into what was had been its satellite location---a comparatively small site near Lincoln … [Read more...] about American Folk Art Museum’s Last Day on W. 53rd: My Narrated Slideshow (plus the Barnes Foundation’s closure)

                     Crystal Bridges at top right of the mapIn an official announcement, posted today, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art reported that it netted 3,000 members since the July 1 start of its membership drive. As of this morning, the total was actually about … [Read more...] about 3,100 and Counting: Crystal Bridges Museum Plans 24-Hour Members’ Day

George Shackelford at entrance to Boston Museum of Fine Arts' "Art of Europe" galleries The official announcement is not scheduled until Monday. But the word has gotten out that George T.M. Shackelford, chair of the Boston Museum of Fine Art's European art department and its senior curator of modern art, will become senior deputy director of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort … [Read more...] about BMFA’s George Shackelford Steps Up to Kimbell’s Senior Deputy Directorship

Eric Shiner, new director of the Andy Warhol MuseumEric Shiner, acting director of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, has now had the "acting" designation removed from his title.In getting the nod to succeed Tom Sokolowski, who resigned the Warhol's directorship, effective at the end of last year, Shiner had the inside track for the top spot, thanks to his insider status as … [Read more...] about Eric Shiner Named Warhol Museum’s Director UPDATED

Tennessee Supreme Court building in Nashville, site of recent Court of Appeals oral arguments on Fisk's Stieglitz CollectionI recently obtained the voice recording of the entire 42 minutes of oral arguments by opposing lawyers in the never-ending Stieglitz Collection case, now under consideration by the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Both sides---Fisk University and the Tennessee … [Read more...] about Fisk/Stieglitz Court of Appeals Arguments: How Crystal Bridges Could Have Withdrawn from Its $30-Million Deal

Michael Kimmelman, critic-of-all-tradesI guess we'll have to suspend disbelief. But NY Times culture editor Jonathan Landman's memo announcing the appointment of the paper's chief art critic, Michael Kimmelman, to the position of the paper's "chief architecture critic" (replacing Nicolai Ouroussoff) brought to mind the Metropolitan Museum's recent announcement of its new … [Read more...] about Michael Kimmelman’s Travels: Music to Art to…ARCHITECTURE???

Detail from installation of "Fifty Days at Iliam," 1978, Philadelphia Museum of ArtIn his fine (but preliminary) obituary for Cy Twombly, who died Tuesday at 83, the NY Times' Randy Kennedy wrote:He [Twombly]...mostly ignored his critics, who questioned constantly whether his work deserved a place at the forefront of 20th-century abstraction, though he lived long enough to see … [Read more...] about Cy Twombly, the Inscrutable (but haunting) Scrawler, Dies UPDATED

AAMD's Dan Monroe's proliferating signature (on letter to Brandeis University)Only a month into his presidency of the Association of Art Museum Directors, Dan Monroe, director of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, has fired off another missive to a president of an institution of higher learning. But this time (as distinguished from the recent condemnation of Randolph … [Read more...] about AAMD on Brandeis: (Self-)Congratulation and Applause (plus more on Fisk/Stieglitz)