Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Fisk attorney John Branham of Bone McAllester Norton law firm, NashvilleIf the Nashville Tennessean were issuing the court decision that's expected tomorrow, Fisk University would not be permitted to sell a half-share in its Stieglitz Collection to Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum for $30 million.In its Tuesday editorial, the newspaper declared:Let's hope that Chan­cel­lor … [Read more...] about Decision Tomorrow in Fisk/Crystal Bridges Trial: Fisk’s Philistine Argument

Sean O'Harrow, director-designate of University of Iowa Museum of Art After visiting Iowa in April 2009 to give a talk on deaccessioning at the University of Iowa, I wrote this about my impression of Sean O'Harrow, director of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport: I got to chat at length with Sean at the dinner that followed my deaccession lecture...and I was impressed by his … [Read more...] about Defending the Pollock: Sean O’Harrow Named University of Iowa Museum’s Director

Given recent news stories about its financial difficulties and production controversies, the Metropolitan Opera jumped at the chance to report some good news this week.This hit my inbox yesterday:The Metropolitan Opera set a new record for opening day at the box office when single tickets for the 2010-11 season went on sale to the public yesterday. Total sales reached … [Read more...] about Met Opera’s “Record” First-Day Sales: 321 More Tickets, 12% More Expensive

Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last day to see Schiele's much litigated "Portrait of Wally" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, before it is released to its owner, the Leopold Museum. That Vienna museum, which houses the Expressionist collection of the late Rudolf Leopold, recently agreed to pay a $19-million settlement to the heirs … [Read more...] about Last Chance (and panel discussion) for “Portrait of Wally”

If all goes according to (vague) plan, I may have a soundbite later today or early tomorrow on the moribund Brodsky Bill, which was designed to regulate museum deaccessions in New York State.The segment might be included in either the New York (WNYC) version of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" (beginning 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at 93.9 FM), or on tomorrow's "Morning … [Read more...] about Coming (maybe) Today: My Deaccession Commentary on New York Public Radio UPDATED

Arnold Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum It's taken almost a week for me to post the second part of my Q&A with Arnold Lehman, the ever controversial (never dull) director of the Brooklyn Museum. (Here's Part I of our conversation.) Now there's a new news peg---the opening last weekend of "Work of Art: Abdi Farah," the exhibition that the museum promised to the … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part II

Michael Maharam, co-organizer (with bicycle maker Sacha White) of Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle (closing today at New York's Museum of Arts and Design), responds to Bicycle Madness at MAD:Very thoughtful, entertaining and bright observations about "Bespoke." Wish we could have indulged your [guest blogger Lee Gorny's] technical tendencies more effectively, but the need for … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Maharam, MAD’s Guest Curator, on His “Bespoke” Bicycle Show

Guest Blogger Lee GornyNOTE from CultureGrrl: Last weekend, while my family gathered for CultureNiece's wedding, CultureDaughter vanished for bridesmaid beautification rituals (hair, nails, whatever) and I tried to exploit those hours by demonstrating to her visiting boyfriend the joys of eventually living in the NYC area. (He's a sophisticated but small-town boy.)He loves … [Read more...] about Bicycle Madness at MAD: Lee Gorny, Guest Blogger

Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum and an outspoken supporter of the Brodsky Bill that would have regulated museum deaccessions in New York State, responds to this recent post on the bill's unfortunate fate in the state legislature:I think it is problematic to say the bill was killed by the "museum lobby." I think the vast majority of museums in the state … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Botwinick on NY State’s Moribund Brodsky Bill on Deaccessions

Susan Edwards, director of the Frist Center, NashvilleAt 12:30 p.m. today, Round Four in the never-ending legal battle between Fisk University and Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper over the university's Stieglitz Collection is scheduled for a return bout at its original venue, Davidson County Chancery Court, after detours to the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the … [Read more...] about Today’s Crystal Bridges/Fisk Collection-Sharing Trial Gets a Frist Twist

New York State Assembly ChamberWhen it comes to the Brodsky Bill to regulate museum deaccessions in New York State, it appears, alas, that the museum lobby has gotten its way.Robin Pogrebin writes this for tomorrow's NY Times (online now): A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in … [Read more...] about Deaccession Diversion: CultureGrrl Infiltrates NY Times’ Pogrebin Piece UPDATED TWICE

The Brooklyn Museum [NOTE: Part II is here.] Robin Pogrebin's initial NY Times article, imputing "diminished stature" to the Brooklyn Museum, provoked considerable backlash from the museum profession. But Robin didn't back down; she doubled down. In Sunday's astonishing front-page Arts & Leisure piece, she took it upon herself to convene an ad hoc panel of 17 … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part I

The differences between the "before" and "after" photos that I recently published of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic"---pre- and post-conservation---were indeed "startling," as I had opined in both CultureGrrl and the Huffington Post.But even more startling was the museum's subsequent admission to me and other art journalists that it had sent us the wrong images. (See, for example, … [Read more...] about Conservation Confusion: Philadelphia Museum’s “Gross Clinic” Photo Flub

Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912 At the commemorative ceremony celebrating the settlement of the Nazi loot-related dispute over Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," David Marwell, the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (which hosted the event), highlighted a lesson to be learned from "Wally": She can teach us about justice, even justice that comes after more than … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally” Settlement: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

[For my analysis of the settlement, go here.]Lawyers, prosecutors and a Bondi family member did all the talking at Thursday's commemorative ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement of the Bondi family's claims against the Leopold Museum, Vienna, in connection with Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," expropriated by the Nazis from Lea Bondi Jaray in 1939 and later acquired by … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally”: Spotlight on the Offstage Heroes