Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Okay, enough with health care, the housing crisis, the economy and Iraq. Let's focus on what really matters:I've already posted about Barack Obama's arts policy, and in the interests of equal time, I've been scouring the web, trying during this Republican National Convention week to find John McCain's cultural stance. On this, the celebrated POW appears to be MIA.I couldn't … [Read more...] about Desperately Seeking John McCain’s Arts Policy

Is this any way to treat the Wall Street Journal?Above is an ad for WSJ, the new "lifestyle magazine" being rolled out with this Saturday's edition of the newspaper for which I write frequently. Included will be an article on "the folk art revival." Didn't that happen with the Garbisch sale of 1974?Although you can't tell from the above picture, Obama figures twice in the … [Read more...] about New Wall Street Journal Magazine: Art and Fashion Included UPDATED

Ann TemkinYesterday's chosen sound bite on WNYC focused on my mild misgivings about Ann Temkin's appointment at the Museum of Modern Art. So I feel it's worth reiterating what I posted on this blog, before I spoke on the radio: I think she's a solid choice, with a creditable track record of acquisitions and exhibitions. What's more, I think there's a good chance that she'll … [Read more...] about More on New York’s Musical Museum Chairs: Temkin and Armstrong

Some time after 4 p.m. today, you can hear my brief comments on on WNYC's "All Things Considered" about the news of Ann Temkin's and Richard Armstrong's appointments at the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, respectively. Before the taping, I contacted the Guggenheim for an update on the status of Armstrong's expected designation as director of both the … [Read more...] about My NY Public Radio Commentary on the MoMA/Guggenheim Appointments UPDATED

The Krensmobile, parked outside the Guggenheim's staff entranceWhat's the single laudatory word most often used to describe Tom Krens, whose successor as director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is expected to be Richard Armstrong, the director of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art?VISIONARY.Wait a minute! That's the same word used to describe Armstrong in the first … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Candidate Richard Armstrong and the “V” Word

Richard ArmstrongKate Taylor gets her scoops the old-fashioned way---by working her sources. In a story posted late today, she fingers Richard Armstrong, director of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, as the person whom the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is expected to name as its next director, succeeding Tom Krens. Taylor reports: Through a spokeswoman at the Carnegie … [Read more...] about NY Sun’s Guggenheim Director Scoop—Is It Richard Armstrong? UPDATED

Get-It-First VogelThat does it. I've really had it with selective disclosure of important breaking news by cultural institutions. (So has distinguished architecture critic Martin Filler, who previously vented his frustration on CultureGrrl, here.) I've known major mainstream-media cultural journalists who have boycotted important stories that were spoonfed to the NY Times first … [Read more...] about MoMA Announces Elderfield’s Replacement…but only to the NY Times

Francesco RutelliThe Great Repatriator strides across our land once again. But fear not, art-lings: He comes in peace.Having spent last week at the Democratic National Convention, deposed Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli, now a member of Italy's Senate and Rome's City Council, tomorrow reengages with his old antagonist, the J. Paul Getty Museum, viewing both its … [Read more...] about Rutelli Visits the Getty to Make Nice

Those of you who read the online version of my piece, Krasner at Her Unknown Best, published on the "Leisure & Arts" page of today's Wall Street Journal, must be scratching your heads at this garish cartoon image that accompanied the piece on the web:Lee Krasner, "Shellflower," 1947, private collection, New YorkThen again, if you saw the image in the hard copy, on Page D7, … [Read more...] about Little Krasner Images: An Irreverent Photo Essay

CultureSpouse Rocks! (at I.M. Pei's Hall of Fame and Museum)How I spent my Labor Day Weekend: ---Dancing the night away at the Cleveland wedding of my husband's cousin (having first visited three museums and viewed an air show).---Fielding vibrate-only phone calls during that celebration from: my son Paul, who announced his engagement to the fabulous Lisa; my excited daughter … [Read more...] about Labor [Day] of Love: Family Wedding, Future Daughter-in-Law, WSJ Krasner Review UPDATED

New Regime: the September issueIt's out with the old, in with the new in the September issue of Art in America magazine, where Marcia Vetrocq assumed the editorship in June, replacing artworld editorial giant Betsy Baker (who remains as "Editor-at-Large/Special Projects").A redesign is underway, which for September features bolder headlines and bylines and new layout for the … [Read more...] about The New “Art in America”: Vetrocq Vets the Masthead

A CultureGrrl reader helpfully alerted me to the fact that Max Hollein, possibly to be named the next Metropolitan Museum director, is also on the board of trustees of the Neue Galerie, New York. And I've also discovered that a documentary film has recently been made about him by Avanti Media.According to the description of "Max Hollein---My Life":Hollein's museum policies … [Read more...] about More on Hollein: Another U.S. Museum Connection; “Too American”?

Max Hollein: The frontrunner? Pop Quiz for Met Museumologists: Which of these four museum professionals is not like the others? A) Gary Tinterow, the Metropolitan Museum's curator in charge of 19th-century, modern and contemporary art B) Ian Wardropper, the Met's chairman of European sculpture and decorative arts C) Thomas Campbell, a curator specializing in … [Read more...] about Name That Met Director: The Game Show’s Final Round

Damien Hirst, "For the Love of God," 2007It looks like the investment syndicate that owns Damien Hirst's diamond skull, "For the Love of God," has finally succeeded in lining up an exhibition for it at a major museum: The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, has just announced that it will present the "world premier of the work's international tour," Nov. 1-Dec. 15. But wait! There's … [Read more...] about Hirst Skull to Rijksmuseum Exhibition, Curated by Diamond Damien

Claude Gerstle, subject of an Impact Film Festival documentary on stem cell research, being shown during each party's national conventionNow that we've shifted from the athletic Olympics to the political olympics, it's time to peruse Barack Obama's Platform in Support of the Arts (see P. 3). It's pro-arts education and also favors a budget increase for the National Endowment … [Read more...] about Obama Drama: Tax Fairness for Artists, Impact Film Festival