Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Germano Celant: Fashion phobic?Tomorrow's NY Times Magazine is The Art Issue. Yeah, right.Except for one serious piece by the estimable Arthur Lubow about Latin American art in U.S. museums (focusing chiefly on curator Mari Carmen Ramirez of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts), it's all about art-and-catering ("Affairs of the Art World," complete with recipes) and art-and-fashion … [Read more...] about Art Gets the Fashion Treatment (again) in NY Times Magazine

A class at the BarnesOn Monday morning, Judge Stanley Ott of Montgomery County Orphans' Court will hear arguments from lawyers for two opponents to the Barnes Foundations' planned move to Philadelphia---Montgomery County and the Friends of the Barnes (an ad hoc citizens' group). These two entities want Judge Ott to grant them standing to argue in court for a reconsideration of … [Read more...] about Barnes Foundation Case Back in Court Monday

A pile of uncollected garbage a couple of blocks from the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, due to a strike in progress while I was there, which widened yesterday.There was already a garbage workers' strike, a brief museum workers' strike and a Metro shutdown while I was still in Athens. Luckily, my Continental flight took off at 11 a.m. yesterday, as scheduled, but other … [Read more...] about Athwart Athens: My Narrow Escape from a Chaotic Day

My panel on "Museums, Sites and Cultural Context," preparing to do battle.Left to right: CultureGrrl; Ricardo Elia, chair, archaeology department, Boston University; Elena Korka, head of Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Hellenic Ministry of Culture; Μoira Simpson, senior lecturer in arts education, University of South Australia; Maurice Davies, deputy … [Read more...] about Athwart Athens UPDATED: My Politically Incorrect Moments at the Cultural Property Conference

Finds from the Athens Metro digAttention Art-lings: She's ba-a-a-a-ck!While in Athens, I made it over to the impressive National Archaeological Museum (which I'd previously seen) and the marvelous Museum of Cycladic Art (which I hadn't), not to mention the Acropolis and, of course, the New Acropolis Museum, where I was invited to speak at the the still unopened museum's … [Read more...] about Athwart Athens: The Return of the Grrl

By Martin Filler, Guest Blogger:One of the more eye-catching new books to come my way this season is Between Heaven and Earth: The Architecture of John Lautner (above), the publication for an eponymous retrospective that opens at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, on July 13. This book and forthcoming exhibition are latest evidence of a gathering campaign to elevate the posthumous … [Read more...] about John Lautner: New Book on the Far-Out Architect

Oscar Bluemner's Bronx Borough CourthouseBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerThe rediscovery of a major work by an esteemed artist is rare, but rarer still if in a medium not associated with the maker. In fact, when Timothy Williams of the NY Times wrote on Mar. 6 that the long-derelict Bronx Borough Courthouse---a 1906 Beaux-Arts gem in the gritty Morrisania section---will be … [Read more...] about Bluemner Back in Bloom in the Bronx

Rendering of 200 Eleventh AvenueBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerIt was bound to happen sooner or later---the first bad dispute to arise from the celebrity architect-designed apartment buildings rising all over New York. The case in point is Annabelle Selldorf's 200 Eleventh Avenue in the city's hotter-than-hot Chelsea district, a 19-story tower with 16 condominiums costing from … [Read more...] about Selldorf’s Co-ops: Leaning Tower of Chelsea?

Covered silver tureen and platter designed by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, made by Henri-Guillaume Adnet and François BonnestrennePhoto: © Cleveland Museum of ArtBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerOne symptom of getting older is an increase of the been-there-done-that syndrome, with its odious and sometimes unfair comparisons. Just as I've "retired" certain operas after definitive … [Read more...] about Cooper-Hewitt’s Rococo: Behind the Curve

G. Wayne CloughThe new secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, whose appointment was surprisingly announced on a Saturday (to downplay it?), has excellent civil engineering experience. Here are his cultural credentials, as set forth in the Smithsonian's press release:While improving Georgia Tech's reputation for science, [G. Wayne] Clough has emphasized the importance of … [Read more...] about Smithsonian Names New Secretary: G. Wayne Who?

I know. I'm in Athens and I'm not supposed to be thinking about Nashville. But I left you without letting you know the one bit of news that came out of the Columbia Law School deaccessioning panel on which I partcipated on Tuesday: C. Michael Norton, whose Nashville law firm has represented Fisk University in its attempt to get court approval to monetize its Stieglitz … [Read more...] about Fisk to Appeal Ruling Against Stieglitz Collection Deal with Walton’s Crystal Bridges

Rem Koolhaas' urban design plan for DubaiPhoto: Office for Metropolitan ArchitectureBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerAfter I lectured on architecture criticism at New York's City College recently, someone asked if I ever write about projects prior to construction. I replied that I try not to, given unpleasant surprises that can occur between the drafting table (or computer … [Read more...] about Dubious in Dubai: Rem the Radical Sheikh

Michael GovanBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerJust after the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced the departure of its controversial longtime director, Thomas Krens, on Feb. 27, this blog's presiding sibyl, Lee Rosenbaum, was interviewed on New York Public Radio and suggested that a good choice for Krens' successor might be none other than his former protégé, Michael Govan … [Read more...] about The Case of the Disappearing Museum Director

Ned RifkinThe Smithsonian Institution's undersecretary for art, Ned Rifkin, has resigned effective Apr. 11. One can assume that he's not going to be named to the Smithsonian's top spot, which was expected to be filled later this month.The part of Jacqueline Trescott's report in the Washington Post that most interested me was this:Under Rifkin's leadership, a group of U.S. … [Read more...] about Smithsonian’s Ned Rifkin is Out; His Controversial Report, Tabled

Dorothy Spears' article in today's large NY Times Museums section, When the Final Touch is the Exit Door, lists 11 museum directors---by name or by the name of their institutions---who announced they were leaving their posts shortly after the completion of major capital projects. But two of those 11 might be surprised to learn that they're leaving. According to the article:Mr. … [Read more...] about A Gaffe in the NY Times “Museums” Section