Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Already anticipating a more culture-friendly president than the one who tried to eliminate federal appropriations for the National Endowments of the Arts and for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, some arts advocates are making noises about the creation of a federal Ministry of Culture, or if not that, at … [Read more...] about A U.S. “Ministry of Culture” Under Biden? Just Say No, Joe! UPDATED

Watching Barack Obama being interviewed at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) by Scott Pelley of CBS's "60 Minutes" brought back memories last Sunday of one of my two Best Press Previews Ever---the NPG's unveiling of Obama's portrait by Kehinde Wiley. (My other most memorable press preview was here.) Revisiting those galleries for a conversation pegged to the publication of … [Read more...] about Obama’s Return Engagement at the National Portrait Gallery: His “60 Minutes” Close-Up

NY State Attorney General Letitia James has sued Sotheby's for its alleged role in helping a client (unnamed in the AG's complaint) to "pose as an art dealer so he could illegally qualify for sales-tax exemptions reserved for the art trade" when purchasing art (in the words of Kelly Crow's recent report in the Wall Street Journal). According to the AG's 42-page complaint, … [Read more...] about “Fraudulent Avoidance of Sales Tax”: NY Attorney General’s Lawsuit vs. Sotheby’s UPDATED

Joseph Rishel, the brilliant, resourceful Philly-based curator of memorable exhibitions including Cézanne and Beyond, has left us for the Great Beyond. He was "brilliant" in making evocative connections and sharing deep insights regarding major works that we had thought we already knew; "resourceful" because he knew where all the hidden pictures were buried, and he had the … [Read more...] about The Late Joseph Rishel, 80: Witty, Erudite Curator Extraordinaire

As an mild antidote to severe post-election anxiety, let's savor a morsel of good news from the federal government: Although it falls short of what I'd hoped for, I'd like to think I may have had something to do with this announcement last week from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): In New York, New York, an NEH Chairman’s Grant [of $30,000] to Bronx Community … [Read more...] about Bronx Cheer! Hall of Fame for Great Americans (Championed Here) Gets an NEH Chairman’s Grant CORRECTED

UPDATE: Darrell Rocha, Sotheby's estimable senior VP, director of Press Office, Americas, revealed that "my time at Sotheby’s [13 years] is coming to a close at the end of this year." Karina Sokolovsky had assumed his title as Worldwide Head of Communications in early October. (He and Mitzi Mina had been co-heads of communications.) The misadventures of Sotheby's David … [Read more...] about Deaccession Deactivation: Fallout from Baltimore Museum’s Pullout from Sotheby’s (& other pratfalls) UPDATED

Can you stop a speeding freight train before it crashes? UPDATE: The "speeding freight train" has just screeched to a halt! The Baltimore Museum of Art has just issued a statement that the board and leadership "decided to pause on the upcoming sale of works by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol."Here's a link to the Baltimore Museum's full statement on its … [Read more...] about 15 Past Presidents of AAMD Sign Letter Calling for Baltimore Museum to “Reconsider” Planned Sales–2 UPDATES

Better late that never (but not soon enough), Brent Benjamin, current president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, is attempting to backpedal from the precarious position he championed just six month ago, when AAMD temporarily loosened its tight strictures against the use of proceeds from art sales for anything other than acquisitions. Undoubtedly prompted by … [Read more...] about AAMD’s Failed Oversight: Murky “Clarification” of Its “Financial Flexibility” Resolutions

Sirens (coming from the street) were heard wailing at the beginning of Sotheby's Virtual Preview of Highlights from Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art---a fleeting but thematically appropriate soundtrack for the alarming disposals set to occur at the auction house's Contemporary Art auction on Wednesday evening in New York. That startling prelude may have been edited … [Read more...] about Alarming Preview: Sotheby’s Hawks Baltimore Museum’s Clyfford Still & Brice Marden

This is the full text of a letter that was sent today by Arnold Lehman, former director of the Baltimore Museum, to Maryland’s Attorney General Brian Frosh and Secretary of State John Wobensmith [emphasis is his]. It speaks (eloquently) for itself: Dear General Frosh and Secretary Wobensmith: My name is Arnold Lehman and I was the director of the Baltimore Museum of Art … [Read more...] about “Central to the Museum’s Collection”: Arnold Lehman Blasts the Baltimore Deaccessions

The list of opponents to the Baltimore Museum of Art's (BMA's) deplorable deaccessions keeps growing (now some 150 strong). One particularly notable addition is very well known to CultureGrrl readers---Arnold Lehman, former director of the BMA and, subsequently, of the Brooklyn Museum. Here's his recent photo, as found on the current website for Phillips Auction House, … [Read more...] about Baltimore Museum Gets a Formal Letter Calling for a Halt to Planned Sales; Ex-Director Lehman Piles On

Any museum official tempted to exploit the (so-called) permanent collection as a fungible commodity for bankrolling pet projects (however worthy) and bolstering the payroll should read and take heed of this six-page letter deploring the Baltimore Museum of Art's (BMA's) planned disposals. Signed and dispatched yesterday by former trustees and advisory committee members of … [Read more...] about The Battle of Baltimore: Former Museum Trustees Strike Back in the Deaccession Wars

More on this here. Call me Cassandra. The "slippery slope" of monetizing museum collections, which I previously prophesied would get more dangerous under the Association of Art Museum Directors' temporarily relaxed guidelines, has just been greased. As the planned disposals by the Brooklyn Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) make clear, some institutions … [Read more...] about Deplorable in Baltimore: Careening Down the Slippery Slope of Collection Monetization

Knowing that I'm sticking my head into a lion's mouth, I feel compelled to strongly disagree with sanctimonious art critics, artists and scholars who have piled on (here, here, here, here and here) against what to my mind was a regrettable-but-necessary decision by four seasoned art museum directors to postpone (not to cancel) their jointly planned Philip Guston Now … [Read more...] about Philip Guston Bluster: Why It’s Wise to Postpone a Show Depicting Cartoonish Ku Klux Klan Figures

Three months ago, a CultureGrrl tipster wrote to me that the Brooklyn Museum's board was about to vote on proposed deaccessions of seven works (which he identified by type, but not by specific objects), for a "combined total value of $50 million." (The tipster never identified himself to me, and I did not report his unconfirmed information at that time.) Now, the Brooklyn … [Read more...] about $40-Million Collection-Care Goal: Brooklyn Museum’s 1st Round of Art Sales Under AAMD’s Relaxed Rules