The answer is [drumroll]...Ellen Futter. Hers is not one of the many names that have been bandied about in the press for the top spot at the embattled Smithsonian Institution, and perhaps she's too committed a New Yorker to make the move. But for 13 years Futter has been quietly and effectively running a large institution with strong similarities to the Smithsonian---the … [Read more...] about Who Should Succeed Lawrence Small at the Smithsonian?
Kitchen-Sink Updates: Smithsonian Hearings, Denver’s Roof, Antiquities, Saltz, Pulitzers
So many loose ends, so little time: ---The broken link for viewing last Wednesday's Smithsonian hearings by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is finally working, writes Liz Horrell, on behalf of the Senate Webmaster. ---Denver Art Museum spokeperson Andrea Kalivas Fulton updates me on who will foot the bill for replacing and/or repairing the leaky roof on the … [Read more...] about Kitchen-Sink Updates: Smithsonian Hearings, Denver’s Roof, Antiquities, Saltz, Pulitzers
More on U.S. Tax Deductions for Donors to Foreign Museums
Two CultureGrrl readers, responding to recent posts (here and here), have sent me e-mails supporting the Tyler Green argument for the appropriateness of tax breaks for U.S. donors to American-based, foreign-museum "friends" groups. These are organized as 501(c) (3) organizations to provide U.S. tax deductions for financial support of foreign museums. The proponents' favorite … [Read more...] about More on U.S. Tax Deductions for Donors to Foreign Museums
NY Times Weighs in on Who Should Direct the NY Philharmonic
At the end of a flurry of CultureGrrl posts (here, here and here), in which Lee Rosenbaum, Alex Ross and Anne Midgette named our picks to succeed Lorin Maazel as the NY Philharmonic's next music director, I issued a plaintive query: Anthony Tommasini, where are you? At last, almost three months later, the NY Times' chief music critic has cautiously tipped his hand. He did it so … [Read more...] about NY Times Weighs in on Who Should Direct the NY Philharmonic
U.S. Tax Deductions for Donations to Foreign Museums—The Other Side
Today Tyler Green eloquently takes the other side of an argument I raised about whether the U.S. tax code should be used to help funnel American funds to foreign museums. This is accomplished through "friends" groups that are established in the U.S. as 501(c) (3) U.S. charities, giving them full tax-exempt status. That allows donors to get the same financial benefits that they … [Read more...] about U.S. Tax Deductions for Donations to Foreign Museums—The Other Side
Philip Roth: Another Missed Opportunity
Since I'm an Edith Wharton fan and I am planning to write a biography (but not of her!), I went to hear Hermoine Lee, an Oxford University English professor, speak at Columbia University this evening about her just published biography of the novelist. I wanted to learn some tricks of the trade. I arrived early at Low Library and took a seat in the third row of the nearly … [Read more...] about Philip Roth: Another Missed Opportunity
Libeskind’s Fire and Rain: You Mean It Snows a Lot in Denver?
DAM's Staff Before the Cuts: Preview Party of the New Hamilton Building, Sept. 10, 2006. Photo by Brendan Harrington and the DAM photographic services department. This has been a bad news week for Daniel Libeskind: First this report of suspected arson at his first completed building, the Felix Nussbaum Museum in Germany. (Karsten Luecke, a CultureGrrl reader in Germany, today … [Read more...] about Libeskind’s Fire and Rain: You Mean It Snows a Lot in Denver?
Do You Wish You Could Have Attended the Senate’s Smithsonian Hearings?
Now you can. The prepared statements by Smithsonian honchos are already up on the website of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. And in her opening remarks today, Sen. Diane Feinstein wasted no time in calling for an overhaul of the Smithsonian's board. The GAO's Mark Goldstein was also on hand, to report on how the infrastructure is crumbing. The link for viewing … [Read more...] about Do You Wish You Could Have Attended the Senate’s Smithsonian Hearings?
If at First Alice Walton Doesn’t Succeed…
...she tries again...and wins. Two Thomas Jefferson University Eakins sales done, one more to go---"Portrait of William S. Forbes." And we still haven't heard whether the Philadelphia Museum will sell another Eakins, to help pay for "The Gross Clinic." No messy price-matching grace period this time, and no sharing with the National Gallery (let alone a Philadelphia … [Read more...] about If at First Alice Walton Doesn’t Succeed…
Christie’s Cedes American Indian Territory to Sotheby’s
I don't know why this is happening, but I do know that it's happening: Christie's has cancelled its May 24 American Indian art auction, while Sotheby's has two such sales scheduled for next month: the Saul and Marsha Stanoff Collection, May 17 and a mixed-owner sale May 18 that includes a Zuni jar deaccessioned by the Albright-Knox Gallery. Regina Kolbe of Antiques and the Arts … [Read more...] about Christie’s Cedes American Indian Territory to Sotheby’s
No Restitution Please, We’re British
This is a statement that no U.S. museum officials could get away with, even if it might accurately reflect their thinking: The British Museum is here to present world culture. In principle the trustees are against restitution because it would detract from that mission. This from Hannah Boulton, the British Museum's spokesperson, reacting to a demand by President Imamali … [Read more...] about No Restitution Please, We’re British
Suspected Arson at Felix Nussbaum Museum
Nussbaum Museum, Osnabrück, Germany A sad new development to contemplate at observances this Sunday of Yom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day): Agence France-Press reports that suspected arson has caused extensive damage to the wooden façade of the Felix Nussbaum Museum in Osnabrück, Germany, which opened in 1998 and was Daniel Libeskind's first completed building. The museum … [Read more...] about Suspected Arson at Felix Nussbaum Museum
Learning Curve for New Sotheby’s Asia CEO
An article today from Agence France-Presse, quoting Kevin Ching, incoming CEO of Sotheby's Asia, contained so many puzzling "did he really say that?" moments that we can only hope it's the reporter, not Ching, who was confused. First head-scratcher: Kevin Ching says one of his aims as the newly-appointed chairman of Sotheby's in Asia is to see the first Asian bid for a European … [Read more...] about Learning Curve for New Sotheby’s Asia CEO
Uneasy in Abu Dhabi: Will UAE Eschew Past Construction Worker Abuses in New Museum Projects?
Unmentioned in the excitement over the four breathtakingly ambitious starchitect museums being planned for Abu Dhabi are the serious human rights questions recently raised about construction workers' conditions in the United Arab Emirates. In a report released last November, Human Rights Watch, an an independent, nongovernmental watchdog organization, charged: As the United … [Read more...] about Uneasy in Abu Dhabi: Will UAE Eschew Past Construction Worker Abuses in New Museum Projects?
Why Does the State Department Favor Import Restrictions on Cultural Property? Why Is CPAC’s China Recommendation Still Secret?
In Jeremy Kahn's excellent article in yesterday's NY Times, Is the U.S. Protecting Foreign Artifacts? Don't Ask, he provides a detailed analysis of the State Department's secretive Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which studies requests by foreign countries for U.S. import restrictions on cultural objects. No such request has ever been turned down by the State Department, … [Read more...] about Why Does the State Department Favor Import Restrictions on Cultural Property? Why Is CPAC’s China Recommendation Still Secret?