2015 was, for me, a high point of my CultureGrrl "career"---the only year when my dogged blogging was generously compensated, thanks to the munificent Art Writers Grant from Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation. This windfall temporarily suspended my internal debate over whether it was time to move on to more sensible activities, like increased mainstream-media work and more … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2015 Edition
Search Results for: detroit
Taubman’s Revenge? Sotheby’s Gavel-Busting $515-Million Guarantee
My misgivings about how Sotheby's success in winning the A. Alfred Taubman consignment might backfire, which I voiced early last month in an interview with a British reporter, now appear to be on the money. At the end of his Oct. 10 London Times article---Sotheby's Gambles on $500m Art Sale (paywalled)---investigative reporter Alexi Mostrous gave me the last word: The art … [Read more...] about Taubman’s Revenge? Sotheby’s Gavel-Busting $515-Million Guarantee
Trumpeting a Strumpet; Slammer to Glamor: Modigliani & Taubman Faceoff in Auction Wars
I had a did-he-really-say-that moment early last month, when listening to Sotheby's CEO Tad Smith woo stock analysts during the auction house's second-quarter conference call: Smith, new to Sotheby's, glowingly cited the late A. Alfred Taubman, the auction house's criminally convicted former chairman, as a role model. Taubman had done jail time for his role in the darkest … [Read more...] about Trumpeting a Strumpet; Slammer to Glamor: Modigliani & Taubman Faceoff in Auction Wars
The Smithsonian’s Cosby Debacle: Take Down that Exhibition, Dr. Skorton?
Should the Smithsonian’s new Secretary, former Cornell University President David Skorton, who has barely had time to sit down at his desk (let alone make new policy), cancel or drastically modify the National Museum of African Art's embarrassing situation comedy, The Cosby Show? To inform your consideration of this question, here's the latest family-friendly episode in … [Read more...] about The Smithsonian’s Cosby Debacle: Take Down that Exhibition, Dr. Skorton?
Parsing Pasternak: What Were the Brooklyn Museum’s Trustees Thinking?
Help Wanted: Direct one of this country's major encyclopedic museums. No museum experience required. If Phillips Oppenheim, the headhunting firm responsible for the Brooklyn Museum's director's search, had put out such a wacky solicitation, an uproar of incredulity would have ensued. More likely, its job description (which I have not seen) for the position now awarded to … [Read more...] about Parsing Pasternak: What Were the Brooklyn Museum’s Trustees Thinking?
Walter Liedtke, Consummate Curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting, Dies in a Train Crash (with my late video at the Met)
More on this here. I've attended hundreds of museum press previews over the past four decades, but the ones I relished most were those where Walter Liedtke was our erudite, entertainingly witty host. The Metropolitan Museum's great European paintings curator, 69, a renowned expert in Dutch and Flemish painting and decipherer of all the period references and cultural … [Read more...] about Walter Liedtke, Consummate Curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting, Dies in a Train Crash (with my late video at the Met)
Glenn Lowry as AAMD’s Improbable Expert on “Public Trust”
Sometimes wrongly, but sometimes rightly, Glenn Lowry has a major public-trust problem. That's why I did a double take when I saw he was one of the panelists for the “Conversation on the Public Trust" at the Association of Art Museum Director's midwinter meeting in Mexico City (ending today). I did another double take yesterday, when I followed AAMD's live-tweets from … [Read more...] about Glenn Lowry as AAMD’s Improbable Expert on “Public Trust”
AAMD’s Midwinter Meeting: Cultural Property, “Public Trust”
The Association of Art Museum Directors hasn't released many substantive details about topics and possible actions being considered at its midwinter meeting, which began Saturday and ends tomorrow. While those of us in the Northeast are bracing for a blizzard, the directors, with a talent for being in the right place at the right time, are gathered in balmy Mexico City, where … [Read more...] about AAMD’s Midwinter Meeting: Cultural Property, “Public Trust”
The Year in CultureGrrl, 2014 Edition
I admit it: For me, 2014 was all about that little guy in the center of the photo (his parents---my son and daughter-in-law---are on the left; my daughter and son-in-law, on right). In fact, I'll be headed his way as soon as I finish this post, to find out how many new words and new tricks he's acquired during his California vacation. This year's professional landmark, for … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2014 Edition
Chris Crosman on Corcoran’s Endangered Legacy (plus: National Gallery’s Lonely Founding Fathers) UPDATED
With Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post's art critic, having yesterday reemphasized his opposition to the dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and its collection, let's examine one of the arguments advanced by the Corcoran in favor of handing over its art holdings to the National Gallery of Art. The moribund museum had claimed in its initial press release that its … [Read more...] about Chris Crosman on Corcoran’s Endangered Legacy (plus: National Gallery’s Lonely Founding Fathers) UPDATED
From Wagner to Sedaka: Heppner’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” His (& Beal’s?) Swansong (with video)
My reward for sitting through several days of intermittently interesting museum-administrators' panels, held in New York under various auspices, came at the end of today's "New Face of Museums" panel of the Leadership Nouveau conference, presented at the Museum of Modern Art by the HEC Montréal business school. Celebrated Wagnerian tenor Ben Heppner, whose astonishingly … [Read more...] about From Wagner to Sedaka: Heppner’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” His (& Beal’s?) Swansong (with video)
Saffron & Sozanski: Philadelphia Inquirer’s Good-News/Bad-News Week
The spirits of culture writers at the Philadelphia Inquirer whipsawed this week from jubilation to sorrow, in reaction to two major Monday occurrences---the awarding of the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism to the paper's estimable architecture critic, Inga Saffron, whose Changing Skyline column is the go-to source for information and astute commentary on … [Read more...] about Saffron & Sozanski: Philadelphia Inquirer’s Good-News/Bad-News Week
Delaware Art Museum’s Deaccession Debacle: The Impotence of AAMD
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The time has come for the passage of legislation to bar museums from monetizing important collection objects that are in the public domain and should stay there. The recent examples of the sale of art from Randolph College's Maier Museum and planned sales from the Delaware Art Museum demonstrate, once again, that censures and … [Read more...] about Delaware Art Museum’s Deaccession Debacle: The Impotence of AAMD
The Year in CultureGrrl, 2013 Edition (and a request)
My daughter's wedding and my grandson's birth, which occurred in rapid succession (and in unexpected order!), made 2013 was more personally than professionally momentous for me. I did enjoy my mainstream-media work, public radio commentary (click each word for links to different stories) and lecturing gig, but my ambivalence about blogging (which devours the lion's share of my … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2013 Edition (and a request)
Make Art, Not War: CultureGrrl Bumped Off (NPR) by AK-47 Rifle
I presciently prefaced my brief announcement last night of my NPR cameo on the Detroit Institute of Arts' situation by saying that I'd be on air this morning "if all goes according to plan." Ha! Having spent an entirely unplanned 10 hours last night and this morning in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering emergency room with my already sick friend who had developed acute … [Read more...] about Make Art, Not War: CultureGrrl Bumped Off (NPR) by AK-47 Rifle