Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Nothwithstanding my admiration for my state's scenic Palisades overlooking the Hudson River (where I sometimes hike), I think both the Metropolitan Museum and the World Monuments Fund have wrongly overreached in attempting to prevent LG Electronics from erecting a $300-million, eight-story corporate headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, less than three miles down the road from … [Read more...] about Palisades Escapade: Metropolitan Museum’s View of New Jersey Defended by World Monuments Fund

The Mishneh Torah, Italian, c. 1457, which was previously owned by collectors Michael and Judy Steinhardt, went on view last week at the Metropolitan Museum, but surprisingly, according to the museum's press release, it will "remain at the Metropolitan through January 5, 2014"---a mere three months. The Met's announcement also states: The manuscript will be open to an … [Read more...] about “Shared” Ex-Steinhardt Mishneh Torah on View at Metropolitan Museum for Only Three Months

Away on assignment last week, I've been blissfully ignorant, until just now, of this Guggenheim Helsinki development (on the Guggenheim Museum's website): Guggenheim Foundation Presents a New Proposal for a Guggenheim Helsinki September 24, 2013 Before an audience representing a cross-section of Helsinki’s cultural, civic, and business communities, leaders of the Solomon … [Read more...] about On the Waterfront: Guggenheim’s New Helsinki Proposal

On Wednesday, Sotheby's announced that it would comment on anti-management pressure from activist investor Dan Loeb "at an appropriate time." The "appropriate time" was 9:01 a.m. this morning, when this announcment hit my inbox. Below is an excerpt from the so-called "Shareholder Rights Plan with Shareholder Protections" (and with "protections" for current … [Read more...] about Fighting Back: Sotheby’s New “Shareholder Protections” Plan Also Intended to Protect Management UPDATED

Might history repeat itself? Sotheby's, which appears to have already anticipated a hostile takeover attempt by making changes in management and by reexamining financial strategies, yesterday issued a non-response to the harshly worded letter from activist investor Dan Loeb of Third Point LLC, who wants the auction house's long-time CEO, William Ruprecht, to leave the … [Read more...] about Taubman Flashback: Will Sotheby’s Again Seek a White Knight?

In his early career, Chris Burden was a provocative performance artist, best known for his 1971 "Shoot," where he instructed a friend to shoot him in his arm (as you can see in this disturbing video). Now that he's involved in sculptural works and monumental installations, he's perhaps best known for his popular Urban Light, 2008, an alluring army of 202 restored cast-iron … [Read more...] about Architecture of the Absurd: Chris Burden’s Madcap Acts of Engineering (with video)

On the same day that President Obama proclaimed October as National Arts and Humanities Month, the Smithsonian Institution has announced that all its museums will close in the increasingly likely event of a U.S. Government shutdown tomorrow. Of 4,202 Smithsonian employees, 688 would be retained---those needed "to protect life and property." (National Zoo animals must be … [Read more...] about Dept. of Dysfunctionality: Smithsonian to Close Its Doors in Government Shutdown UPDATED

I neglected you last week, artlings, because I was away on a workation. (If you followed my Twitter feed on Sept. 24 and 26, you saw a couple of photo clues about where I wandered.) Before I left, though, I did manage to attend the Museum of Modern Art's Monday press briefing on its upcoming exhibitions. During the Q&A after the formal presentation, we elicited an update … [Read more...] about Glenn Lowry on MoMA’s Next Expansion: “Substantial Changes in the Way We Present the Collection”

The NY State Attorney General's office continues to take the praiseworthy, forceful steps to protect the Seward House Historic Museum's Thomas Cole painting that it unaccountably declined to take to protect the Hispanic Society of America's now dispersed coin collection. This week the AG filed in State Surrogate's Court for Cayuga County his formal response in support of a … [Read more...] about NY Attorney General Asks Court to Order the Return of Thomas Cole Painting to Seward House

Occasionally, journalists get a taste of their own medicine: We get interviewed, sometimes with unpleasant results. More comfortable as an interviewer than an interviewee, I was approached a couple of weeks ago by Forbes magazine's Clare O'Connor for a detailed discussion in which I provided some background (unquoted, by her choice) for her lengthy profile of the woman … [Read more...] about Forbes Magazine’s “Honest Error of Omission”: My Misadventures When Interviewed about Alice Walton

Who needs the search firm Russell Reynolds Associates to help pick a replacement for Wayne Clough, who yesterday announced he will retire in October 2014, after more than six years as secretary of the Smithsonian? The artworld stands ready and willing to make this selection for them! Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal, who wrote an admiring profile of Clough last year, … [Read more...] about Clough’s Said “Enough!” So Who Should Be Next Secretary of the Smithsonian?

Enough with all these scientists! With 10 of its 15 museums focused on art, design and/or culture (and with one of those institutions---the in-construction National Museum of African American History and Culture---slated to become the next addition to the Smithsonian empire in 2015), the Smithsonian owes it to its own constituents and to its culturally-oriented visitors to … [Read more...] about Equal Time: Successor to Retiring Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough Should Be an Art Professional

Erin Hogan, director of public affairs for the Art Institute of Chicago, replied yesterday to my request for more details regarding what's behind the museum's unfortunate seven-month shutdown of the top floor of its four-year-old Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano. She told me that work to be done in the galleries for European modern art, which contain (among other … [Read more...] about Roof Goof: More on the Art Institute of Chicago’s Skylight Adjustments

In his press release providing the details of today's guilty plea by art dealer Glafira Rosales in the fake paintings case involving sales of works through Knoedler and Julian Weissman galleries (neither of which has been charged and both of which have denied knowledge that the paintings were fake), Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, noted … [Read more...] about Knoedler Curdler: Rosales Guilty-Plea Agreement Calls for Her Cooperation with Prosecutors UPDATED

[More on this, here.] My Friday post on the Kimbell Art Museum's Renzo Piano-designed addition (opening Nov. 27) turned out to be somewhat prescient---not about the Fort Worth museum's new pavilion (which is not yet reviewable, because it's not yet completely finished), but about the Art Institute of Chicago. In reporting that the top of the Kimbell's Piano Pavilion is … [Read more...] about Roof Goof? Art Institute of Chicago Closes Top Floor of Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing