Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

NOTE: More on this, here. Alfonso Ossorio, better known for throwing great parties and collecting great art than for producing significant works of his own, is the improbable but engrossing central figure in "Angels, Demons, Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet," a revisionist show now at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, that attempts to give overdue recognition to the … [Read more...] about Rewriting Art History at the Parrish Museum: My WSJ Review of “Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet”

Want to see the trailer for "The Monuments Men," the George Clooney-directed movie (also starring him, produced by him and co-written by him) about the intrepid band of art historians who rescued European masterpieces from destruction by the Nazis? Now you can! Clooney improbably assumes the star role of "Frank Stokes," a character based on World War I veteran George … [Read more...] about George Clooney as the Fogg’s Conservator? See the Lame Trailer for WW II’s “Monuments Men”

Frank Robinson, the retired veteran director of Cornell University's Johnson Museum, whose provocative letter to the NY Times was seriously misconstrued by another ArtsJournal blogger, responds to my post, Detroit Institute Debate: Judith Dobrzynski’s Misunderstanding of Frank Robinson’s Nuanced NY Times Letter: Of course your interpretation of my letter is absolutely correct: … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Frank Robinson Endorses My Interpretation of His NY Times Letter on Detroit Institute

UPDATE: Robinson responds, clearing up the confusion. As a Cornell University alumna who has had the highest regard for Frank Robinson's 19-year stewardship of my alma mater's Johnson Museum, I was shocked and saddened when I read a Real Clear Arts post yesterday by my fellow ArtsJournal blogger, Judith Dobrzynski, who blasted Robinson for for his NY Times letter---Invitation … [Read more...] about Detroit Institute Debate: Judith Dobrzynski’s Misunderstanding of Frank Robinson’s Nuanced NY Times Letter

Narrowly shot down by the Helsinki City Board in May 2012, the never-say-die Guggenheim is bouncing back with a new proposal, to be unveiled in September. In a brief statement released today to answer media inquiries, the Guggenheim disclosed this: This week the director of the Guggenheim Foundation, Richard Armstrong, and deputy director Ari Wiseman held talks with … [Read more...] about Try, Try Again: Hamstrung Guggenheim Helsinki Off the Disabled List and Back in Play

A precondition for any deplorable forced sale of works from the Detroit Institute of Arts' collection to help defray the financially devastated city's debts and obligations would be a professional appraisal of those artworks. That first step has now been set in motion, ordered today by Detroit's Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. As announced separately today by Christie's and by … [Read more...] about Motown Meltdown: Christie’s to Appraise Part of Detroit Institute of Arts’ Collection; DIA Will “Cooperate Completely”

In his opinion piece on the Detroit Institute of Arts' uncertain future in today's Wall Street Journal, author, critic (and fellow ArtsJournal blogger) Terry Teachout adds a useful corollary to the argument (which I had articulated, here) that any financial restructuring plan for city's "postcrisis future" must (in Terry's words) "preserve at least some of the things that help … [Read more...] about Motown Meltdown: WSJ’s Terry Teachout on Building a “No-Sale Consensus” for Detroit Institute’s Masterpieces

Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn's Gramsci Monument, presented by the Dia Art Foundation (to Sept. 15), is a ramshackle, purpose-built philosophers' lair that works admirably as a vibrant community center, but not so well as an incubator of public intellectuals. The joint was jumping on the balmy Saturday afternoon when I visited: It was Family Day---a celebratory community … [Read more...] about Thomas Hirschhorn’s Lively Gramsci Monument Brings Intellectual Gobbledygook to the Masses (with video)

The Plain Dealer today became the Pain Dealer: About 50 members of its newsroom staff were reportedly laid off this morning, via phone calls. I had feared that my post today would be another Jori Finkel story, with the Cleveland newspaper's veteran art and architecture critic, Steven Litt, as another victim of the national decline in arts coverage. I was pleasantly … [Read more...] about Steven Litt Survives Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Newsroom Purge

In a headspinning turnaround, New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl yesterday asked for a do-over, after being pelted with a torrent of tirades for his muddled analysis regarding possible sales of the Detroit Institute of Art's masterpieces in connection with the city's pending bankruptcy filing. In retracting his ill-considered views, he essentially acknowledged that (in my … [Read more...] about “Sounder Grasp of Issues”: Schjeldahl Says Detroit Institute of Arts Shouldn’t Be Decimated After All

UPDATE: For my take on Peter Schjeldahl's subsequent retraction, go here. There has been an astonishing amount of wrongheaded commentary---ranging from clueless to the pernicious---regarding the severe threat to the Detroit Institute of Arts' collection that could be triggered by the city's bankruptcy. With one exception, I don't wish to dignify this foolishness with links … [Read more...] about Fatuous Journalistic Commentary on the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Plight (and why it must be saved) UPDATED

The expected has now happened. LA MOCA's official announcement of the eventual (but still indeterminate) departure of Jeffrey Deitch has just hit my inbox. As far as I can tell, it's not on the museum's website at this writing, but you can read it in full at the above link. Saying that Deitch "will be stepping down," the release about "leadership changes" (including … [Read more...] about “Leadership Changes”: Text of LA MOCA’s Announcement on Jeffrey Deitch

David Franklin, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, was absolutely right to reject Sicily's outrageous, untimely attempt to change its financial conditions for the critically praised loan show, Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome, now at the Getty Museum. Until its just announced cancelation, the show was scheduled to appear in Cleveland from Sept. 29 to Jan. … [Read more...] about Cleveland Museum’s David Franklin Draws the Line: Cancels Sicily’s Loan Show

  UPDATE: You can hear us now: A little too quickly for me to give you a proper heads-up (although I did announce it on my @CultureGrrl Twitter feed, in the righthand column of the blog), I contributed commentary this afternoon on Southern California's public radio station, KCRW, regarding an unconfirmed artworld development that's been touched upon during the … [Read more...] about My KCRW Radio Commentary on Deitch’s Possible Departure from MOCA UPDATED

As I noted late yesterday, the draconian proposed Fiscal 2014 budget cuts for culture-related funding, as outlined yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee, are (thankfully) far from the last word on the subject. At my request, Andrew Finch, the Washington-based director of policy for the Association of Art Museum Directors, walks us through the steps of the budgetary … [Read more...] about More Cultural Politics: Andrew Finch, AAMD’s Policy Director, on Congress’ Convoluted Budgetary Process