NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, delivering opening remarks last month at an arts-education panel in Newark, NJPhoto by Lee RosenbaumRocco Landesman today announced that he will step down at the end of this year as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Landesman stated: My intention has always been to serve one term and we have been able to accomplish more than I had … [Read more...] about Rocco Landesman Steps Down from NEA Chairmanship
Jittery Journey: The Grrl Returns from Israel (with grayer hair)
"Enjoy Eilat" sign on the small airport for Israel's Red Sea resort town, as seen from my hotelPhoto by Lee RosenbaumIt was difficult for me to "Enjoy Eilat," the Red Sea beach resort to which my husband and I traveled at the end of our two-week sojourn in Israel.As readers of my previous post and followers of the last 34 entries on my Twitter feed know, I endured a "frying … [Read more...] about Jittery Journey: The Grrl Returns from Israel (with grayer hair)
Sandy Update: CultureGrrl Will Return (eventually)
It takes a hurricane to fell CultureGrrl. Today was Day 6 of no electricity, heat or cable And now I'm charging my iPhone in the Delta terminal of JFK, from which I'll be wisked away to the land of milk, honey, electricity, heat and hot showers.I'll try to tweet while I'm gone and I'll post a bit towards the end of the month. But Thanksgiving and a late November trip … [Read more...] about Sandy Update: CultureGrrl Will Return (eventually)
AFA Museum Funding Panel: Tom Campbell, Ari Wiseman on Donor Influence (or lack thereof)
Left to right at last Wednesday's all-star panel on museum funding: Thomas Campbell, Maxwell Anderson (moderator), Ari Wiseman Photo by Lee Rosenbaum [We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for my Twitter feed's Hurricane Sandy updates (with photos), from my perch atop the New Jersey Palisades, overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan---here, here and here. At … [Read more...] about AFA Museum Funding Panel: Tom Campbell, Ari Wiseman on Donor Influence (or lack thereof)
Vandal Vanity: Art Crime Pays for Alleged Attacker of Menil’s Picasso
Screenshot from a visitor's video showing last June's defacement of the Menil Collection's Picasso, "Woman in a Red Armchair," 1929, still in conservationIf he wanted to encourage copycat vandalism, James Perez, owner of Cueto James Art Gallery in Houston, could have done no better than to give a one-man show to the suspect in the attack on the Menil Collection's Picasso.In … [Read more...] about Vandal Vanity: Art Crime Pays for Alleged Attacker of Menil’s Picasso
Museum Funding Conundrums: Tom Campbell of Metropolitan Museum Leads All-Star Cast (with video)
Left to right: Mariët Westermann, Thomas Campbell, Maxwell Anderson, Ari Wiseman, James Bildner, Melissa Chiu Photo by Lee Rosenbaum A self-acknowledged New York-centric panel of major museum officials and experts in cultural philanthropy engaged last night in an illuminating, wide-ranging discussion pegged to the topic of Art Museum Funding at the Crossroads. I distilled … [Read more...] about Museum Funding Conundrums: Tom Campbell of Metropolitan Museum Leads All-Star Cast (with video)
NY Times “Styles” Over Substance: Giving LA MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch More Than His Due
Jeffrey Deitch poolside at his Hollywood houseScreenshot from Jeffrey Deitch Takes Hollywood, a video on The Curve, LA MOCA's blogGuy Trebay's long Jeffrey Deitch-friendly piece, which landed inconguously on the front page of last week's NY Times "SundayStyles" section, hasn't been dignified with a link on the paper's Art and Design web page. That could be for good reason: The … [Read more...] about NY Times “Styles” Over Substance: Giving LA MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch More Than His Due
My Q&A with Luke Syson: Reinventing the Met’s Decorative Arts Displays (plus a glimpse of “Bernini”)
Two veteran "newcomers" (to their current institutions), meeting at Metropolitan Museum's Lehman Wing during the Bernini show's press previewLeft: Luke Syson, Metropolitan Museum's new curator in charge of European sculpture and decorative artsRight: George Shackelford, Kimbell Art Museum's new deputy directorPhoto by Lee RosenbaumWe haven't heard much about what Luke Syson is … [Read more...] about My Q&A with Luke Syson: Reinventing the Met’s Decorative Arts Displays (plus a glimpse of “Bernini”)
Kunsthal Rotterdam Theft: Where Were the Guards? (plus director’s statement)
Among the Missing: Matisse, "La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune" ("The Reader in White and Yellow"), 1919, Triton Foundation Where were the guards? Apparently there weren't any. By now you've no doubt seen some of the numerous reports and speculative commentary regarding yesterday's 3 a.m. theft of seven Impressionist, modern and contemporary works that were among over 150 pieces … [Read more...] about Kunsthal Rotterdam Theft: Where Were the Guards? (plus director’s statement)
Mitt Romney on Charitable Deductions: A $25,000 Cap?
Screenshot of Mitt Romney as he spoke about "bringing down [tax] deductions" in last night's debate Mitt Romney's proposed federal funding cuts for Big Bird got mentioned by President Obama in last night's hotly contentious debate. The Republican's planned zeroing of the National Endowment Arts didn't come up. But there was one comment last night that did have direct … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney on Charitable Deductions: A $25,000 Cap?
City Review Process: First Look (with video) at Cornell’s Tech Campus and Thom Mayne’s Academic Building
Rendering of the planned first academic building of Cornell Tech, designed by architect Thom Mayne's firm, Morphosis. Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the new school, calls it "very 21st-century architecture" for "a 21st-century campus." This is a big week for Roosevelt Island (formerly Welfare Island), a scenic, underutilized site in the middle of New York City's East River. On … [Read more...] about City Review Process: First Look (with video) at Cornell’s Tech Campus and Thom Mayne’s Academic Building
D.C. Solution? Corcoran Reaches Out to the National Gallery and George Washington University
An iconic American sculpture not represented in National Gallery's collection: Hiram Powers, "The Greek Slave," modeled 1841-43, carved 1846 Corcoran Gallery of Art, gift of William Wilson Corcoran Photo by Lee Rosenbaum Trying to head off premature panic that the Corcoran will sell its Washington, D.C., historic home and decamp for more modern digs in the suburbs, the … [Read more...] about D.C. Solution? Corcoran Reaches Out to the National Gallery and George Washington University
Wroth About the Tate’s Rothko: Where Are the Guards?
"The Sleeping Guard," taken on a Saturday afternoon at a museum's entrance All photos by Lee Rosenbaum I briefly mentioned in an update to this post that an arrest has been made of a suspect in the defacement of one of the Tate Modern's Seagram Murals by Mark Rothko. The Tate has now confirmed to me that the affected painting was "Black on Maroon," 1958 (one of several with … [Read more...] about Wroth About the Tate’s Rothko: Where Are the Guards?
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Downplays Importance of His Own Agency (with video)
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, delivering opening remarks yesterday at an arts-education panel in Newark, NJPhoto by Lee RosenbaumMore than three years after becoming chairman of the what (if Mitt Romney is elected President) could be the lame-duck National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman still has foot-in-mouth disease. (You may still wince at the memory of his Peoria … [Read more...] about NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Downplays Importance of His Own Agency (with video)
“Save the Corcoran” Issues No-Move Demand in Lawyer’s Letter
New owner's name here? (the Corcoran's entrance)Photo by Lee RosenbaumIn an implied threat of legal action, the ad hoc Save the Corcoran group yesterday sent a nine-page lawyer's letter to the leadership of the Corcoran Gallery of Art & College of Art + Design, demanding that the institution remain in Washington, DC, and alleging that it would be in violation of its … [Read more...] about “Save the Corcoran” Issues No-Move Demand in Lawyer’s Letter