Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Will Barnet, "Self Portrait," 1981, National Academy MuseumMartin Puryear, "Bower," 1980, Smithsonian American Art MuseumPhotos by Lee RosenbaumTwo artists who couldn't be more different---Will Barnet and Martin Puryear---and a highly distinguished visual arts curator, collector, philanthropist and museum founder---Emily Rauh Pulitzer---are among the seven individuals and one … [Read more...] about White House Honors: Barnet, Puryear to Receive National Medal of Arts

Lee Rosenbaum, kultuur itoimittaja ("cultural journalist" to you!)You can see me now on Finnish television---the online replay of yesterday's segment on Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE about the Guggenheim Helsinki, for which I was interviewed in Central Park (scroll down) on Tuesday. I was, of course, the main reason why Olli-Pekka Sulasma and his trusty cameraman came up … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Helsinki Commentary: CultureGrrl (and Guggenheim’s Ari Wiseman) on Finnish TV

Michael Brand, landing on his feet after his rocky time at the Getty and his interim position as consulting director of the in-construction Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, is heading back to his native Australia. This announcement just hit my inbox:Michael Brand...has been appointed director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.Brand said the following about his new gig in Sydney, … [Read more...] about Back to Australia: Michael Brand to Direct Art Gallery of New South Wales

I have been deeply moved by the letters and verbal comments that I've received over the last month from devoted CultureGrrl fans (including some artworld luminaries). Some expressed distress over my plan to kill the blog; some wished me future success and expressed gratitude for my long run of uncompensated commentary.I wrote that I would give myself at least a month to decide … [Read more...] about The Return of CultureGrrl: Resuming (occasional) Posting

An ebullient Anne Hawley, director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, speaking at the press preview for the expansionBy sheer good luck, my drive back home from my visit to Salem, MA (where I reviewed for the Wall Street Journal the Shapeshifting show at the Peabody Essex Museum) coincided with the press preview for Renzo Piano's expansion of the Isabella Stewart Gardner … [Read more...] about My Huffington Post Piece on Renzo Piano’s Gardner Museum Expansion

Actually, he's not. But, in a case of inadvertent (and unfortunate) product placement, the glass-walled Lincoln Center studio of New York's WNET (Channel Thirteen) overlooks (on the left) that discount clothing store, which supplanted a late, lamented Barnes & Noble bookstore. The above photo is a screenshot from Philippe de Montebello's announcement (with co-anchor Paula … [Read more...] about Why is Philippe de Montebello Promoting Century 21 Stores?

Donor Intent Champion: Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper Jr. Okay, so I'm violating my no-blogging rule twice in one day (one hour, actually). I break promises for important news. This just in from the Tennessee Attorney General's Office---a request for permission from the State Supreme Court to appeal the Tennessee Court of Appeals decision that would allow Fisk … [Read more...] about New Fisk Appeal Request: Tennessee AG Again Defends Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Explicit Instructions”

Name That Curator (and name that museum)!Photo taken Jan. 27 by Lee RosenbaumI've been to DC and West Palm Beach, among other venues. But if you're not following me on Twitter, you're not up to speed on some of what I've done lately and who I saw. (However, I haven't tweeted about my wide-ranging discussion with the person pictured above).You also don't know what I think about … [Read more...] about Where’s CultureGrrl?

You can now read online my piece that will be on tomorrow's "Leisure & Arts" page of the Wall Street Journal. Artifacts to Artworks is my take on the Peabody Essex Museum's Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art. Let me supplement this article with my own photographs illustrating the works that I discuss. Here's the "may not be suitable for children" piece … [Read more...] about My WSJ Piece on “Shapeshifting” at Peabody Essex: A Photo-and-Video Companion

Karen Kramer Russell, Peabody Essex Museum's curator of Native American art and culture, discussing a painted hide shield cover, Upper Missouri River, c. 1820, National Museum of Natural History, on display at the PEM's new "Shapeshifting" exhibitionI'm still here, art-lings. And I do miss you (and the blog)!Your many notes of appreciation for CultureGrrl that I've received … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My WSJ Piece on Peabody Essex’s “Shapeshifting” Show

Photo © by Jill Krementz "Thanks from CultureGrrl" has been the subject-line in my recent e-mailed acknowledgements to some 44 supporters (both Repeat Donors and new ones) from 16 states, the District of Columbia and one foreign country (Finland). Individual generosity during my recent three-week fund drive ranged from $5 to $500. In all, I raised $1,945---just shy of my $2,000 … [Read more...] about Valedictory Post: Thanks from CultureGrrl!

Entrance to Boston Museum of Fine Arts' current hit show [Part I is here; Part II is here.]Degas and the Nude at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (to Feb. 5) is one of the most perfectly realized art-museum explorations of a complex subject that I've ever encountered. The initiator of this ambitious undertaking---curator George T.M. Shackelford---gets extra points for focusing on … [Read more...] about De Kooning, Degas, Donatello (to Bellini): Ambitious Loan Shows that Bucked the Permanent-Collection Trend—Part III

Suffering damage: "1957-J-No. 2," Clyfford Still MuseumPerhaps I shouldn't be surprised by the many commentators who seem to be finding cause for merriment in the sad damage done last Friday to a painting at the new Clyfford Still Museum, Denver.But AAMD?!?First, the backstory. Joey Bunch of the Denver Post reported this yesterday:A 36-year-old Denver woman, apparently drunk, … [Read more...] about Dept. of Bad Taste: Making Light of Attack on Art at Clyfford Still Museum

De Kooning Devotee: John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art [Part I is here.] Just when I was feeling the old art-exhibition ennui, 2011's two standout U.S. blockbusters---John Elderfield's de Kooning: A Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (to Jan. 9), and George Shackelford's and (from the Musée d'Orsay, Paris) Xavier … [Read more...] about De Kooning, Degas, Donatello (to Bellini): Ambitious Loan Shows that Bucked the Permanent-Collection Trend—Part II

Malcolm Rogers, director, Boston Museum of Fine ArtsThere's a misleading, mistaken assumption in Judith Dobrzynski's Real Clear Arts blog yesterday that needs to be corrected. In her most recent post, Judith decries the Association of Art Museum Directors' failure to issue an immediate, forceful statement opposing Boston's planned increase in "payments in lieu of taxes" (PILOT) … [Read more...] about New Boston Tea Party: MFA’s Malcolm Rogers vs. “Payment in Lieu of Taxes”