The White House, it seems, is about to replace James H. Billington as Librarian of Congress. Billington (left), a distinguished scholar appointed by President Reagan in 1987, turned 80 in June. He’ll mark his 22nd anniversary in the job on Sept. 14, and an announcement may come around that time. At least that’s what some knowledgeable people in Washington suggest.

The front-runner at the moment appears to be Carla D. Hayden, head of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore’s public library, since 1993. Raised in Chicago, she earned a PhD at the University of Chicago; was, early on, a children’s librarian; and eventually became Chief Librarian of the Chicago Public Library. She’s seen
here on a July visit to a branch library for the Pratt’s Preschool Storytime! program.

The White House declined to comment; and, I caution, this may change and there may be another contender whose name hasn’t surfaced.  

But whoever gets the nod, Billington will be a tough act to follow. He’s a Russian expert and the author of at least five books. A Rhodes scholar with a PhD from Oxford, he taught history at Harvard and Princeton, then directed the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

At the Library, Billington made his mark with programs like the World Digital Library, an international library connected to more than 30 national libraries and supported partly by UNESCO. He also founded Open World, a cultural exchange program approved by Congress in 1999 that has brought more than 14,000 Eurasian “current and future leaders” to the U.S. to get a first-hand experience with “American democracy, civil society and community life.” Here’s a link to Billington’s bio on the LOC website.

The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world. If you haven’t taken a look lately, you may be surprised at what available online, let alone at the site. There’s plenty of there for arts-lovers, particularly in performing arts.

It all sounds so simple: The Cleveland Museum of Art has petitioned the court for permission to use money generated by four funds within its $558 million endowment that are currently restricted to art purchases to complete its expansion plans. The museum wants to take $75 million over ten years to finish construction of its $350 million building by 2013, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It quoted the museum’s lawyer, Stephen J. Knerly Jr., and other
officials as “expecting no controversy” over the request. They have previous experience:

The only precedent came in 1955, when the county probate court granted the museum permission to use income from art-purchase funds to build an expansion completed in 1958 (since demolished).

Why the request?

The museum needs access to the art funds because it’s in a financial squeeze. So far, it has raised $212 million for construction. To finish by 2013, it needs another $138 million. The museum is confident it will raise the amount, but not by 2013, because the poor economy has slowed donations.

But, the article explains, if construction doesn’t proceed on schedule, the whole effort will cost more. (You can read more details here.)

It’s true, the Cleveland Museum is one of the nation’s better-endowed art museums. But I still have worries.

[Read more…] about Should the Cleveland Museum Be Allowed To Raid Its Acquisition Endowment?

If I can make it down to Wilmington in the next few months, I’ll be stopping in at the Delaware Art Museum to see “Exposed! — Revealing Sources in Contemporary Art.” It’s a home-grown

exhibition that began on Aug. 15 and, as you may have guessed, explores the use of existing images, either in quotation or appropriation, in paintings, photographs and prints.

Drawing on the museum’s collection and loans from collectors, the exhibit juxtaposes 27 works alongside the works they borrowed from. Aside from poster-boy Richard Prince, whose Nurse paintings (inspired by book jackets) have had a stunning runup in prices over the last few years (and recent decline, no doubt), artists in the exhibit include Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Glenn
Ligon, Grace Hartigan, Ellen Gallagher, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Colescott.

Heather Campbell Coyle, curator of American art at the museum,
organized the show, which runs until Oct. 4. She also started an exhibition blog on Aug. 3, which she claims to be having fun doing. One entry: she spent a mere $163.48 on exhibition source materials, buying comics, pulp novels, a paper-doll book and other emphera mostly from eBay and Abebooks (and possibly crossing swords at one point with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, over a certain Vogue needed for its “Model As Muse” show).

Heather agreed to answer my Five Questions.

[Read more…] about Exposed! In Delaware: Five Questions About Appropriation

Darned if reading “And Now, An Exhibition From Our Sponsor,” the article by Robin Pogrebin that ran in Sunday’s New York Times (link), didn’t put me in a bad mood.

It described how many museums — small ones in particular, with less wherewithal, like the new Millenium Gate Museum in Atlanta, at left — were eager to show exhibitions drawn from the collection of Bank
of America, packaged (ok, curated) by the bank, and sponsored by the bank. Since B of A began this practice — a marketing tool — in 2007, it has placed nearly two dozen shows, and has another 16 set for the next two years. “And,” the article says, “there is a waiting list.”

J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Deutsche Bank and UBS also regularly lend out shows drawn from their collections, but none has perfected the turnkey exhibition idea as much as B of A.

Now, the banks’ position is totally understandable: the practice works, drawing new customers and creating good will in the community. But the comments of several museum directors — complacency personified — are less explicable to me. Only Glenn Lowry, head of the Museum of Modern Art, and Richard Armstrong, head of the Guggenheim (whom I’ve criticized here for displaying his inner cowboy vis-a-vis museum practices), seemed to be dubious. Good for them.

Even more surprising was the neutral response of John Ravenal, the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts who recently became president of the Association of Art Museum Curators.

[Read more…] about We Don’t Need Curators Any More: We Have Banks

Last week, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced another round of grant awards, $29 million to 184 projects. They range widely in size — from $1,000 to $1 million; subject — from ancient civilizations to the whaling industry; and kind — from teacher
seminars to digital projects.

They’re worth having a look at, as I’ve said here before, because many projects are as much about the arts as they are about the humanities. Some (not the teacher education efforts) seem very promising for a wide audience. To name just two:

• Film Odyssey Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based production company, won $625,000 to make a one-hour documentary called “Butterfly: The Art and Life of James McNeill Whistler.” The company, under director Karen Thomas, also made “Isaac Stern: Life’s Virtuoso” narrated by Meryl Streep and released in 2000, according to IMDB.
• The New York Botanical Garden,* in the Bronx, received $400,000 to create indoor and outdoor exhibits, plus public programs, exploring how plants
  inspired the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

It’s good that NEH is willing to make big grants. I haven’t done an serious comparison, but the National Endowment for the Arts — except for the big grants awarded to state arts councils — seems to spread its awards more thinly, with — I think — less impact. Maybe Rocco Landesman will change that; I hope Jim Leach doesn’t change the NEH m.o.

You can see all the NEH grants from this round of awards in these three PDFs, in which grants are listed alphabetically by state. For Alabama to Maine, click here; for Maryland to New York, here; and for North Carolina to Wyoming, plus U.S. territories, click here.

Photo Credits: Whistler self-portrait, c. 1872, Detroit Institute of Arts (top); Dickinson’s Poems, 1890 edition.

*A client supports the NYBG