CultureGrrl

Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Archives for August 2006

Roving Reporter Seeks Assignment…

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to cover the fall openings of the new Boston ICA and the new addition to the Denver Art Museum---the first completed buildings in the U.S. designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Daniel Libeskind, respectively. The most recent of my many Mainstream Media articles on museum openings (in two parts) is here and here. (Yes, I'm still cheerfully writing for the Wall Street Journal, … [Read more...] about Roving Reporter Seeks Assignment…

More MoMA Masterpiece Makeovers

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The Museum of Modern Art decided that transparency was the best policy during its recent conservation of Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", one of its most iconic works. MoMA provided continuing updates about the progress of that restoration on its website. But the museum has been more discreet about its facelifts for other aging modern masterpieces. When I had asked her in … [Read more...] about More MoMA Masterpiece Makeovers

Rescuing MoMA’s Submerged “Swimming Pool”

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In a previous post, I lamented the long-time disappearance from the Museum of Modern Art's galleries of Matisse's late masterpiece, The Swimming Pool, a nine-panel mural in two parts (each 7 1/2 feet long), consisting of gouache-on-paper cutouts, pasted on white painted paper mounted on burlap. Yesterday I caught up with my favorite MoMA curator, Matisse expert John Elderfield, … [Read more...] about Rescuing MoMA’s Submerged “Swimming Pool”

The Right Way for Museums to Dispose of Art…

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is not by selling it, if the piece is of museum quality. If a museum can't use a work that a sister institution would be pleased to exhibit, what ought to happen is this. In a previous post, reacting to comments made to me by curator Gary Tinterow of the Metropolitan Museum, CultureGrrl opined: Collection-sharing IS an option---one that should be more seriously explored by all … [Read more...] about The Right Way for Museums to Dispose of Art…

A Poignant Moment:

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The sight of pioneering modern dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham, wheeled into today's MoMA press preview by the museum's president emerita, Agnes Gund, to see himself dance in Nam June Paik's 1993 untitled 15-television piece, with player piano. Cunningham and his frequent co-conspirator, composer John Cage, also featured in the videos, "shared with Paik an interest in … [Read more...] about A Poignant Moment:

Contemporary at MoMA: Time’s Up

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Now that I've returned, disgruntled, from the press preview for the Museum of Modern Art's latest reinstallation of its sprawling second-floor contemporary-art space (tellingly entitled, "Out of Time"), it's high time to add an 11th item to my "Top 10 List" of things I dislike about the new MoMA (posted here and here): The concept behind MoMA's contemporary galleries urgently … [Read more...] about Contemporary at MoMA: Time’s Up

My Article on the Smithsonian in Today’s WSJ—Part II

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Here's the second part of my article, appearing on the "Leisure & Arts" page in today's Wall Street Journal. (Here's Part I.) The most grandiose extravagance [in the renovation of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery], marred by some of the biggest cost overruns and delays, is still a work-in-progress: Now estimated to cost some $62 … [Read more...] about My Article on the Smithsonian in Today’s WSJ—Part II

My Article on the Smithsonian in Today’s WSJ—Part I

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As you know, I can't link to the Wall Street Journal's subscribers-only site, but I AM allowed to post the text of my article. I'll again do it in two parts, so as not to tax the short attention spans of hyperactive blog readers. (It's on today's "Leisure & Arts" page, Page D5, for those of you who still turn pages, instead of clicking hyperlinks.) Washington The recent … [Read more...] about My Article on the Smithsonian in Today’s WSJ—Part I

Late-Breaking Development in Auction-House Price-Fixing Story

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Sotheby's has just concluded another chapter in the continuing saga of former price-fixing collusion with Christie's auction house. This Canada-based story will hit the newspapers (including the WSJ) tomorrow, but the most complete account I've seen on the web so far comes from CBC News. According to that report: The probe turned up no evidence that the price-fixing conspiracy … [Read more...] about Late-Breaking Development in Auction-House Price-Fixing Story

Chillin’ with Dylan

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As usual, Joyce beats her mom to the cultural punch. She just got word that Bob Dylan, the ex-Wilbury I missed in Williamstown, will be playing in State College, the town in the middle of nowhere in which Joyce has just settled in for an extended grad-school stint in acoustics engineering. She's getting herself a ticket. But Bob, did you know that my brilliant and talented … [Read more...] about Chillin’ with Dylan

BlogBack: Joe Thompson on Horticultural Horrors

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The director of MASS MoCA, Joseph Thompson, gives his tongue-in-cheek retort in the tortured-tree controversy: As you might imagine, we had that debate! In this case---one in a hundred, I assure you---the curators lost and I won, and instead of replacing the trees with a new work (as Nato [Thompson] and Susan [Cross] argued we should, taking your side), we rejuvenated. We … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Joe Thompson on Horticultural Horrors

Tree Illogic

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The experiment has ended. Long live the experiment. Those of us who infrequently visit MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., might never notice the "reinstallation" of Natalie Jeremijenko's Tree Logic---the six maples, hung upside down in the entry courtyard ever since the museum opened in 1999. (At that time, I wrote in my June 1 WSJ review, "I have seen the future, and it's … [Read more...] about Tree Illogic

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