Archives for March 2007

Journalists got a tour from architect Rafael Moneo today of his new annex to Prado in Madrid. The construction is done but the annex will not open to the public until the fall. It includes temporary exhibition space, print and drawings rooms (allowing display of Goya prints now in storage) and a sunlit space for sculpture in a space that had been occupied by the relocated … [Read more...] about First Look at the Prado’s New Annex

Guggenheim Museum fan Tom Frenkel responds (belatedly) to Guggenheim's Extraordinary Spanish Extravaganza (now closed): You rightly comment that there is little explication of the paintings on the walls. However, I was pleasantly shocked to find that many of the museum guards were young people who knew their stuff (art history majors?). I asked two or three of them some … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Informed Guards Make Up for Scant Text at Guggenheim Show

Very retentive readers of CultureGrrl may remember that I alerted you to a conference on nonprofit law, which was held today at Fordham Law School in New York. It included a discussion between Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art and Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center, moderated by Robin Pogrebin, cultural reporter for the NY Times. She had the chance to ask … [Read more...] about Did Pogrebin Pop “The Question” to Glenn Lowry?

John Lawrence, a midwest collector of medieval art and manuscripts, whose holdings were featured in a 2002 exhibition at Oberlin College (scroll to Page 3), responds to CultureGrrl's various censorious posts on museum deaccessions (to which I added two earlier today): Many of the pieces that I have acquired in my extensive collection came from institutions, and many of the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: A Collector Deplores Deaccessions

In a letter sent Monday to the Tennessee attorney general, Fisk University revealed that art dealers have offered to pay $20-25 million for Georgia O'Keeffe's "Radiator Building." The financially strapped historically black university wants to sell that iconic painting (as well as a Marsden Hartley) to raise money for construction and endowment, but the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum … [Read more...] about Fisk Reports to Attorney General on Dealers’ High Offers for O’Keeffe

The other shoe has just dropped: Robert L. Barchi, president of Thomas Jefferson University, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the medical school intends to sell the two remaining Eakins paintings in its collection: "Portrait of Benjamin H. Rand" and "Portrait of William S. Forbes." Peter Dobrin reports that Barchi issued this statement: We do not intend to sell any of our … [Read more...] about Jefferson University Plans to Sell Its Other Two Eakinses

Carol Vogel reported in yesterday's NY Times on the conservation of the Metropolitan Museum's Etruscan chariot (illustrated, above, on the book cover of "The Stolen Chariot"), but mentioned nothing about the controversy over its ownership. Maybe she didn't want to dignify a stale claim (based on events of more than a century ago) by taking it seriously. But then she leavened … [Read more...] about Vogel Takes Met’s Chariot of Ire for a Positive Spin

Alex Barker, director of the Museum of Art & Archaeology at the University of Missouri, Columbia, supplements my report on collection sharing by the Smithsonian in yesterday's post, Another Smithsonian Resignation and Musings on a "Future" That's Already Here: Quick reminder: In addition to SITES [Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service], the Smithsonian also has … [Read more...] about BlogBack: More on Smithsonian Collection Sharing

Jean-Baptiste Oudry, "Rhinoceros," Staatliches Museum Schwerin After a while, I tired of the editorial puffery (from which I exclude Holland Cotter's provocative think piece) in yesterday's NY Times Museums section. So I found myself focusing on what that section is really about: the ads. Some of these were more interesting than the articles, in terms of what they said about … [Read more...] about The Lee-o’s for Amazing Museum Advertising

It's not just Smithsonian Institution's secretary, Lawrence Small, and under secretary for science, David Evans, who have flown the coop. There are two other high-level disturbances, announced before the Small Squall, that will occasion more headhunting: Marc Pachter is retiring in October from the directorship of the National Portrait Gallery; Richard West will be leaving his … [Read more...] about Smithsonian Musical Chairs, Continued

How do you impose a news embargo until tomorrow on information that you have made available online to the entire world today? I just found out from Richard Lacayo's blog, Looking Around, that Richard Rogers, co-designer with Renzo Piano of Paris' Pompidou Center and, more recently, architect of Terminal 4 in Barajas Airport, Madrid, has been named this year's winner of … [Read more...] about Richard Rogers Gets the Pritzker: The News Embargo Heard Round the World

Carol Kino's article in today's NY Times "Museums" section about Stolen Artworks and the Lawyers Who Reclaim Them (less charitably termed "Bounty Hunters" in the headline of Kelly Crow's Wall Street Journal article on the same theme last Friday) has reminded me to follow up on a celebrated artworld case about which I wrote the following for the WSJ, back in 1999: If there were … [Read more...] about Free “Portrait of Wally”!

UPDATE: Eric Gibson has an insightful piece in today's Wall Street Journal about Small's failings and what needs to be done to improve the Smithsonian's governance here. (That piece mentions me.) Cristián Samper, acting secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since the sudden resignation of Lawrence Small, already has his hands full: It was announced yesterday that he accepted … [Read more...] about Another Smithsonian Resignation and Musings on a “Future” That’s Already Here

I'm going to have to issue a little disclaimer about my last post, which was intended (obviously, I thought) as a spoof. A highly sophisticated communications officer for a major museum (who shall remain nameless to protect the credulous) has just sent me this anxious e-mail: The Grassley reference is a joke, no? YES, OF COURSE it was a joke! I guess I should have realized that … [Read more...] about GrassleyPhobia: A Sign of the Times

UPDATE: The link for the Museums section is here. Tomorrow's the moment you've all been waiting for---publication day for the NY Times' special Museums section, which this year promises us "a look at the growing number of contemporary art museums and at the interplay between them and the art market" (i.e., selling older art to buy the next new thing?). The Times will also … [Read more...] about NY Times “Museums” Section Tomorrow: A Sneak Peek at the Ads