Vogel Takes Met’s Chariot of Ire for a Positive Spin

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 the piece with a “Did she really say that?” final quote from Met curator Joan Mertens:
Our aim is to show things as they are. We aren’t a pastry shop—and this don’t need tart.
Carol, that quote just don’t ring true. Are you sure she didn’t say: “We ain’t no pastry shop”?
At least today Vogel makes it up (scroll down to third item) to the Seattle Art Museum, which was snubbed by the “Expansion, Coast to Coast” feature in Wednesday’s special “Museums” section. She even lets museum director Mimi Gates give a PR plug to a certain large Seattle-area company run by her stepson, Bill. She doesn’t mention the relationship, but I guess we’re just supposed to know that.