Archives for October 2007

Daniel Grant alleges an auction-house conspiracy of secrecy in today's Wall Street Journal, developing a theme he had already explored in last month's Art and Antiques magazine. Today he took aim at secret reserves, chandelier bidding and guarantees to sellers (including occasional third-party participation in those guarantees). I've examined some of the issues raised by … [Read more...] about Auction Houses in the News (Or Not)

Red figure psykter (ceramic), attributed to the Kleophrades Painter. Greek, Attic, ca. 510-500 B.C., Image courtesy of Princeton University Art Museum Not Robert Hecht again! The name of that dicey dealer keeps popping up in stories of U.S. museum antiquities acquisitions gone bad. On trial in Italy for illicit antiquities trafficking along with the Getty Museum's Marion True, … [Read more...] about Italy/Princeton Antiquities Deal: Reasons for Give-Backs Hide Behind Wall of “Confidentiality” UPDATED

Georges Seurat, "Landscape, Island of the Grande Jatte," 1884, 1885, painted border c. 1889-9, Steven and Alexandra Cohen Collection Okay, we all knew about Damien Hirst's shark, now at the Metropolitan Museum. And I also noticed that another work from hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen's collection, Richard Prince's "Good News, Bad News," was on loan to the artist's current … [Read more...] about Hedge Hog: Steve Cohen-Loaned Works at Met, Guggenheim, MoMA

Lisa Dennison announced her surprise resignation from the directorship of the Guggenheim Museum on July 31. Three months later, they've finally gotten around to hiring a search firm. This just in from the press office: William Mack, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, announced today that the Board search committee has hired Phillips … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Gets Around to Hiring a Search Firm for Director

What's wrong with this picture? The same thing that's wrong with this picture... ...and this picture: Aside from being blurry, what's amiss in these amateur shots, which I took at a recent press preview, is the coldly institutional impression created by the cavernous, uninviting spaces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new Uris Center for Education. Its halls, designed by … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum’s New Art-less Education Center

---Cleopatra (aka Liz Taylor) gets to keep her van Gogh: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the claimants' appeal, the Associated Press reports. The lawyers who tried to pry loose Taylor's "View of the Asylum and Chapel at Saint-Remy" are the same ones trying to separate Andrew Lloyd Webber from his Picasso, "Angel Fernández de Soto." Both suits against celebrities … [Read more...] about Links from the Sphinx: Liz Taylor’s Van Gogh, Salander O’Reilly and Sotheby’s, Another Art Blog Round-Up, Another Proposal for Taichung Museum

It took a while, but the restitution agreement with Princeton University that Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli prematurely announced in New York last June (after which Princeton declared that nothing had been finalized) has finally come to pass. The details of the agreement are here. But what's missing from Princeton's announcement is any clue as to what evidence … [Read more...] about What’s Missing from the Princeton/Italy Accord?

Call me sour and dour. But I regard the video clip below as boorish, bordering on irresponsible, except for the Daily Show host's hilarious opening joke at the expense of Boston College's Pollock Matters show, which did make me guffaw. I was not amused, though, by the slashing of a "Pollock" or the licking of a "van Gogh." But maybe I just don't get it because I'm the … [Read more...] about Do You Find This Jon Stewart Art Authentication Spoof Funny?

Bernard Tschumi, Architect of the New Acropolis Museum, Athens Yes, art-lings, we're up and podcasting! Click below for my audio rejoinder to Nicolai Ouroussoff's Where Gods Yearn for Long-Lost Treasures in yesterday's NY Times. … [Read more...] about Parthenon Podcast: Bernard Tschumi Gets His Wish

This is a test, only a test. Let's see if it actually works this time! UPDATE: Oh my tech-challenged soul! I think this actually works! Now I've just got to think of something to say. (That shouldn't be too hard. I think we'll start with the ancient Greeks.) All praise to my new technological guru, Eugene Wasserman of Compugene Software, with whom I attended elementary school, … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl’s Second Podcast Attempt

"The Young Rembrandt as Democrates the Laughing Philosopher" Is the subject of this portrait laughing at the successful bidder, or with him? On Friday, the above painting, catalogued as "Follower of Rembrandt," was sold at Moore, Allen & Innocent in Norcote, England---one of those catch-all auction houses that count "agricultural and rural services" as one of its … [Read more...] about Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt? Bidders Take a Flyer on £2.2-Million Portrait

This must go down in the annals of journalistic bloopers: A photo in today's London Daily Mail, shows an outrageously attired (isn't he always?) Elton John, above the caption: "Sir Elton photograph has been found not to be an indecent image." Actually, that image of the rock star, decked out head-to-toe in shiny blue polka dots, DOES seem to cross all boundaries of … [Read more...] about Is an Image of Elton John Indecent? (Or Are Caption Writers Incompetent?)

Henri Matisse, "The Dance," 1910. State Hermitage Museum. Photo Archives Matisse, Paris. © Succession H. Matisse/DACS 2007 Russian museums, including the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, may be having second thoughts about lending their masterpieces (including Matisse's "The Dance," above) to a (possibly) upcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy, London: French and Russian … [Read more...] about Cultural Exchange (or not), British-Russian Style

Ted Gallagher, a self-described attorney "with a strong amateur art historic streak" and a B.A. in Spanish art and history, responds to Hispanic Society's Koran Deaccessions: Sadly, the sale by the Hispanic Society of America of unique Koranic manuscripts for fast cash is yet another case of public art treasures being shed in the name of "mission shift." The Hispanic Society of … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Hispanic Society Habitué Decries Koran Deaccessions

Where were the defense lawyers when Steven Lee Olson and his girlfriend really needed them? Susan Tranquada, the love interest of the suspect arrested Tuesday night in the Goya theft, blabbed yesterday to The Record of Bergen County, NJ, home to both CultureGrrl and the alleged thief. He is said to have spirited the painting away after it was tucked in for the night last … [Read more...] about Goya Arrest Update: The Girlfriend Talks