Archives for January 2009

The strongest commentary yet on the proposed Rose Art Museum dissolution comes from David Bonetti, Brandeis '69 and veteran art critic of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His one-word description of his reaction---"fury." There's much more: The Rose Art Museum, then [when Bonetti attended Brandeis] one of the few museums in the country devoted to contemporary art, was … [Read more...] about Should Brandeis President Reinharz Be Deaccessioned?

Jeremy Strick, at the old placeI look forward to working with a talented staff and committed board to create a program that through its quality, scope, and ambition will capture the attention of the world.So says Jeremy Strick in the press release announcing the appointment of the formerly embattled director of LA MOCA to his fresh new gig as director of the marvelous but … [Read more...] about Nasher Flash: Strick-ly Speaking, It’s a Good Match

I've got lots of posts in (Third) mind to do, but first I've got to get out that application for the award that I previously mentioned (and that I won't get). To divert me further, my doctoral-candidate daughter, also applying for an award, has just e-mailed me, for my editorial guidance, a 22-page paper entitled, "Enhanced Sound Propagation Modeling of Aviation Noise: Hybrid … [Read more...] about Rosenbaum Awards Day: We Interrupt this Blog…

The late Olga RaggioA Metropolitan Museum assistant museum librarian, Stephanie Post, who took pity on me in my vain search for a photo to accompany my Wednesday night Olga Raggio obit, has sent me the above image from a luncheon given for the longtime Met curator when she stepped down as chairman of European sculpture and decorative arts.Stephanie writes:I was touched that you … [Read more...] about Olga Raggio, Remembered by Met Staffer

Ford Bell, AAM's president, speaking Monday at New York UniversityI was wondering what was taking them so long. We have already heard from AAMD and ACUMG, CAA and a group of contemporary museums, and AAMC. But AAM's statement on the Rose woes was well worth the wait:Taking a page out of the CultureGrrl book (4th paragraph), or, more likely, illustrating the maxim that "great … [Read more...] about AAM’s Brandeis Statement: The Rose Collection in Any Other Museum Would Smell (almost) as Sweet

I'm getting sore.How come Tom Campbell has time to speak [via] to Ed Pilkington of the Guardian, but not to Lee Rosenbaum of CultureGrrl (and occasionally even of the Wall Street Journal)? Believe me, I've asked. How come those Brits have all the fun?I know why: because it looks like Pilk got bilked---another of those bleeping beeper-timed interviews, with little of substance … [Read more...] about The Pendulum Swings: Met’s Tom Campbell Gets Punked

Yet another county heard from: The Association of Art Museum Curators says this about the possible dissolution of the Rose Art Museum: The decision to regard the collection of the museum as an asset rather than as a wealth of ideas in physical form was made without consultation of all the most important parties. The professional staff of the Rose Art Museum and its student … [Read more...] about A Rose is a Rose is a…: Association of Art Museum Curators Weighs In Against Brandeis Decision

Marsden Hartley's "Musical Theme (Oriental Symphony)," 1912-13, Rose Art Museum, seen at today's Guggenheim Museum's New York press preview of The Third Mind (Can we keep it?) The College Art Association has added its voice to the chorus of condemnation against the possible dissolution of the Rose Art Museum. Here is its statement: CAA Protests Rose Art Museum's Closing and … [Read more...] about Rose Museum Outrage, from CAA and Contemporary Museums; More Brandeis Self-Justifications

In punishing the National Academy for its desperation deaccessions, the Association of Art Museum Directors went too far. The unfortunate byproduct of that has been to galvanize certain art lawyers and museum consultants, who think that some institutions (perhaps those to which they provide counsel) would benefit by a loosening of deaccession standards. If it's okay for museums … [Read more...] about Deaccession Revisions: AAMD Needs to Tighten Its Own Standards

The late Olga RaggioOlga Raggio, 82 [via], was, during her time at the Metropolitan Museum, one of the relatively rare high-ranking female museum professionals in this country. Seriously considered for the directorship that was ultimately won by Philippe de Montebello, she was at that time chairman of the Met's Western European arts department. She was praised by Thomas Hoving, … [Read more...] about Olga Raggio, Met’s Former Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Dies

In its written statement Monday announcing its plan to close the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University said that "the university will publicly sell the art collection." Let me repeat that: It said "THE art collection." It didn't say "SOME of the art collection."But now Fred Thys of Boston's public radio station, WBUR, reports that Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz informed him … [Read more...] about The Spectre of the Rose: Brandeis Flip-Flops Again

Malcolm RogersIn my diatribe yesterday against the decision by the board of the Association of Art Museum Directors that its member museums should deny loans to or collaboration with the National Academy, I noted that six museums listed on the Academy's website as lending art to an upcoming Academy show have now been deleted from the online description of that show. The only … [Read more...] about Malcolm Rogers: Promised Loans May Still Go to National Academy Show

[NOTE: I originally intended to post this yesterday, until the Rose Art Museum situation preempted it. But recent developments make this recommendation more relevant than ever, as I will argue below.] I'm second to no one in deploring the National Academy Museum's desperation deaccessions, but I think the Association of Art Museum Directors' reaction to that watershed event … [Read more...] about Deaccession Aggression: One Decision that AAMD Should Rescind

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley Sometimes, it seems, we can't trust what Brandeis University's publicity machine would have us believe. As I reported here, a university spokesman told the Boston Globe's Geoff Edgers that the Massachusetts Attorney General had been informed of university's plan to sell the Rose Museum's entire collection. The university … [Read more...] about NY Times Reports That Massachusetts AG Will Review Brandeis Art-Sale Plans UPDATED

David Robertson, President, ACUMG and director, Mary and Leigh Block Museum, Northwestern University The Association of College and University Museums and Galleries (ACUMG), the leading professional organization for such institutions, has issued this statement lamenting Brandeis University's plan to close its Rose Art Museum and sell off its collection: Speaking on behalf … [Read more...] about ACUMG and AAMD Issue Statements Deploring Rose Museum’s Dissolution UPDATED