Archives for March 2009

I'm back, art-lings, from the annual conference in Tarrytown held by the Museum Association of New York and the Upstate History Alliance, where the discussion on "Desperation Deaccessions" was possibly the only event in which the attendees (some of whom popped in just for this session) may have been more distinguished and thoughtful than the featured speaker and discussion … [Read more...] about Another Day Without CultureGrrl

I've been invited to vocalize at two deaccession-related speaking gigs in the next few weeks---a sign, I suppose, of the increased interest and anxiety over this issue, touched off by the current financial crisis and the recent controversies at the National Academy and the Rose Art Museum.The Deaccession Diva's first engagement, as I've briefly mentioned, is at the annual … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl Curriculum: The Deaccession Diva Tarries in Tarrytown

Manhattan District Attorney Robert MorgenthauI can't do this justice by merely excerpting it. You'll just have to read it for yourself, but make sure you're sitting down. It's the press release from Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau describing in hair-raising detail the substance of the 100-count indictment just handed down against bankrupt dealer Larry Salander, … [Read more...] about District Attorney Morgenthau: Gory Details of the Salander Indictment

Goudstikker heir Marei von Saher at the "Reclaimed" press previewThe most fascinating object in the uneven, possibly problematic traveling show now at the Jewish Museum, New York, Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker (to Aug. 2), is now online and searchable. It's the small, meticulously annotated inventory notebook (have patience; it loads slowly) in … [Read more...] about Goudstikker “Reclaimed” Show: Searchable Online Inventory Book, Question-Raising Exhibition

Titian, "Flora," ca.1516-18, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, in BMFA's "Titian Tintoretto Veronese" exhibitionIn my post on Antiquities Diplomacy: More Italian Loans to the Getty, I stated that the patience of Michael Brand, the Getty's director, "in crafting antiquities collaborations with Italy, rather than arranging immediate compensatory loans (as was done when the Metropolitan … [Read more...] about BlogBack: George Shackelford on Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ Collaboration with Italy

Robert Workman, speaking at the Crystal Bridges site dedication Crystal Bridges, Alice Walton's museum-in-construction in Bentonville, AR, has added three contemporary works to the small selection of acquisitions listed on its website. But it has lost its director, Bob Workman. In a Jan. 26 announcement that fell under my radar (and maybe yours), the museum disclosed … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Update: Bob Workman Resigns; “Kindred Spirits” at the Met

David RockefellerIn reponse to my inquiry last week about the prolonged absence from the Museum of Modern Art's galleries of Picasso's early Cubist masterpiece, "The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro," 1909, Kim Mitchell, the museum's spokesperson, informed me late Friday afternoon that the painting (a fractional and promised gift to MoMA from its honorary chairman, David Rockefeller) … [Read more...] about MoMA Comments on Four-Year Disappearance of Rockefeller’s Fractional-Gift Picasso

Italian prosecutor Paolo Ferri Why was I perusing Italian newspapers last weekend? I stumbled across Corriere del Mezzogiorno's article about the imminent loan to the J. Paul Getty Museum of two bronze statues excavated at Pompeii because I had been searching (in vain) for Italian newspapers' take on this new development in the never-ending trial in Rome of Marion True, … [Read more...] about True Trial: Getty’s Ex-Curator Fights Back, Italy’s Expert Witness Retreats

"Chimaera of Arezzo," Etruscan (from Arezzo,) 400-375 B.C., Museo Archeologico Nazionale, FlorencePhoto: Fernando GuerriniBut wait, there's more!I've not yet heard from the J. Paul Getty Museum about the upcoming loan of two bronze Apollos from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, about which I've just posted. But hot off my inbox is a Getty press release about loans … [Read more...] about Antiquities Diplomacy, Part II: More Italian Loans to the Getty

The Getty Villa, MalibuUPDATE: More Italy-to-Getty loans (from Florence) here.In what the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno calls "the first element of stable, collaborative relations" between the Italian Culture Ministry and the J. Paul Getty Museum, two bronze statues of Apollo, both from excavations at Pompeii, are due to travel to the California museum tomorrow, on … [Read more...] about Antiquities Diplomacy: The Getty Awaits Two Apollos, Lent by Italy UPDATED

In the NY Times' "Talk to the Newsroom" feature, assistant managing editor Richard Berke writes:Michael Kimmelman, our brilliant Berlin-based chief art critic, recently asked whether he could make a costly---and arduous---trip to Baghdad to review the national art museum there. The answer was, Yes! We have still to work out the details, but how many news organizations these … [Read more...] about Michael Kimmelman’s Peregrinations: Berlin to Baghdad?

Eric Gelber, the news editor of artcritical.com, an online art magazine, is also a blogging cartoonist at EAGEAGEAG, where he recently responded graphically to my report on how Sam Sifton, cultural news editor of the NY Times, rides herd over the nags and throughbreds in his stable of writers:Actually, Eric's graphic was a little too graphic. I always strive to comport myself … [Read more...] about NY Times’ Sam Sifton, The Cartoon

Picasso, "The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro," 1909, Museum of Modern Art, fractional and promised gift of David Rockefeller © 2009 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York In 2003, when the Museum of Modern Art sold its seminal Picasso, "Houses on the Hill, Horta de Ebro," 1909, which was bequeathed to it in 1979 by Nelson Rockefeller, it justified this … [Read more...] about MoMA Picasso’s Deplorable Deaccession Revisited: No Rockefeller “Horta” Pictures on View

Whitney's WhitTee: If only they could have gotten Houston to model this garment (or maybe this Whitney)Granted, the Whitney gives you other benefits (hey, it comes in black too!) for your $75, along with this "limited edition," commissioned from Jenny Holzer, as the museum describes it. (Is this "edition" numbered?)But why have NYC cultural organizations suddenly decided that … [Read more...] about I Gave the Whitney $75, and All I Got Was This Lousy Tee Shirt

Future of Arts Journalism panel, left to right: Sree Sreenivasan, Marian Godfrey, Sam Sifton, Alisa Solomon Had I not been getting my mother out of the hospital last Thursday, I would have been in the audience for the panel discussion on The Future of Arts Journalism at Christie's. (Actually, "Blithe Spirit," the Noël Coward play that I did manage to attend later that night, … [Read more...] about NY Times Arts Coverage: Get-It-First Sifton Explains How the Bully Pulpit Strong-Arms Sources