Archives for April 2009

Douglas Crimp at the Met's "Pictures Generation" press preview For me, the Metropolitan Museum's much discussed, uncharacteristically risk-taking theme show, Pictures Generation (to Aug. 2) is more remarkable for that conservative institution's willingness to tackle a worthy, complex contemporary subject than for the actual rewards derived from viewing it. While the … [Read more...] about Q&A with Douglas Crimp: Responses to the Met’s “Picture Generation” from the Group’s First Proponent

The Founders: Bertha and Edward RoseThe Rose Family is now contending that closing or repurposing Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum would violate the terms of the will of their forebear, Edward Rose, founding donor of the museum.Alana Abramson of the student newspaper, The Justice, reports:Meryl Rose [a Rose Museum board member] said that she does not believe the … [Read more...] about Rose Family to Brandeis: Honor Edward Rose’s Will!

WARNING: This post includes graphic content that will cause emotional distress to anyone who cares about art museums (i.e., all of you). When I visited the former home of the University of Iowa Museum of Art in Iowa City earlier this month, the lettering announcing its past purpose had not yet been removed from its façade (as it has been now): This 1969 building, emptied and … [Read more...] about Sorriest Sight: Inside Iowa’s Flooded, Evacuated Museum

Tom Freudenheim, the Smithsonian Institution's former assistant secretary for museums, responds to comments (at the end of this post) about three works by Eakins to be sold at Christie's on May 20 by the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington (which is part of the Smithsonian):The Hirshhorn Museum has disposed of stuff regularly for years. But Joe Hirshhorn's gift specifically allowed … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Tom Freudenheim on Hirshhorn Deaccessions

Montclair Art MuseumYesterday, I reported that I had not yet received from the Montclair Art Museum the list of deaccessions I had been promised. (I commented further on the Montclair disposals here and here.)Today, the list of consignments to Christie's (including the three June sales, whose details are not yet posted on the auction house's website) was sent to my inbox by … [Read more...] about Updates on Montclair Deaccessions: Two Gilbert Stuart Portraits; Audubon “Birds of America”

As I write this, I'm listening to my life's dominent soundtrack, WQXR, now playing the final triumphant movement of the Brahms Symphony No. 1 with Zubin Mehta, erstwhile NY Philharmonic music director, conducting the Israel Philharmonic. Owned by the NY Times, WQXR has been New York City's only all-classical music station since the lamentable 1974 demise of the even better … [Read more...] about WQXR Rumors: Could NYC Loses Its Only 24/7 Classical Music Station?

Montclair Art Museum's collection handbookOn Friday, I commented that except for the Pollock, the deaccessioning by the Montclair (NJ) Art Museum next month at Christie's "appears to be mostly a housecleaning."Wrong.I took a short drive over to the museum yesterday and was struck anew by the high quality of its American holdings from the 18th and 19th century, as well as the … [Read more...] about Three Montclair Museum “Disposables” Featured in Its Handbook of Highlights

Jackson Pollock, "Untitled," 1951, estimated to sell for $400,000-$600,000 on May 13 at Christie's Postwar and Contemporary evening saleAbove is the star lot from list of works consigned by the Montclair Art Museum for sale next month at Christie's. Most (including works by Bierstadt, Homer, Glackens, Henri) will be offered in the May 20 American sale; one, the Pollock … [Read more...] about Montclair’s Deaccessions Revealed, AAMD Condones Applying Art Proceeds Towards Bond Covenants

The ghosts of letters removed this week from the façade of the University of Iowa Museum of ArtPamela White, interim director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art and director of the university's museum studies program, had planned an upbeat trip for my stay in Iowa City, where recovery from last June's damaging flood may cost the university some $750 million, partially … [Read more...] about Sorry Sights: University of Iowa’s Flooded Museum and Steven Holl Art Building

StartUp Since I always have more opinions and information on the artworld than the Mainstream Media can use, I've decided to throw some of those juicy tidbits into this blog. Stay tuned for my first post! April 23, 2006 2:55 PM It's now three years since I typed those sentences---Baby CultureGrrl's first gurgle. No one was actually "staying tuned." My first two weeks of … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl’s Third Anniversary: A Time for Reflection and Reinvention

For what it's worth, I have responded to aspersions cast on my accuracy that were posted today by another ArtsJournal blogger (to whom I shall not link). My response can be found as an update at the end of the post that my detractor, in error, alleges to be "in error." [And now I've updated the update, at the same link.] And NOW, I've updated the update of the update.Please … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl “Correction,” Uncorrected

Marc Wilson in the acclaimed 2007 Bloch Building, designed by Steven Holl With Philippe de Montebello gone from the Met, I believe it's safe to say that Marc Wilson, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, is currently the longest-serving head of a major encyclopedic museum in this country. And he served, if not with equal fame, with comparable distinction. He … [Read more...] about Marc Wilson to Retire: Bloch Building Cements His Legacy

Attorney David Bright and I field questions after speaking on deaccessioning at the University of IowaNear the end of my talk last Wednesday at the University of Iowa (where the art museum, best known for its monumental 1943 Pollock, has been permanently closed by flooding), I advocated that the Brodsky bill, designed to regulate deaccessioning in New York State, become a … [Read more...] about Deaccession Legislation: Iowa Museum Director and Nonprofits Attorney Say It’s Time

Statue of Apollo as an archer (Apollo Saettante), Greek, manufactured before 146 B.C., copper alloy/bronze, 1.47 meters high, found in 1817 in Pompeii, near the Sanctuary of ApolloNational Archaeological Museum, NaplesStatue of an Ephebe (Youth) as a lampbearer, Roman, about 20-10 B.C., bronze with inlays of copper and glass, 1.49 meters high, from Pompeii's House of the Ephebe … [Read more...] about Antiquities Loans: Pompeii Bronzes Arrive at Getty from Naples

Holland Cotter Holland Cotter, staff art critic for the NY Times since 1998, has just been named the winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism, "for his wide ranging reviews of art, from Manhattan to China, marked by acute observation, luminous writing and dramatic storytelling." The specific articles that won him the prize are here, here and … [Read more...] about Pulitzer for Criticism: Holland Cotter Gets the Gold UPDATED THRICE