Archives for July 2009

I got to the hearing room early on July 22 for the 10 a.m. meeting of the City Planning Commission, claiming a ringside seat for the slugfest between high-powered proponents of the MoMA/Hines project and the neighborhood NIMBYs. As it happened, the MoMA Monster's turn for discussion came up dead last, at 12:15 p.m. Almost three hours after that, when I finally fled the scene, … [Read more...] about MoMA-Monster Smackdown: Tilting at Skyscrapers at the City Planning Hearing UPDATED

Send a micro-donation of $1.50 my way today (via my "Donate" button, in middle column), and I'll shoot you these links: De Montebello's talk in Maine Contrarian Melikian says art market is booming Flaw in the Rose overseers' case Art Capital Group Inc. v. [Annie] Leibovitz Art and Science of Getty's Conservators Criticizing the British National Portrait Gallery's copyright … [Read more...] about Lee’s List: What CultureGrrl is Reading Today

Joseph Medicine CrowPresident Obama has just send a tellingly symbolic message about the difference in priorities [please see UPDATE, below] of his administration from those of the Bush Administration---his just-announced list of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor.On Jan. 13, in the waning days of his administration, … [Read more...] about Obama’s Presidential Medals of Freedom: Diverse Game-Changers UPDATED

"These are great. Thanks!" wrote one of those who yesterday took me up on my offer to send readers links to the material that I don't have time (at least not right away) to blog about. Send $1.50 my way today, via my "Donate" button (in middle column), and see what Jonathan of White Plains, NY, was so enthusiastic about. I'll give you my tips for your tips.Today, I'll shoot you … [Read more...] about Lee’s List: What CultureGrrl is Reading Today

Abram Sachar, founding president, Brandeis University, who agreed to the Roses' stipulations regarding art-sale proceedsBuried in the 142 pages of exhibits appended to the complaint just filed by three overseers of Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum is a one-page letter from 1968 that could prove just as crucial to this court case as a 1949 letter from artist Georgia … [Read more...] about Rose Lawsuit Weapon: Signed Contract Between Founder and Brandeis on Use of Art-Sale Proceeds

This is an experiment in micro-donations.Every day, I come across several articles, books and other reading material from a wide variety of sources that interest me and that I think would interest you. But I don't have the time or the strong desire to comment about them on CultureGrrl. I want this blog to be primarily about those things on which I have a special perspective, or … [Read more...] about What I’m Reading Today (and every day)

Esther Grether, mega-collectorIt's a lot more select than the ARTnews 200.Forbes Magazine has come up with a story and slide show devoted to the world's Top Billionaire Art Collectors. It's mostly the usual cast of characters, with one surprising wild card.Keren Blankfeld, Cristina von Zeppelin and Susan Adams report:During our quest to pin down these extraordinary collections, … [Read more...] about Esther Grether?!? Forbes’ List of Collectors With $700 Million-Plus in Art

Alfred Jensen, "Opposites are Complementary: Per I," 1978, as installed in the current show at Brandeis University's Rose Art MuseumThe threat has now become reality.Three trustees of the Rose Art Museum---Jonathan Lee, the board's chairman; Meryl Rose of the eponymous Rose family, and Lois Foster, for whom a wing of the museum is named---yesterday filed suit against Brandeis … [Read more...] about Three Rose Museum Trustees Sue Brandeis and State Attorney General

Maya Ahluwalia, marketing and public relations manager for Gurhan, responds to my criticism (in Golden "Afghanistan" Now at the Met) of the high-priced Gurhan-designed jewelry sold at the Metropolitan Museum's shop in connection with Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul:I thought that a little background on Gurhan [Orhan], his collaboration with the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Gurhan’s Spokesperson Defends the Met’s High-Priced “Afghanistan” Jewelry

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, for whom a planned museum in Abu Dhabi is to be named There's not going to be a British Museum Abu Dhabi, but Neil MacGregor is joining his directorial colleagues from the Louvre and the Guggenheim in contributing his institution's expertise and lending its objects to another new museum in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District. … [Read more...] about Abu Dhabi Update: British Museum Participates in Saadiyat Island’s Museum-Development Spree

Installing Christoph Büchel's "Training Ground for Democracy" at MASS MoCA (before it was dismantled, unfinished)Just when we thought MASS MoCA had moved on from its Büchel Debacle, we've learned from Martin Bromirski's Anaba blog that artist Christoph Büchel has pursued the appeal of his case against the North Adams, MA, museum to the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, … [Read more...] about “Training Ground” for Lawyers: Büchel Debacle Back in Court

Readers respond to Serota and MacGregor: Why They Don't Want to Direct U.S. Museums.Alan Wallach, professor of art and art history and of American studies at the College of William and Mary, writes:England has a social-democratic political culture ("socialist," according to the current U.S. right-wing political lexicon) and the English public takes certain prerogatives as … [Read more...] about BlogBacks on the MacGregor/Serota Putdown of U.S. Museums

Neil MacGregor, director of the British MuseumIt was one of those astonishing "did he really say that?" moments.The speaker was Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, near the end of his riff on why the Elgin Marbles should remain at the British Museum (which he directs). His comments were part of this conversation with Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate. John … [Read more...] about MacGregor Whopper: Greek Government “Simply Continued Elgin’s Practice”

Tom Campbell speaking at his first Met press conference last September as director-designate, while his predecessor listensRebecca Mead's July 27 New Yorker profile of the Metropolitan Museum's new director, Tom Campbell, is now online. While I learned more about his impressive expertise regarding tapestries, his personal qualities, not to mention his aspirations, vision and … [Read more...] about New Yorker’s Tom Campbell Profile: Met’s New Director Still an Enigma

Don't just dispose of museum objects. Repurpose them!That's the mischievously subversive concept behind Recycle LACMA, the parodic blog of Los Angeles-based artist Robert Fontenot. Here's the blog's description of his project:On Jan. 14th, 2009 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced [link added] that it was deaccessioning more than 100 items from its costumes … [Read more...] about “Recycle LACMA”: Hilarious Send-Up of Deaccessioning, LA-Style