Archives for December 2009

CultureGrrl in a Glass House (Philip Johnson's) shouldn't throw stones.Before I give you my fourth CultureGrrl Countdown of the year's most important posts (previous editions: here, here and here), I want to warmly thank my most loyal followers---the 103 CultureGrrl Donors for 2009, who have helped me to believe that my work does have value to a select group of artworld … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2009 Edition

Urs Fischer's 2006 self portrait---the cover illustration for his show's catalogue[PART I, on MoMA's Orozco retrospective, is here.]New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer has previously been known for blowing holes in walls. With his show at the New Museum (to Feb. 7), he blew a hole in my mind. There's currently no other place in New York (maybe, eventually, the Downtown … [Read more...] about Gabriel Orozco and Urs Fischer: My Blind Spot and My Sweet Spot—PART II

Take heart all ye downtrodden, downsized museum professionals! U.S. News & World Report has just designated "curator" as one of 2010's 50 Best Careers. If your sense of sardonic humor is still intact after this year's financial drubbing, you may find yourself wondering if some of the magazine's published job description is straightforward or parody:Whether it's ancient … [Read more...] about U.S. News’ “Top Careers”: Curatorial Work is a Growth Industry?

Bernardo Fort-Brescia, founding principal of ArquitectonicaIt's not Las Vegas' City Center. It's not Novartis' corporate campus in Basel. But in my own home town of Fort Lee, NJ, we've got a high-profile, fallow site of almost 16 acres, chockablock with the George Washington Bridge (which empties into our borough). Four developers are now vying to build a mixed-use project … [Read more...] about Think Global, Act Local: Arquitectonica in Fort Lee, NJ? UPDATED

The Derivative and the Inventive: Left, Gabriel Orozco at the press preview for his MoMA retrospective with his "Four Bicycles," 1994, Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection; Right, Urs Fischer, "Untitled," (piano), 2009, photograph by Benoit PailleyAll critics have blind spots---works that they just don't "get" but must, nevertheless, review if they are art writers at major … [Read more...] about Gabriel Orozco and Urs Fischer: My Blind Spot and My Sweet Spot—PART I

With my CultureGrrl Donor total standing at a robust 98 last Friday, I blithely expressed optimism about achieving my goal of 100 contributions by the end of 2009. To clinch it, I threw in the resistible offer of an autographed copy of my Knopf-published book on art collecting, as a bonus for Number 100.Who wants that out-of-date, out-of-print book, anyway?Not you. After an … [Read more...] about 99 Donors and Not Counting: Where’s CultureGrrl’s Corporate Sponsor?

Swiffer meets Chihuly at the Children's Museum of IndianapolisAttention Museum Development Officers:In these economically troubled times, when coming up with new naming opportunities for elevators and restrooms just isn't enough, here's an income-generator that you may never have considered (with good reason)---the official sponsored product!The Children's Museum of … [Read more...] about New Frontiers in Corporate Sponsorship: A Museum’s “Official Cleaner”

Not monetized yet: Left, Georgia O'Keeffe, "Radiator Building at Night," Fisk University; Right, George Bellows, "Men of the Docks," Randolph CollegeIn his Sunday column for the Tennessean, editorial page editor Dwight Lewis asks a question about Fisk University's plan to do a $30-million deal with Alice Walton. Unlike CultureGrrl, who had asked the same question, Lewis got an … [Read more...] about Lower Education: Fisk, Randolph College Still Pursuing Art-for-Cash Gambit

Repatriation Bait: Bronzes previously part of the Zodiac Fountain of Beijing's Summer Palace, offered last February at Christie's in Paris, from the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé In his Nov. 13 testimony to the State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC), Michael Conforti, president of the Association of the Art Museum Directors (AAMD), … [Read more...] about Cultural-Property Watch: Chinese Kerfuffle at the Met and Other International Gambits

Not-So-Grand Prize for CultureGrrl's 100th DonorAre Art Fag City's fans more devoted than CultureGrrl's?Paddy Johnson, author of that art blog, today launched her annual donor drive that seeks to raise at least $8,000 in two weeks! Art-lings, since I started rattling my tin cup for handouts last February, I've netted about half that. Something's better than nothing, and I've … [Read more...] about Blogging for Bucks: What Has “Art Fag City” Got that CultureGrrl Hasn’t? CORRECTED

In its 2007 petition seeking court permission to sell a half-share of its Stieglitz Collection to Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum, Fisk University gave the following (now outdated) justification for the proposed transaction:If Fisk's current financial condition doesn't improve, there is a high likelihood that it may lose its accreditation. Fisk is accredited by the … [Read more...] about Reaccredited, Fisk Loses a Reason to Sell Art to Alice Walton

Rendering of addition to Crocker Art Museum, on rightYesterday's CultureGrrl post, giving the other side of the story, as a corrective to Robin Pogrebin's gloomy NY Times piece on cultural institutions' building projects, has generated lots of comment. As I expected, other museums have been chiming in (via e-mail) with updates on their own full-steam-ahead expansion … [Read more...] about More Mortar: Updates on Yesterday’s Museum Building Story

Rendering of the planned Clyfford Still Museum, DenverJust as I thought---Robin Pogrebin's article about the various setbacks for museum building projects fits squarely in the NY Times' time-honored tradition of reporting on a trend that's almost at an end.Her Saturday piece had barely hit the recyclables pile when no less than four art museums (did I miss any?) released … [Read more...] about Not Dead Yet: Museum Building Projects Are Alive and Kicking

For our happy first-two-nights Hanukkah celebration, CultureSpouse and I traveled with CultureSon and Daughter-in-Law to CultureDaughter's university, where by next summer she will (we hope) have her acoustic engineering PhD. At a used books-and-records store in College Town, I got myself a present---a three-record set (notwithstanding my high-tech daughter, I still own a … [Read more...] about Seasonal Benefactions: CultureGrrl’s Holiday Supporters (and gift to self)

Rendering of St. Louis Art Museum's planned David Chipperfield-designed expansionIn Saturday's NY Times, Michael Kimmelman provided a needed critical appraisal of the late Thomas Hoving's professional accomplishments and missteps. (For the record, though, Hoving acquired for the Met the Harry G.C. Packard Collection of Japanese art, not "David" (sic) Packard's collection.)For … [Read more...] about NY Times Watch: Kimmelman on Hoving; Pogrebin on the Museum Building Bust