Archives for November 2011

Mega-donor (and donor-intent violator) Alice Walton, speaking at the opening-day ceremony for her Crystal Bridges Museum of American ArtThe Tennessee Court of Appeals, Nashville, yesterday handed Fisk University (and, by extension, Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) a victory in the four-year quest for court approval of a $30-million deal whereby Crystal … [Read more...] about Court of Appeals Approves Fisk/Crystal Bridges Collection-Sharing Arrangement, Gives University Free Rein with Proceeds

The first lines of Crystal Bridges' 2009 tax return[For how much the art cost, go here. For my review of the architecture, go here. Additional CultureGrrl commentary and videos on Crystal Bridges are here, here and here.]Many press reports about the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, have mentioned the more than $1.2 billion in 2010 contributions … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Accounting: How Much Did Alice’s Palace Cost?

Here's something to chew on before you roast your Thanksgiving turkey---the continuation of my narrated ramble through the galleries of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. (Part I of the video is here. My videoed gallery conversation with curator Kevin Murphy is here.) … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Gazing: Video Tour of Alice Walton’s New Museum–Part II

The Crystal Bridges curatorial team, outside the museum's library Left to right: David Houston, curatorial director, Matt Dawson, deputy director for art and education, Kevin Murphy, American art curator... ...and Chris Crosman, founding curator (poised to peruse a Sotheby's American art catalogue over lunch in the museum's restaurant) Before we go careening around Crystal … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Gazing: Curator Kevin Murphy on a Mysterious Civil War Acquisition

Work in Progress: Crystal Bridges' Upper Pond Completed: Crystal Bridges' Lower Pond As CultureGrrl readers may remember, I skipped last month's press preview for Alice Walton's new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I decided to wait until after its Nov. 11 public opening, expecting that by then it would be entirely finished. Close, but not quite. Aside from the upper … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges Gazing: Video Tour of Alice Walton’s New Museum–Part I

They're so friendly in Arkansas that it's getting a little weird for this Bronx native who grew up leery about talking to strangers.I've received yet another offer of a place to stay during my Bender in Bentonville from Ted Talley, a regional sales manager for a storage shed company that does business with Wal-Mart, He lives close to Crystal Bridges, but has two dogs in his … [Read more...] about Bentonville BlogBack: A Hospitable Welcome to “Wally World”

NPR's "Weekend Edition" has now posted the transcript of Joel Rose's piece (in which I participated) on Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art---"Wal-Mart Heiress' Show Puts A High Price On Art."The comments that particularly struck me, when taken together, were these:John Wilmerding (art historian and Alice Walton's art advisor): Nobody, including myself, who's … [Read more...] about NPR’s Transcript of Yesterday’s Crystal Bridges Commentary (plus museum’s strange video)

Wanna hear what John Wilmerding, Eric Widing, Steven Conn and CultureGrrl said this morning on on NPR's Weekend Edition about Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art? Now you can! (More details about our conversations with NPR's Joel Rose, here.) … [Read more...] about Hear It Now: My NPR Commentary on Crystal Bridges

A gallery at Crystal Bridges (from the museum's Facebook page)UPDATE: When do things ever go as planned? The NPR segment pondering Alice's palace (in which I participate) has been rescheduled to tomorrow's Weekend Edition [not Morning Edition, as I previously wrote] at around 9:40 a.m. ET. (We can only hope.) I'll actually be in another "B" city then---Boston, not … [Read more...] about UPDATED TWICE: My NPR Crystal Bridges Commentary (along with John Wilmerding) Postponed to Tomorrow

The $61.68-million Clyfford Still: "1949-A-No.1"Last Wednesday, when I left the Impressionist/Modern sale at Sotheby's, I found myself nearly alone in the elevator (but for one other person) with triumphant auctioneer Tobias Meyer. I told him that I had found it a "fun sale" to watch."It will be even more fun next week," he assured me. I attended tonight's Contemporary sale … [Read more...] about Clyfford Still Thrill: $101.55-Million Hammer Price for Four Denver Disposals

Online view of tonight's Christie's auction, immediately after Christopher Burge hammered down the top lot, Roy Lichtenstein's 1961 "I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in it!"After last week's debacle, Christie's regained its footing at tonight's Contemporary sale with a hammer total of $216.31 million, slightly below the presale estimate of $226.45-312.34 million. … [Read more...] about Christie’s Redeems Itself with Solid Contemporary Sale; Norton Goes Viral

Alice Walton's home in Bentonville, AR, as seen on CBS "Sunday Morning"I'm poised to fly to Bentonville next week, art-lings. But before I pack my camera and notepad, I want to make one thing clear: Whatever I have already said and will yet say about the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, my appraisal has nothing to do with Wal-Mart's corporate practices (not my topic), … [Read more...] about Alice Malice: My Crystal Bridges Moment on CBS “Sunday Morning”

Robert Rauschenberg, "Untitled," 1958 Presale estimate: $1-1.5 million MoMA's potential misstep has now become a mishap. In 2005, it lavished a major exhibition on works from a single corporate collection, during a time when many practical-minded, bottom line-oriented companies were thinking about liquidating their art, At least two (possibly three) works from MoMA's … [Read more...] about Museum Imprimatur: UBS to Sell MoMA-Showcased Works at Sotheby’s UPDATED

Rick Mather London-based, American-born architect Rick Mather has another U.S. museum gig---deservedly so. It's the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Mather's deft expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was unaccountably under the media radar, although it was favorably reviewed by me last year in the Wall Street Journal (and also on CultureGrrl, although with a few … [Read more...] about “Integrating Art and Architecture”: Peabody Essex Chooses Rick Mather for Expansion UPDATED

Frans Hals, "Merrymakers at Shrovetide," c. 1616, Metropolitan Museum, as it appears in the multimedia online version of my Two Painters: So Alike, So Different I was completely (and very pleasantly) surprised this morning when I discovered that the online version of my Caravaggio/Hals comparison piece for the "Arts & Leisure" section of tomorrow's NY Times has been ramped … [Read more...] about Nifty Multimedia Feature for Online Version of My Caravaggio/Hals Piece