Van Gogh via Puccini, on the opera stage: "Starry Night" from MoMA to MomusWhile we're on the topic of the Barnes Foundation, did you know that it's finally lending some of its paintings?This just in from the Opera Company of Philadelphia:An inspired new production of Puccini's ultra-romantic blockbuster [!?!], "La Bohème," prominently features an array of the world's most … [Read more...] about Bel Canto: Barnes, Philadelphia Museum and MoMA “Lend” Masterpieces to “La Boheme”
Archives for September 2012
Arkell Museum Slideshow: Companion to My WSJ “Hidden in the Valley” Piece
Image of Arkell Museum from its homepageBy Jonathan HillyerI was amused by this idealized image of the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, which appears on the museum's homepage and is the sole illustration for my Wall Street Journal article today that focuses on this art-rich, cash-poor, under-the-radar museum. If my praise of the Arkell's collection induces you to take a … [Read more...] about Arkell Museum Slideshow: Companion to My WSJ “Hidden in the Valley” Piece
“Green Machine”: Barnes Foundation Honored with LEED Platinum Designation UPDATED
The Barnes Foundation's green roofAll photos by Lee RosenbaumThe Barnes Foundation has just announced that at 2 p.m. today its Tod Williams- and Billie Tsien-designed new facility will receive LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it "the first major art and education institution in the country" to achieve this highest level of … [Read more...] about “Green Machine”: Barnes Foundation Honored with LEED Platinum Designation UPDATED
Who Knew? My WSJ Piece on the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, NY
Diane Forsberg, director of the Arkell Museum, with one of her favorite paintings in its American art collection George Inness, "The Passing Shower," c. 1860-68Photo by Lee RosenbaumLast month I wrote (here and here) about five well known art museums that are currently in extremis or slowly recovering from near-death experiences---the Detroit Institute of Arts, Corcoran … [Read more...] about Who Knew? My WSJ Piece on the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, NY
“Most Important Document in American Jewish History” at Philadelphia’s Jewish Museum CORRECTED
Photo by Lee RosenbaumThose of you who follow @CultureGrrl on Twitter know that I took a busman's holiday to museums in both Philadelphia and Washington last weekend.In Philadelphia, during this 10-day period of the Jewish high holidays, I paid a long overdue first visit to the two-year-old James Polshek-designed National Museum of American Jewish History, which is featuring an … [Read more...] about “Most Important Document in American Jewish History” at Philadelphia’s Jewish Museum CORRECTED
Olga Viso, Walker Art Center’s Director, Named to National Council on the Arts (but will she serve?)
Olga VisoPresident Obama (or whoever advises him on cultural appointments) must have a thing for female art museum directors with strong Washington connections. Having last July nominated Dorothy Kosinski, the director of the Phillips Collection, Washington, for a spot on the National Council on the Humanities, he yesterday announced his intention to nominate Olga Viso, the … [Read more...] about Olga Viso, Walker Art Center’s Director, Named to National Council on the Arts (but will she serve?)
MeTube: Warhol’s Campbell (the soup, not the Met’s director)
The calm before the storm: Entrance to Metropolitan Museum's critically slammed exhibition, enlivened by two Andy Warhol 1967 self-portraits from the Detroit Institute of ArtsAll photos by Lee RosenbaumWith the reviews mostly in, the Metropolitan Museum's Regarding Warhol is starting to seem like a train wreck: Wife-and-husband art critics Roberta Smith (NY Times) and Jerry … [Read more...] about MeTube: Warhol’s Campbell (the soup, not the Met’s director)
“Ask A Curator” Is Live on Twitter: Join the International Conversation! CORRECTED and UPDATED
It's just getting underway on these shores, but across the pond, Ask A Curator, today's Twitter-based conversation with museums around the world, is in full swing. Here's a clickable list of U.S. museums that will cheerfully entertain your inquiries. The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney are on board, but not the Metropolitan Museum or the Guggenheim. [CORRECTION: The … [Read more...] about “Ask A Curator” Is Live on Twitter: Join the International Conversation! CORRECTED and UPDATED
How to Get Yourself on CultureGrrl UPDATED
Video-blogger at workPhoto © by Jill KrementzMy blog posts are strictly the result of my own news sense (or lack thereof). As you know, I choose to write about (and point my cameras at) only a select group of exhibitions, events and publications. I have enough enthusiastic feedback and visitor traffic to know that what I'm interested in, you're interested in.While my coverage … [Read more...] about How to Get Yourself on CultureGrrl UPDATED
What’s Next for “The Scream” After MoMA’s Exhibition?
Edvard Munch, "The Scream," 1895 © 2012 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York The short answer to the tantalizing question in the above headline is: "I don't know." But the Museum of Modern Art's announcement to Carol Vogel of the NY Times yesterday (and to the rest of us scribes today) raises the obvious question as to whether … [Read more...] about What’s Next for “The Scream” After MoMA’s Exhibition?
Campbell’s Soup: Warholian Banality at Met’s Misconceived “Regarding Warhol”
Andy Warhol regards Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell at "Regarding Warhol" All photos by Lee Rosenbaum Arriving with high anticipation, I have rarely felt as big a letdown at a major exhibition as I did at Monday's press preview for the Metropolitan Museum's Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, opening next Tuesday to what is likely to be an admiring … [Read more...] about Campbell’s Soup: Warholian Banality at Met’s Misconceived “Regarding Warhol”
Mona Lisa and Other Extreme Claims: When Do Cultural-Property Demands Go Too Far?
Leonardo da Vinci, "Mona Lisa," 1503-06, the Louvre By making a wacky claim for Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" to be "returned" to the Uffizi in Florence, Italy's National Committee for Historical, Cultural and Environmental Heritage and the Province of Florence may have done a favor for museum officials who argue for the retention in their institutions of many of the … [Read more...] about Mona Lisa and Other Extreme Claims: When Do Cultural-Property Demands Go Too Far?
Views from My Terrace: On 9/11, We Remember…
By pure chance, my husband didn't commute to Lower Manhattan that day. We were both safe at home, across the river and further north, when it happened.Tonight's views from my terrace: One of the George Washington Bridge towers, both of which are lit in commemorationTower of LIght memorial, faintly seen in this photo over the in-construction 1 World Trade Center (on right), lit … [Read more...] about Views from My Terrace: On 9/11, We Remember…
BlogBack on William Garle Browne: A Prior-Like Portraitist Working in the South
William Garle Browne, "Zachary Taylor at Walnut Springs," 1847, National Portrait Gallery, WashingtonAccording to the Fenimore Art Museum's take on William Matthew Prior, about whom I recently wrote for the Wall Street Journal, that 19th-century American folk portraitist had invented the business strategy of sliding-scale prices, based on the amount of time and detail that he … [Read more...] about BlogBack on William Garle Browne: A Prior-Like Portraitist Working in the South
Pollock Bollix: NY Times’s Carol Vogel is Back (but not quite)
I don't know where the NY Times' art-market reporter Carol Vogel went for her summer vacation, but judging from her first fall column, she isn't quite back yet.In an item in yesterday's Inside Art, titled "Pollock Painting..." (scroll down), she wrote:Top among the group [of consignments by Sidney and Dorothy Kohl to Sotheby's] is Jackson Pollock's "Number 4, 1951," created … [Read more...] about Pollock Bollix: NY Times’s Carol Vogel is Back (but not quite)