Archives for July 2006

Michael Kimmelman, in last Friday's NY Times, offhandedly demolished the Museum of Modern Art's Yoshio Taniguchi-designed building in a one-sentence putdown: The sums that places like the Museum of Modern Art squander on mediocre buildings, which become obsolete the moment they open, are scandalous. Come again? Here's the same art critic, reviewing the same building, at the … [Read more...] about You Don’t Need a Kimmelman to See Which Way the Wind Blows

Right again, art-lings. The answer to yesterday's question is: C) Tom Hoving, author of "False Impressions, the Hunt for Big Time Art Fakes." Better known as Philippe de Montebello's predecessor as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hoving dukes it out over Duccio in this CultureGrrl BlogBack: James Beck has apparently not followed the standard methodology of … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Thomas Hoving on the Met’s Duccio

Tomorrow, read a CultureGrrl BlogBack on the Met's Duccio, by an artworld luminary sometimes known as the "showman," who now calls himself a "fakebuster." Who might that be? A) Zahi Hawass B) Dale Chihuly C) Tom Hoving D) Nigel Spivey For the answer, art-lings, click me Monday morning! … [Read more...] about Question of the Day

Must be another slow cultural news day at the NY Times: It dispatched reporter Randy Kennedy to "humbly proffer" 50 cents to five different cashiers at the Metropolitan Museum. (The museum had announced this week that it would raise its suggested adult admission fee from $15 to $20, effective Aug. 1.) Journalism 101 says not to prejudge a story before doing the actual … [Read more...] about The Times Shortchanges the Met

Oh my. The minions who put ads on my site (unchosen and unreviewed by me) came up with this. Apologies to Ronald Lauder and Gustav Klimt. Please go down to this morning's first post, to see that CultureGrrl, despite her tacky moments, deserves to be taken seriously! … [Read more...] about A Touch of Crass

CultureGrrl occasionally strays to other art forms. (After all, I'm not merely ArtGirl, though I kinda like her site!) I feel moved to note the complete disconnect between two reviews of the same theatrical event---Lincoln Center Festival's DruidSynge---a marathon 8 1/2 hours of the six-play theatrical oeuvre of Irish playwright John Millington Synge. Here's the acerbic John … [Read more...] about Simon Singes Synge

Harold Holzer, the Metropolitan Museum's senior vice president for external affairs, thanked me yesterday for my favorable admissions-fee story. It must be time, then, for the curmudgeonly CultureGrrl to bite the hand that stroked her. So lets dissect a disturbing first for the Met: its upcoming Masterpieces of French Painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1800-1920, … [Read more...] about The Met Collects the Rent

… [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: CultureGrrl Bites the Hand that Strokes Her

For those of you who just got to this post, thanks to the mention in Roberta Smith's July 22 NY Times article, you can link to my other posts related to the Met's admission-fee hike here, here, here, here and here. (Do you think I'm overdoing it?) Here's the post you came here for: Relevant to the current brouhaha over museum admissions fees are these comments by Glenn … [Read more...] about Lowry and de Montebello on Admission Fees

Come Aug. 1, the Metropolitan Museum will cost you $20, but only if you want it to. You got a problem with that? Carol Vogel, in today's NY Times, implies that the Met tried to sneak one by us by announcing the increase to arts editors "with little fanfare." (Next time, Philippe, please hire the Canadian Brass.) The Met's enlightened admission policy says that you can pay … [Read more...] about The Met: Almost Free If You Want It to Be

I love it when art historians get angry! So here's Columbia Professor James Beck's letter, Duccio a dud, published in today's London Times, responding to last Saturday's letter by Metropolitan Museum curator Keith Christiansen, Met's Duccio is no dud. Here's an excerpt from Christiansen: If Professor Beck would like to see a fake Duccio, I would be happy to show him one that … [Read more...] about The Duccio Dialectic

Exterior view of the Guthrie from 2nd Street Photo Credit: Roland Halbe The rounded exterior of the new Jean Nouvel-designed facility for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis "echoes the area's adjacent grain silos," according the theater's press release. But my local tablemates at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' pancake breakfast informed me that the theater's shiny … [Read more...] about The Guthrie Herds Them In

(Helpful Hint: For those of you who just journeyed to this post, via the ArtsJournal link, I also discuss the Duccio here and here.) In his forthcoming book, "Connoisseurship in Crisis: From Duccio to Raphael," James Beck argues that issues of provenance, quality and art history weigh against the attribution to Duccio and the date of ca. 1300, attached to the Metropolitan … [Read more...] about Dubious Duccio?

Beck is ba-a-a-ack! Always shoot-from-the-hip controversial, James Beck invariably raises the eyebrows and the ire of the art establishment that he so often inveighs against. He often undercuts his own credibility with hyperbole. So when Beck challenged the attribution to Duccio of the Metropolitan Museum's recently acquired, very costly Madonna and Child, the NY Times tapped … [Read more...] about Bend it Like the The Times: Its Flawed Kick at Beck