Archives for March 2008

Rem Koolhaas' urban design plan for DubaiPhoto: Office for Metropolitan ArchitectureBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerAfter I lectured on architecture criticism at New York's City College recently, someone asked if I ever write about projects prior to construction. I replied that I try not to, given unpleasant surprises that can occur between the drafting table (or computer … [Read more...] about Dubious in Dubai: Rem the Radical Sheikh

Michael GovanBy Martin Filler, Guest BloggerJust after the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced the departure of its controversial longtime director, Thomas Krens, on Feb. 27, this blog's presiding sibyl, Lee Rosenbaum, was interviewed on New York Public Radio and suggested that a good choice for Krens' successor might be none other than his former protégé, Michael Govan … [Read more...] about The Case of the Disappearing Museum Director

Ned RifkinThe Smithsonian Institution's undersecretary for art, Ned Rifkin, has resigned effective Apr. 11. One can assume that he's not going to be named to the Smithsonian's top spot, which was expected to be filled later this month.The part of Jacqueline Trescott's report in the Washington Post that most interested me was this:Under Rifkin's leadership, a group of U.S. … [Read more...] about Smithsonian’s Ned Rifkin is Out; His Controversial Report, Tabled

Dorothy Spears' article in today's large NY Times Museums section, When the Final Touch is the Exit Door, lists 11 museum directors---by name or by the name of their institutions---who announced they were leaving their posts shortly after the completion of major capital projects. But two of those 11 might be surprised to learn that they're leaving. According to the article:Mr. … [Read more...] about A Gaffe in the NY Times “Museums” Section

Herzog & de Meuron's design for the new Parrish Art Museum By Martin Filler, Guest BloggerI confess a personal prejudice when it comes to Studio as Muse: Herzog & de Meuron's Design for the New Parrish Art Museum, a revealing exhibition opening today at the Architectural League of New York. On view through May 2, the show displays more than 130 drawings, models, … [Read more...] about Parrish Fashions: Inside the Herzog & de Meuron Selection Process

For those of you looking forward to seeing me get pummeled by four lawyers at this evening's deaccessioning panel at Columbia Law School, here are my articles that I sent (as requested) for students to read in advance of the event: For Sale: Our Permanent Collection, NY Times Op-Ed, Nov. 2, 2005 The Walton Effect: Art World is Roiled by Wal-Mart Heiress, Wall Street … [Read more...] about The CultureGrrl Curriculum: Assigned Reading for Columbia Law School Students

Guest Blogger Martin FillerPhoto: Duane MichalsI am proud to present my first guest blogger, who will make you hope that CultureGrrl lingers longer in Athens: Filling in for me will be Martin Filler, a regular contributor since 1985 to The New York Review of Books, which last year published his critically acclaimed book Makers of Modern Architecture. You are undoubtedly well … [Read more...] about Introducing CultureGrrl’s First Guest Blogger: Filler by Filler

I ran the above headline (without the last word) once before, but maybe this time, they really mean it: The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, has announced that it is dropping its quest to wrest the Stieglitz Collection from Fisk University. The museum might have appealed Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle's decision, arguing that Fisk had already amply demonstrated its inability to … [Read more...] about O’Keeffe Museum Drops Lawsuit Against Fisk (Again)

Michael BrandWhile I was in Los Angeles last month for the opening of the Broad Museum of Contemporary Art, I also spent an entire day at the Getty Museum's two campuses (the Center and the Villa), and got to sit down for a candid chat with the museum's director, Michael Brand, about the new phase in relations between American museums and source countries: What happens next, … [Read more...] about My Antiquities Q&A with the Getty’s Michael Brand: Life after the Givebacks

"Docks" on the Block? George Bellows, "Men of the Docks," 1912, Maier MuseumThe four-month-old legal battle to stop the auction sale at Christie's of four works from the Maier Museum of Randolph College has ended with the decision by sale opponents to withdraw their legal action that was pending in Lynchburg, VA, Circuit Court. They had been seeking a court order prohibiting … [Read more...] about Randolph College Plays Hardball; Anti-Art Sales Lawsuit Dropped

Hermetic? Uningratiating?That's what Holland Cotter of the NY Times today called the 2008 edition of the Whitney Biennial. In my WNYC commentary, airing yesterday, I called it "fun." And in my initial CultureGrrl quick take, I called it "endearing." I do agree with Holland that this is art for hard times. Just like the art in the Unmonumental show at the recently reopened New … [Read more...] about Witty Whitney Biennial: An Appreciative Photo Essay

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled this afternoon that Fisk University, Nashville, could hold onto its Stieglitz Collection, rather than turn it over to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, as that Santa Fe institution had sought. The eponymous museum, as successor-in-interest to Georgia O'Keeffe's estate, had argued that it should be awarded the collection by the court, … [Read more...] about Court Decision: Fisk Can Keep Stieglitz Collection, Subject to No-Sale and Must-Exhibit Stipulations

Ricardo Elia As I briefly mentioned some time ago, I will be speaking on Mar. 18 at the Athens International Conference for the Return of Cultural Objects to Their Countries of Origin. Go to p. 12 to see my panel---"Museums, Sites and Cultural Context." What exactly do they mean by this? No guidance given. So I interpreted my assignment in inimitable CultureGrrl fashion, with … [Read more...] about The CultureGrrl Curriculum: The Syllabus Travels to Greece

My WNYC podcast on the Whitney Biennial is now online here, or you can click it below. My short take on a big show is introduced on this podcast by a feature on the logistics of putting the extravaganza together, skillfully done by WNYC's Allison Lichter; you won't hear my voice until a little more than five minutes into this segment: Since I spoke about many more works than … [Read more...] about Whitney Biennial, Continued: My WNYC Podcast

Yesterday afternoon, Louis Grachos, director of the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, sent me these reactions to Is Richard Gluckman the Albright-Knox Expansion's "World-Renowned Architect"?:We took a first step in a long thorough process by commissioning Richard Gluckman about 1½ years ago to give us some conceptual drawings as to what a … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Director Louis Grachos on the Albright-Knox Expansion