Archives for September 2008

Oliver Barker wielding the Hirst hammer yesterday at Sotheby'sThere are two widely held misconceptions about yesterday's Hirst auction: I had predicted in my last post that reporters would misleadingly claim that the auction had exceeded its presale estimate, because they would make the apples-to-oranges comparison between the sale total INCLUDING the buyer's premium and the … [Read more...] about Dead Shark Postmortem: Ramifications and Misinterpretations of the Hirst Auctions

Peace Offering? "After the Flood," the final lot in today's Hirst saleWild whoops, mad applause (including claps from auctioneer Oliver Barker directed towards the deep-pocketed attendees). What more can one say?Sotheby's Hirst sale results are already online here, with the auction just concluded. The sale totaled $127.26 million (with buyer's premium); bidding on only nine of … [Read more...] about Hirst Auction a Paradigm-Smashing Success UPDATED

Live-blogging the Sotheby's Hirst auction webcast. (I'm not taking the time now to convert to dollars.)"Thank you SO-O-O-O much!" the auctioneer exclaimed at the £8.5 million bid on the newly hatched Hirst shark, "Kingdom," that had been estimated at £4-6 million. The Black Sheep was less coveted, at £2.3 million (est. £2-3 million). The highest-estimated work and likely top … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Hirst Auction Off to Rip-Roaring Start UPDATED

Quick! Get me rewrite!That's what someone must have bellowed in the newsroom (or at Sotheby's) when they saw the headline on Carol Vogel's initial online version (on the International Herald Tribune's website) of her pre-Hirst auction piece, which I linked to a little after midnight today. By the time you read this, I would not be surprised if the IHT has taken down its … [Read more...] about NY Times Rewrites “Hirst Goes for Broke” Headline

Lot 9: Hirst's "Black Sheep" to the slaughter?Pass the formaldehyde and sacrifice your cows and sheep as propitiatory offerings to the capricious artworld gods. Today, apprehensive art-lings, is the day when Damien Hirst goes for broke and, some believe, may take the contemporary art market along with him.You can watch Slaughter on New Bond Street from the comfort of your own … [Read more...] about Hirst’s Audacious Auction: Coming to You Today, Live From London

Thomas Campbell, with Philippe de Montebello (center) and Harold Holzer, the Met's senior vice president for external affairs, at his backEd Winkleman in a blog post yesterday astutely pointed out what may lie behind Tom Campbell's excess of discretion at Wednesday's press conference introducing the Metropolitan Museum's next director to art scribes.Winkleman opined:She [me] … [Read more...] about More on the Discreet Charm of Tom Campbell UPDATED

Gary Tinterow, right, with his curatorial cohorts at the Met's Turner press preview This tribute is not much of a consolation prize for being one of the runners-up in the Metropolitan Museum's directorship race. But for all that I've criticized Gary Tinterow on matters of museum policy (and I'm NOT going to link to those posts on this occasion), the museum's de facto … [Read more...] about In Praise of Gary Tinterow: 19th-Century Curator Par Excellence

I'm off the Guggenheim for a press lunch previewing the new season. Will we also get to preview the expected new director? I doubt it. Carol Vogel didn't have the announcement in today's NY Times...or is there a new, fairer news release method afoot among New York museums? The way that the Met rolled out its Tom Campbell announcement, and the fact that at a recent press … [Read more...] about Onwards to the Guggenheim…to Meet the New Director???

Defensive Postures: Philippe de Montebello (left) and Tom Campbell at today's press conferenceLet's get this over with quickly, if not painlessly: If you're going to hold a press conference, you've got to be willing to say something substantive to the assembled writers.I'm not going to bother listing all the questions that Thomas Campbell, chosen to succeed Philippe de … [Read more...] about Campbell’s Soup: Met’s Director-Elect Serves Thin Broth at Press Conference

I'm back from the press conference at the Metropolitan Museum (more later), where, as soon as I arrived, I first had to do a live phone interview on New York Public Radio, along with the NY Times' indispensable art critic, Roberta Smith. We were, of course, assessing the Met's Tom Campbell appointment, which I had already spoken about (solo) earlier today with WNYC's Richard … [Read more...] about More Campbell Commentary: Roberta Smith and Me on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show

You can hear me now. Click arrow on the left. Some of you have already heard my radio analysis of the new appointment at the Metropolitan Museum. The rest of you will have a second chance at about 8:41 and/or 9:41 a.m., if all goes according to plan: You can hear me at 93.9 FM, 820 AM (if you're in the NYC metropolitan area), or live on the web here (click the red-boxed arrow … [Read more...] about My Tom Campbell Appraisal on New York Public Radio UPDATED

The Metropolitan Museum earlier today: Always a work in progress.If all goes according to plan, I'll be commenting on Thomas Campbell's appointment as the Metropolitan Museum's new director on WNYC's The Takeaway tomorrow at about 6:42 a.m. (But I wouldn't count on such precision!)If you're in the NYC metropolitan area, you can hear me on 93.9 FM, and in Des Moines you can hear … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My New York Public Radio Commentary on the Met’s New Director

Tom Campbell, the Met's Director DesignateI love the fact that Tom Campbell, named today to be the Metropolitan Museum's ninth director, is a respected scholar who specialized an arcane field, tapestries, presented them in an erudite manner, and created exhibitions that became blockbusters for all the right reasons.But I worry about his lack of managerial and financial creds. … [Read more...] about My First Take on the Met’s Director-Elect: Ready to Lead?

Thomas Campbell[NOTE: Subsequent CultureGrrl coverage of Campbell's appointment is here and here,]The press release just hit my inbox, so read it along with me, won't you? The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Thomas P. Campbell - an accomplished curator with a specialty in European tapestry who has worked at the Museum since 1995 - has been elected its next … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum Director Named: Thomas Campbell

Crystal Bridges Museum-in-Progress: The concrete is poured.Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper yesterday filed a brief in the appeals case brought by Fisk University in the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The school is still seeking legal permission to sell a half-share of its Stieglitz Collection to Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum, now under construction (above) in … [Read more...] about Tennessee’s Brief Calls Fisk’s Proposed Art Sale to Crystal Bridges “Problematic” UPDATED