A Toast to My Readers
It’s that time of year again, art-lings, when we ring out the old stories and ring in the new. (The CultureGrrl Countdowns for 2006 and 2007 are here and here.)
I’d first like to take this opportunity to thank you for your encouragement—in your intelligent written responses to what I’ve written, in your very tasty news tips, and in this blog’s steadily increasing readership. With a few hours left in 2008, I’m just shy of 550,000 hits this year. I love being hit!
Speaking of your intelligent comments on my posts, I’ll be posting some e-mailed reactions to my National Academy revelations in the New Year. But for now, no more revelations; just revels!
Also in the New Year, I hope some of you will consider decorating the dreary righthand column of CultureGrrl with attractive ads for museum shows, gallery shows, art books, periodicals, educational offerings and, let us not forget, the ever-popular Sardis Column Cuff Links. (I’ve just lost the Met Store.)
To remind you of why my work merits your support (or maybe of why it doesn’t), here’s a recap of Top CultureGrrl Stories of 2008, in chronological order, from earliest to most recent:
My Q&A with Philippe de Montebello
Broad-sided: Michael Govan on the Elusive Eli
My Antiquities Q&A with the Getty’s Michael Brand: Life after the Givebacks
New Acropolis Museum: Marring the Marbles
Details of the Getty’s “Confidential” Agreement with Italy
What’s Gross About the “Gross Clinic” Deaccessions
Auctioneers Gone Wild? Unfair “Fair Market Value”
Universal World Heritage…Except When It’s Rent-a-Show Time
Towards a Ceasefire in the Antiquities Wars: The Next Step (Part I)
Towards a Ceasefire in the Antiquities Wars: The Next Step (Part II)
Cultural Policy Memo to the New President: Revive Artist Fellowships
Sotheby’s Loses $28.2 Million on Contemporary Art Guarantees
Ten Suggestions for Tom Campbell, Incoming Director at the Met
Stealth Deaccessions: National Academy Sells Major Works by Church and Gifford
NYS Regents Reverse Course on Desperation Deaccessions
LA MOCA Makeover: Parsing the Details of the Rescue Agreement
National Academy Lessons: The Fallacy of Deaccession-or-Die