Archives for March 2009

Martha Teichner, correspondent for CBS News' "Sunday Morning"CBS-TV's Sunday Morning news show this week will feature a report on the National Academy's and Rose Art Museum's art-disposal controversies---"The Art of Survival: Deaccessioning Artworks" (Scroll down to the bottom of the list of this Sunday's stories.)Here's the description of the segment: With arts institutions … [Read more...] about National Academy and Rose Museum Contretemps Featured on CBS-TV This Sunday

Dan Monroe, chairman of the AAMD's Art Issues Committee and director of the Peabody Essex Museum---one of those who met this week with Carmine Branagan, director of the National AcademyThe National Academy, in discussions this week with representatives from the Association of Art Museum Directors, agreed not to sell the two works---by John White Alexander and Robert Blum---that … [Read more...] about The National Academy/AAMD Contretemps: Preliminary Accord Reached

The late Daniel Terra in the now defunct Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, 1987 I'm a little late getting this news, which I discovered from a Feb. 18 post by my French blogging buddy, Didier Rykner, in his Art Tribune. Didier reported that the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny (MAAG) had "closed its doors to make way for the Musée des Impressionismes. The Terra Foundation … [Read more...] about Perils of the Single-Collector Museum: Terra Foundation’s Museum of American Art Giverny Folds

The National Endowment for the Art's recently unveiled report about the "sharp increase in unemployment" among visual and performing artists' makes the job situation look bad. Actually, it's worse.Based on recent U.S. Census Bureau surveys that were conducted on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the report's findings apply only to those for whom art is their "primary … [Read more...] about Artists’ Jobs: Even Worse than NEA’s New Report Suggests

Louis Garnier (Medallions by Simon Curé; Later additions by Augustin Pajou), "The French Parnassus," 1718-1721; Pajou additions, 1762 and 1777, Musée National de VersaillesI guess James Draper and Ian Wardropper didn't really need me to protect them from Ken Johnson's bashing in the NY Times after all:Finally, the Metropolitan Museum's Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from … [Read more...] about WSJ Gives a Deserved Rave to Met’s French Bronze Show

Noortman Master Paintings, MaastrichtThe NY Times isn't touching this one with a 10-foot pole.I need to be careful too, so all that I'm going to do, for now, is link to this story from Great Britain's Times, which quotes a detective making damaging allegations about the late Maastricht old masters dealer, Robert Noortman, whose gallery was acquired by Sotheby's in 2006, shortly … [Read more...] about Noortman Paintings, Reported Stolen, Recovered 22 Years Later UPDATED

Larry GagosianNOTE: I was holding this piece for tomorrow morning, but since ArtJournal's newest blogger, Judith Dobrzynski, this evening discusses what she calls, "the most interesting arts story in Sunday's New York Times," I thought I should weigh in now with my contrarian view.The long profile of mega-dealer Larry Gagosian by David Segal, on the front page of today's NY … [Read more...] about NY Times’ Gagosian Profile: More “Style” than “Business”

Inside (and outside) the Nasher Sculpture Center If you connect the dots in my Q&A with Jeremy Strick, published yesterday, you will note that I found (literally) 10 different ways of asking him what mistakes he made that contributed to LA MOCA's near-fatal financial crash. Jeremy found 10 different ways of admitting that he bore some responsibility, while evading my … [Read more...] about Jeremy Strick’s New Gig: Not Your Founder’s Nasher

Carmine Branagan, director of the National Academy Following up on the Association of Art Museum Director's stated willingness to "revisit its decision" blackballing the National Academy for its desperation deaccessions, and taking it up on its offer to meet with "the National Academy's leaders to clarify their intentions for the future of the collection," Carmine Branagan, … [Read more...] about National Academy’s Branagan to Meet with AAMD Representatives

Jeremy Strick, taking his place in the "Bronze Crowd," 1990-91, by Magdalena Abakanowicz, at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas When LA MOCA's financial survival was looking doubtful, I placed a call to the office of director Jeremy Strick, requesting comment. I had pleasant memories of a far-ranging conversation we had over lunch during a group press visit to MOCA, … [Read more...] about Jeremy Unmuzzled: Strick’s Candid Account of the LA MOCA Saga

I just got back from sulking, only to discover that two faithful readers have responded admirably to the CultureGrrl Challenge---one with a small donation, one with a large one. I'm equally moved by each. Many, many thanks! As for the rest of you: Do you read me?Courtesy of my benefactors, it looks like you'll be consuming tomorrow that "juicy post" I promised. It has to do … [Read more...] about The Return of the Grrl

No ads are decorating my right column. No one has hit my "Donate" button since Monday. I do want to warmly thank my 14 faithful readers who have deemed this blog worthy of support in the two weeks since the CultureGrrl Fund Drive began. As for the rest of you who hit my blog 64,500 times last month: Please do not take this Grrl for granted!Unless someone rises to this … [Read more...] about Another Day Without CultureGrrl

From NEA's just-released report: Artists' 4th-quarter unemployment rates in 2007 (blue) and 2008 (orange), compared to rates in general workforce and professional workforceJust in case you live a sheltered life and think that performing and visual artists are doing great in this recession, the National Endowment for the Arts is here to set you straight.NEA's latest research … [Read more...] about NEA’s Bad-News Report: Artists’ Unemployment Rises (Duh)

For another in the continuing series of exhibitions demonstrating why disposing of important works from the collection of Brandeis University's Rose Art Museum collection should be a non-starter, we now take you to Cézanne and Beyond at the Philadelphia Museum.Below, on the left, is a Rose-owned painting in that show. On the right, the painting that hangs to its right:Left: … [Read more...] about Rose Lends to Philly’s Cézanne Show; More Brandeis Administration Disinformation

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, "Denis Diderot," 1777, Musée de Louvre While we're on the subject of bronze-related ambushes... Ian Wardropper and James David Draper: I've got your back: Draper's back. (Wardropper's front) They're the chairman and curator, respectively, of the Metropolitan Museum's department of European sculpture and decorative arts, who must have been … [Read more...] about Another Bronze Deal-Buster: Ken Johnson Bashes Met’s Shapely French Show