Archives for July 2009

Museum wonks (that's all of you, right?) will need to see this video [via], of a recent conversation at the London School of Economics and Political Science between Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, who mutually pondered, in wry and witty fashion, "The Museum of the 21st Century." One of the many compatibilities of these … [Read more...] about Serota and MacGregor: Why They Don’t Want to Direct U.S. Museums

Designer labels: Metropolitan Museum ancient Near Eastern art curators Elisabetta Valtz Fino (left) and Joan AruzAddressing the press at the Metropolitan Museum, the final U.S. venue for Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (to Sept. 20), Fredrik Hiebert, curator for the National Geographic Society, the show's co-organizer, caused me to do a double-take … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum’s Hidden Treasures of “Afghanistan”: Its Curators

Philippe de Montebello in the waning days of his reign (last fall at the Metropolitan Museum)Here it is, studious art-lings---the course description (scroll to P. 6) for the former Metropolitan Museum director's fall foray into academia at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts: THE MEANING OF MUSEUMS (Lecture) G43.2035.002 Philippe de Montebello Tuesday 10:00am-Noon The … [Read more...] about Professor Philippe de Montebello’s NYU Graduate Course: “The Meaning of Museums”

Fisk University's exultant press release, summarizing yesterday's 19-page decision by the Tennessee Court of Appeals that keeps alive the university's hope to monetize its Stieglitz Collection, misleadingly suggests that the proposed collection-sharing arrangement with Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum is nearly a done deal:Fisk University announced today that the Tennessee … [Read more...] about Fisk-Walton News Flash: Appeals Court Decision Puts Collection-Sharing Deal Back in Play

Picasso, "The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro," 1909, Museum of Modern Art, fractional and promised gift of David Rockefeller © 2009 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York At last, David Rockefeller's 1909 seminal Cubist Picasso, above, will return to view on Friday at the Museum of Modern Art, after an absence of more than four years. It will be part of … [Read more...] about David Rockefeller’s Absent Cubist Picasso to Return to MoMA (finally!) UPDATED

WQXR is the soundtrack of my life. After 65 years of ownership, the NY Times is ditching New York City's only all-classical music station to save its dying journalistic model---news printed daily on paper. As I said in last night's tweet, I'd rather give up the hardcopy newspaper (and read the Times online) than lose the station.WQXR will be owned and operated by WNYC, New York … [Read more...] about Civilization Disintegration: NY Times Ditches Its Classical Music Station

Jay Raymond, a former student and teacher at the Barnes Foundation, and a founding member of Friends of the Barnes Foundation (the ad hoc group opposing its move to Philly), responds to Barnes Design (Non)Update: The most damning news in your report is Andrew Stewart's [the Barnes' spokesperson's] statement that they have raised $156 million. In May 2006, the [Philadelphia] … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Critic of Barnes’ Move Flags Its Stalled Fundraising

Afghan silver and lapis tiered necklace from Artizan Sarai, $135Mariam Atash Nawabi, co-founder of Artizan Sarai, an exporter of objects by artisans in economically disadvantaged areas of the world, including Afghanistan, India, Turkey, and Morocco, reponds to Golden Afghanistan Now at the Met: A Blockbuster for Love, Not Money:I agree with you that the exhibition [the … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Contemporary Afghan Jewelry Exporter Scorns Met’s Pricey Wares

Derek Gillman, president and executive director, Barnes FoundationThe design plans of architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien for the the Barnes Foundation's new Philadelphia facility, which were to have been announced in late 2008 (according to this report by the Philadelphia Inquirer's architecture critic, Inga Saffron) and were subsequently expected to be released last … [Read more...] about Barnes Design (Non)Update: “On Schedule” (Two Years Late); “On Budget” (Doubtful)

Richard Koch, former deputy director and general counsel of the Museum of Modern ArtThe tech gremlins delayed for a few days my receiving a photo from the family of Richard Koch (to whom I paid tribute here). But thanks to his family, here it is at last, along with additional biographical information:While serving as general counsel, director of administration, and secretary of … [Read more...] about More on the Late Richard Koch (with photo)

The National Endowment for the Arts yesterday announced some 631 grants, totaling $29,775,000, as part of the $50 million allotted to the agency from the federal economic stimulus package. These grants, established "to support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn," are in addition to the … [Read more...] about National Endowment Recovery Grants Go to 63 Museums

Remember Claire's Knee? Above is Don's Hip (or something like it). The new joint was surgically inserted yesterday; now we can only hope it works! The anesthesia worked all too well; it made my husband nod off for most of the day, so he's yet to try out the new joint.While he spent most of the day spaced out, I spent much of it tuned in to New York's classical radio station, … [Read more...] about Why It’s Hip Not to Blog: The Latest in Medical Sculpture

Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S., at Metropolitan Museum's press preview for his country's antiquitiesI recently wrote about the wrong kind of blockbuster---extravaganzas organized under commercial auspices that are big on evocative atmospherics, low on scholarly seriousness, and high on exploiting artifacts as cash cows.Now let's salute the right kind of … [Read more...] about Golden “Afghanistan” Now at the Met: A Blockbuster for Love, Not Money

[More on Koch, including his photo, here.}Talking to me when I'm in full investigative-reporter mode is a bit like going to the dentist---lots of abrasive drilling. Not much fun for the person sitting in the interviewee's chair.That's why I was so appreciative and admiring of Richard Koch, former deputy director of the Museum of Modern Art, who died last month. He was forever … [Read more...] about Richard Koch, MoMA’s Urbane Former Deputy Director, Dies UPDATED

Anthony Tommasini, NY Times' chief classical music critic, at the press conference for the new Alice Tully HallAt the time of the reopening of Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, when I was sharply critical of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's makeover, I felt like the lone dissident. As architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable said in her article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal … [Read more...] about Kozinn-Tommasini Smackdown: NY Times Critics Clash over Tully Hall Makeover