Archives for September 2009

Johannes Vermeer, "The Milkmaid," ca. 1657-58, RijksmuseumThe podcast for my WNYC "Vermeer" comments is still not posted on the New York Public Radio station's website at this writing, but you can be sure that I'll embed it on CultureGrrl, once it's available. (I'll also listen to it: I'm not usually an early riser, and missed it on the air!)Meanwhile, for those of you who DID … [Read more...] about Judging the Milkmaid: A Scholarly Smackdown

Yosi SergantThe Washington Times, Washington Post and Huffington Post are among several media outlets now reporting that Yosi Sergant, who has incurred criticism for participating in a conference call promoting the agenda of President Obama's United We Serve campaign, is out as the National Endowment for the Arts' communications director. The reports say that Sergant now has … [Read more...] about News Flash: Yosi Sergant, Embattled NEA Communications Head, Reportedly Reassigned

The Milkmaid's realistically rendered bread looks almost touchable. The Met's curator, Walter Liedtke, almost touches it. "Don't say that the curator says it's about sex," the Metropolitan Museum's Golden Age master, Walter Liedtke, admonished us at the press preview for Vermeer's Masterpiece: "The Milkmaid", which opened today for a too brief two-month run (to Nov. … [Read more...] about Coming Tomorrow: My New York Public Radio Romp with Vermeer’s “Milkmaid”

Velázquez, "Portrait of a Man," 27 x 21-3/4 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jules Bache CollectionA painting that entered the Metropolitan Museum's collection in 1949 as a Velázquez and was downgraded in 1979 as "workshop of Velázquez" has now been restored (in both senses of the word) to the master's oeuvre. The Met's press release, hot off my inbox, is here. According to the … [Read more...] about Met’s Rediscovery: Velázquez, Not Velázquez, Velázquez UPDATED and CLARIFIED

Planned MoMA/Hines tower's neighbors, as seen from E. 54th Street: Museum Tower, left, Financial Times Building, right. (MoMA in the middle.)What was expected to happen has, in fact, now happened: The NY City Planning Commission this morning voted in favor of the MoMA/Hines tower designed by Jean Nouvel, with one major modification: Designs must be resubmitted to comply with … [Read more...] about MoMA Monster Update: City Planning Downsizes Nouvel’s Tower (but it’s still too tall)

It's official: CultureGrrl is NOT the future of arts journalism. But the National Summit on Arts Journalism, for which five winners have been selected from those of us who entered the competition, has postponed publicly identifying the projects "that might give us a peek into the future." Can we stand the suspense, art-lings?Now that time and the judges have passed me by, I'm … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl Is Not “The Future of Arts Journalism” (Who is?)

NY City Planning Commissioner Nathan LeventhalYou go, Nat! It was NY City Planning Commissioner Nathan Leventhal who publicly raised the question about the elephant-in-the-skyline during last month's hearing on the planned MoMA/Hines tower, designed by architect Jean Nouvel. It was the simplest of queries from a sophisticated interlocutor---the former president of Lincoln … [Read more...] about News Flash: City Planning Report Decapitates Nouvel’s MoMA Monster

An early model of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Abu DhabiI couldn't leave to see Vermeer's "Milkmaid" without spilling this tidbit from Page A16 of today's NY Times---an ad with an image of a Frank Gehry model at the bottom, enigmatically titled, "Request for Interested Contractors to Submit Pre-qualification.""Pre-qualification for what?" you ask.For the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, of … [Read more...] about $750-Million Guggenheim Abu Dhabi’s “Request for Interested Contractors”

Inadequately adorned wall, facing the High Line. Calling Knox Martin!Those of you who read my Twitter tweets know that one of the places I visited during my Labor Day Weekend Staycation was the High Line, Diller Scofidio+ Renfro's brilliant transformation (with a major assist from James Corner Field Operations, the landscape architects) of New York's derelict elevated train … [Read more...] about A View from the High Line: Perfect Spot for Knox’s Nixed Mural?

New Abrams catalogue for the Rose Art Museum's collection, due Oct. 1The irony of the imminent arrival of a 288-page catalogue (above), presenting what its publisher, Abrams, calls "one of the most extraordinary collections of any academic institution," is that the fate of the collection and the future of the museum itself are still greatly in doubt. Will this 204-illustration … [Read more...] about Rose Blows: New Collection Catalogue by Brandeis Museum’s Ex-Director

Glenn Beck seems to be careening wildly around the artworld lately. But the clip that actually has significance (and some validity) is not his wacky rant about Communist iconography lurking in the adornments of Rockefeller Center. The Beck clip that deserves notice (below, via) addresses the Obama administration's attempt to rally the art brigades around its social-service … [Read more...] about Glenn Beck’s Culture War: Left or Right, He’s Right about Government Meddling in the Arts

Send a micro-donation of either $1.50 (for the day) or $15 (through September) via my "Buy Now" button, below, and I'll shoot you these links: Christie's charges French buyers for resale royalties; New French Culture Minister; Poussin's Priapus revealed; live nude on London's Fourth Plinth; live nude in Metropolitan Museum's gallery. Are we seeing a warm-weather trend … [Read more...] about Lee’s List: What CultureGrrl is Reading Today (adults only)

It's only in the glorious twilight(?) of my career that I've been experiencing journalism as a subject (because of my blogging prominence), as well as a practitioner. I now know firsthand the frustration of talking to an interviewer who seems to have difficulty taking notes, let alone understanding what I'm saying.Then there's the smart and empathetic Deanna Isaacs, who … [Read more...] about “Chicago Reader” on Future of Arts Journalism: CultureGrrl Gets First and Last Words

Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, and former director of the Brooklyn Museum, responds to Bricks-and-Mortar Morass: Cleveland Desecrates Donor Intent:As someone who has been around the professional art world for 40 years (beginning as an assistant curator of medieval art and the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum), I think Cleveland's action … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Botwinick on Cleveland’s Donor Boner

Ted Gallagher, a self-described attorney "with a strong amateur art historic streak," responds to Michael Thomas's BlogBack that took issue with my post on the Cleveland Museum's proposed diversion of acquisitions funds to its capital campaign:Michael Thomas bends logic beyond all reckoning. He grants the Cleveland Museum leave to invade dedicated acquisition funds for … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Reader Defends My Take on Cleveland’s “Bricks-and-Mortar Morass”