Rediscovered Michelangelo? "Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness," oil and gold on wood, 29 3/4 x 82 1/2 in., Metropolitan Museum of ArtHaving recently mounted Velázquez Rediscovered, a show that convincingly proposed that a painting by that master had been hiding for years in plain sight in the permanent collection, will the Metropolitan Museum soon be presenting … [Read more...] about Michelangelo Rediscovered: Another Met Attribution Upgrade? UPDATED
Archives for April 2010
Landesman’s Congressional Testimony: “American Masterpieces” Axed for “Our Town”
Rocco Landesman, NEA's chairman, speaking in Boise, IdahoPhoto: NEA staffWant to make a charitable donation to the federal government? You can! Long a part of the National Endowment for the Arts' website, the Donate page solicits various forms of personal and corporate largesse to this federal agency---from one-shot benefactions to annual giving to post-mortem support:You may … [Read more...] about Landesman’s Congressional Testimony: “American Masterpieces” Axed for “Our Town”
Rothko on Broadway: Words Fail, Art Speaks
Painting the Golden Theatre "Red"In John Logan's play Red, which I saw a little over a week ago, Mark Rothko (played by Alfred Molina, who formerly channeled Diego Rivera) comes across as an intensely committed, brilliant artist, but one given to verbiage that's frequently tendentious and pretentious. This makes for a night of theater that is sometimes exhilarating but often a … [Read more...] about Rothko on Broadway: Words Fail, Art Speaks
Fisher Collection’s Saga Demonstrates Perils of Single-Collector Museum
SFMOMA trustee Bob Fisher, son of Doris and Donald Fisher, who are pictured on screen behind him After Neal Benezra, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the second happiest person about the relocation of the 1,100-work Donald and Doris Fisher Collection to SFMOMA may be one of the Fishers' sons, Bob. That's because the creation of a trust to lend the blue-chip … [Read more...] about Fisher Collection’s Saga Demonstrates Perils of Single-Collector Museum
NY Times Timing: Last on Picasso, First on Panza
Carol Vogel, in tomorrow's NY Times "Inside Art" column (online tonight), finally got around to reporting about the very X-rated Picasso painting soon to be shown at the Metropolitan Museum (which owns it). Candace Jackson of the Wall Street Journal reported on it last January, followed by CultureGrrl. The Met's getting a lot of publicity mileage out of this very … [Read more...] about NY Times Timing: Last on Picasso, First on Panza
Russian Museums Audit: Some 87,000 Objects Missing
Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage MuseumMegan Stack of the LA Times has reported that an audit of Russian museums, ordered by then President Vladimir Putin after the 2006 discovery of the theft (which was an inside job) of about 226 objects from the State Hermitage Museum, revealed that "at least 87,000 pieces have vanished. Hundreds of those … [Read more...] about Russian Museums Audit: Some 87,000 Objects Missing
BHA Crisis: Emergency Meeting on the Future (or not) of Art Bibliography
Are there signs of life in the frozen Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)?The Getty Research Institute, which on Apr. 1 withdrew financial support from this essential tool for scholars (but made the existing database, without further updates, available free online), has received a grant from the Kress Foundation to help organize an Apr. 20 meeting at the Metropolitan … [Read more...] about BHA Crisis: Emergency Meeting on the Future (or not) of Art Bibliography
Halsey Minor Comments on the “Sotheby’s v. Minor” Decision
Halsey MinorHalsey Minor's lawyer never got back to me with an answer to my question as to whether the founder of CNET would appeal the $6.64-million court judgment against him in the U.S. District Court case of Sotheby's v. Minor. Minor himself did, in an e-mail that hit my inbox at 9:14 tonight:Lee, I will be appealing. This is not a financial issue. I will put up my money … [Read more...] about Halsey Minor Comments on the “Sotheby’s v. Minor” Decision
$6.64 Million Judgment: Halsey Minor Case Provides Inside Look at Sotheby’s Deals
Edward Hicks, "The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity," 1846-48Photo: Sotheby'sChilde Hassam, "Paris, Winter Day" (aka "Carriage in Winter"), 1887Photo: Sotheby's[See UPDATE here.]I love perusing art-related court decisions, because they sometimes impart a rare look into convoluted dealings that are otherwise kept secret. CultureGrrl readers may remember the tangled … [Read more...] about $6.64 Million Judgment: Halsey Minor Case Provides Inside Look at Sotheby’s Deals
Funky Mash-terpieces: A Little (artsy) Night Music
For you late night art-lings, below is some evening entertainment. In case your art history's a little rusty, there's an illustrated guide to many of the parodied paintings here. (Scroll down to the comments at that link, for a more complete list.) This has apparently been around since late February, so you may have already viewed it. In that case, watch it again! … [Read more...] about Funky Mash-terpieces: A Little (artsy) Night Music
Fisk Continues Legal Quest to Share Collection, for $30 Million, with Crystal Bridges
Fisk University President Hazel O'Leary, centerToday seems to be CultureGrrl's follow-up day.This just in: Still tirelessly seeking court approval for its $30-million collection-sharing deal with Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AR, Fisk University has now filed a motion in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking a trial to determine whether it can legally … [Read more...] about Fisk Continues Legal Quest to Share Collection, for $30 Million, with Crystal Bridges
Cleveland Museum Hasn’t Tapped Acquisition Funds for Bricks and Mortar (yet)
Deborah Gribbon, Cleveland Museum of Art's interim directorIt's about time we followed up on the Cleveland Museum of Art's Bricks-and-Mortar Morass:Although it sought and in early October received court permission to do so, the CMA has not yet tapped any money intended for art purchases to help bankroll its major expansion project. The museum obtained the legal go-ahead to … [Read more...] about Cleveland Museum Hasn’t Tapped Acquisition Funds for Bricks and Mortar (yet)
MeTube: John Leighton of National Galleries of Scotland on the £50-Million Titians
John Leighton, director general, National Galleries of ScotlandThe High Museum's exhibition program leans heavily towards crowd-pleasers---currently The Allure of the Automobile, to be followed in August by Dalí: The Late Work. Largely as a result of the revenue generated by such blockbusters, the Atlanta museum's earned income accounts for a bigger percentage of its operating … [Read more...] about MeTube: John Leighton of National Galleries of Scotland on the £50-Million Titians
The April Fools Solution: Getty Puts Existing BHA Database Online, No Updates
Breaking news: The Getty has just sent me its press release detailing what it yesterday called its "very good news" that it had "worked hard to make...possible," regarding the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), a premier art-history resource.The "solution" to the problem posed by its withdrawal of financial support for maintaining and updating the Bibliography of the … [Read more...] about The April Fools Solution: Getty Puts Existing BHA Database Online, No Updates
No “Trading Up”: Max Anderson on Dodo Deaccessioning
Max Anderson (above), director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), is the rare art museum director who is willing to speak out forcefully against misguided practices of professional colleagues. His outspokenness in defense of core principles endears him to me and other journalists, but perhaps not to some fellow museum directors.His latest salvo appeared Monday on the … [Read more...] about No “Trading Up”: Max Anderson on Dodo Deaccessioning