Michael Botwinick, director of the Hudson River Museum and an outspoken supporter of the Brodsky Bill that would have regulated museum deaccessions in New York State, responds to this recent post on the bill's unfortunate fate in the state legislature:I think it is problematic to say the bill was killed by the "museum lobby." I think the vast majority of museums in the state … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Michael Botwinick on NY State’s Moribund Brodsky Bill on Deaccessions
Archives for August 2010
Today’s Crystal Bridges/Fisk Collection-Sharing Trial Gets a Frist Twist
Susan Edwards, director of the Frist Center, NashvilleAt 12:30 p.m. today, Round Four in the never-ending legal battle between Fisk University and Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper over the university's Stieglitz Collection is scheduled for a return bout at its original venue, Davidson County Chancery Court, after detours to the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the … [Read more...] about Today’s Crystal Bridges/Fisk Collection-Sharing Trial Gets a Frist Twist
Deaccession Diversion: CultureGrrl Infiltrates NY Times’ Pogrebin Piece UPDATED TWICE
New York State Assembly ChamberWhen it comes to the Brodsky Bill to regulate museum deaccessions in New York State, it appears, alas, that the museum lobby has gotten its way.Robin Pogrebin writes this for tomorrow's NY Times (online now): A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in … [Read more...] about Deaccession Diversion: CultureGrrl Infiltrates NY Times’ Pogrebin Piece UPDATED TWICE
“Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part I
The Brooklyn Museum [NOTE: Part II is here.] Robin Pogrebin's initial NY Times article, imputing "diminished stature" to the Brooklyn Museum, provoked considerable backlash from the museum profession. But Robin didn't back down; she doubled down. In Sunday's astonishing front-page Arts & Leisure piece, she took it upon herself to convene an ad hoc panel of 17 … [Read more...] about “Mr. Populism”: My Q&A with Brooklyn’s Arnold Lehman—Part I
Conservation Confusion: Philadelphia Museum’s “Gross Clinic” Photo Flub
The differences between the "before" and "after" photos that I recently published of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic"---pre- and post-conservation---were indeed "startling," as I had opined in both CultureGrrl and the Huffington Post.But even more startling was the museum's subsequent admission to me and other art journalists that it had sent us the wrong images. (See, for example, … [Read more...] about Conservation Confusion: Philadelphia Museum’s “Gross Clinic” Photo Flub
“Portrait of Wally” Settlement: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Egon Schiele, "Portrait of Wally," 1912 At the commemorative ceremony celebrating the settlement of the Nazi loot-related dispute over Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," David Marwell, the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (which hosted the event), highlighted a lesson to be learned from "Wally": She can teach us about justice, even justice that comes after more than … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally” Settlement: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
“Portrait of Wally”: Spotlight on the Offstage Heroes
[For my analysis of the settlement, go here.]Lawyers, prosecutors and a Bondi family member did all the talking at Thursday's commemorative ceremony celebrating the $19-million settlement of the Bondi family's claims against the Leopold Museum, Vienna, in connection with Schiele's "Portrait of Wally," expropriated by the Nazis from Lea Bondi Jaray in 1939 and later acquired by … [Read more...] about “Portrait of Wally”: Spotlight on the Offstage Heroes