Archives for August 2012

Adding a bravura coda to his well orchestrated (and successful) campaign for the tri-county passage a property levy (millage) to support operations at the Detroit Institute of Arts, its director, Graham Beal, has just concluded a live web chat (moderated by the Detroit Free Press' Mark Stryker), in which he answered questions from the community. Lee's question, relayed to … [Read more...] about Happy Ending: Detroit Director Graham Beal’s Live Chat on the Millage Passage

LA MOCA's Boardroom It's amazing what a little investigative reporting can do. Kudos to Katya Kazakina and Christopher Palmeri of Bloomberg, who dug out documents and interviewed concerned MOCA trustees to uncover the most disturbing picture yet of the state of the disarray in LA MOCA's finances and governance. This moves the ball way down the field from previous … [Read more...] about LA MOCA’s Financial Morass: Bloomberg’s Kazakina and Palmeri Expose the Shortfalls

In a comment posted to my Wall Street Journal review yesterday on shows of contemporary Native American art in New York, reader Dar Horn wrote:This art will show up in galleries when there is a demand for it. That will only happen when the art buying public is aware of it. Shows like these help. A slideshow in this article would have, too.Dar, your wish is my command. As you … [Read more...] about Native American Slideshow: Objects Cited in My WSJ Review

They were celebrating last night at the Detroit Institute of Arts, as voting results indicated success for the museum's millage. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press reports: A crucial millage for the Detroit Institute of Arts passed easily in Wayne and Oakland counties, but was approved by the slimmest of margins in Macomb County as the final votes were … [Read more...] about Party Time at Detroit Institute: Champagne Spillage for the Millage

[Part I is here.] Last Thursday, I took note of the "alarming number of art museums [that] are currently in extremis or slowly recovering from near-death experiences," and I focused on two formerly moribund but now rebounding institutions---the Rose Art Museum and the American Folk Art Museum (whose current show at the South Street Seaport Museum was favorably reviewed the … [Read more...] about Endangered Art Museums: An Alarming Trend—PART II UPDATED

Donald "Babe" Hemlock, "Ironworker Cradleboard," 2011Photo by Lee RosenbaumI've reviewed many large surveys of Native American art, but never one exclusively devoted to contemporary work. Usually, the recent pieces are shown alongside their historic counterparts, as if to lend them a kind of "legitimacy." In my latest Wall Street Journal piece, Native, North American, New, … [Read more...] about Online Now: My WSJ Piece on Contemporary Native American Art

The likely part-time home of Fisk University's Stieglitz Collection: Crystal Bridges Museum's gallery for early 20th-century American art Photo by Lee Rosenbaum While we're on the subject of endangered art museums, this just in from C. Michael Norton, Fisk University's lawyer in the Stieglitz Collection case, regarding the final disposition of the eminent collection of … [Read more...] about News Flash: Court Order to Send Fisk’s Stieglitz Collection to Crystal Bridges in Fall 2013

On the Upswing: The American Folk Art Museum's former satellite facility at Lincoln Square, now headquarters for the downsized institutionPhoto by Lee RosenbaumNotwithstanding somewhat improved economic conditions since the 2008 meltdown, an alarming number of art museums are currently in extremis or slowly recovering from near-death experiences. Considered together, these … [Read more...] about Endangered Art Museums: An Alarming Trend–PART I

Christopher Bedford, incoming director of Rose Art Museum When Christopher Bedford dives into the directorship of the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, in mid-September, he may find himself in troubled waters. I'm not referring to the Rose's recent choppy stretch (now, thankfully, behind it). I'm alluding to the first exhibition that will open when Bedford walks in … [Read more...] about Rose Shows: Brandeis’ New Museum Director, Christopher Bedford, to Face a Thorny Issue