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Newsday ran a great feature yesterday about the current agonizing over what color to paint the Guggenheim, once they finally get the scaffolding off the net-shrouded hulk. (The New York museum is now undergoing much needed restoration.) Here's your chance to vote on which Benjamin Moore color you prefer: the old, familiar London Fog or the possible new choice, Powell Buff (said … [Read more...] about True Colors at the Guggenheim

The Joint Ownership Agreement between Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum and Fisk University for the school's Stieglitz Collection not only would put Crystal Bridges (which has offered $30 million for a half-share in the collection) in the driver's seat, but would give the Bentonville, AR, the museum the right of first refusal if Fisk ever decided to sell its half-share of … [Read more...] about Fisk Collection-Sharing Agreement: Walton’s Crystal Bridges Is First Among “Equals “

The Association of Art Museum Curators has joined the professional outcry against the planned sales from the collection of Randolph College's Maier Museum. George T.M. Shackelford, AAMC president and chair of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' European art department, writes: The Association of Art Museum Curators upholds a fundamental and abiding principle that is recognized … [Read more...] about More Maier and Walton Responses: AAMC Statement, Op-Ed, Reader’s Comment

Vincent van Gogh, letter to Émile Bernard, Arles, ca. June 20, 1988 (Letter 7) Thaw Collection, Morgan Library & Museum In the revelatory exhibition now at the Morgan Library & Museum, Painted with Words: Vincent van Gogh's Letters to Émile Bernard, to Jan. 6, the collection of van Gogh's letters to the minor artist but major confidant (a gift from mega-donors Eugene and Clare … [Read more...] about The Organ at the Morgan: “Sex Lives of the Painters” by Van Gogh

Since my first attempt at podcasting was an abysmal fizzle, I'll share with you, the old-fashioned way, what I was planning to talk about. (Where is my daughter, the acoustic engineering grad student, when I really need her?) You'll just have to try to imagine the following words being uttered with a thick Bronx accent. I was going to speak to the broader ramifications for the … [Read more...] about The Broader Significance of the Maier Massacre and the Stieglitz Egress

Can you hear me now? I'm As Techie As I Wanna Be (maybe). Click here for my podcast, and (just a few of you) shoot me an e-mail to let me know if this is working. How about we limit this to those who read me between 9:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., Eastern Standard Time? If you hear the sound of my voice, we'll start for real (or Real Player) tomorrow, with mellifluous Bronx-accented … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl’s First-Ever Podcast UPDATED

I've now gotten a link to the Agence France-Presse article on the five suspects detained by police in connection with the after-hours Monet vandalism at Paris' Musée d'Orsay. AFP reports: One of the five suspects...knew how to gain access to the museum because of his job, Culture Minister Christine Albanel said Tuesday. "According to the information the ministry has, one of the … [Read more...] about Was the Musée d’Orsay Break-In an Inside Job?

One aspect of the planned Maier Museum disposals that did not make it into my Wall Street Journal article (which is on Page D11 of today's Personal Journal section), is the involvement of Christie's auction house. It's worth examining: I usually don't hold auction houses responsible for judging whether an artwork should be sold, so long as the consigned object is authentic and … [Read more...] about Christie’s Compromised Position in the Maier Art Sale

Here it is art-lings: The Walton Effect: Art World Is Roiled By Wal-Mart Heiress, to be published on the "Leisure & Arts" page of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal, but online tonight. As you will see, the subject of the article herself declined (through her middlemen) to talk to me. I think that was probably an unwise strategy, because my sense from those who have met her is that … [Read more...] about My WSJ Article Online: “The Walton Effect”

Mainstream media editors generally don't like bloggers to pitch ideas about which they've already posted. So imagine my surprise when, a few weeks back, I got a call from my Wall Street Journal editor, asking me to expand on a CultureGrrl post. I'd like to think that a blog post is a quick preparatory sketch, and a subsequent magazine or newspaper article (or maybe a major … [Read more...] about My Article in Tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal: One Large Step for Lee, One Small Step for Blog-kind

This just in from BBC News: French police have made five arrests over an attack on a painting by Claude Monet in Paris, France's AFP news agency says, quoting judicial sources....Four men and a young woman were questioned early on Tuesday and taken into custody, said AFP, citing a source close to the investigation. I've tried in vain to find the story on the Agence … [Read more...] about Police Nab Possible Monet Mauler and Accomplices

Jason Kaufman's review in the current Art Newspaper of Danny Danziger's book, Museum (a compilation of interviews with officials and staffers from the Metropolitan Museum) reminded me that I had planned to share with you the one passage in the book that had caused me to do a double-take. Like Jason, I noted, in my previous post, the general lack of under-the-rug dirt in a … [Read more...] about The Met’s Inside Job: Theft Revealed in “Museum” Book

The Maier Museum Massacre has made the pages of the Oct. 15 issue of Newsweek (already online here) and on Saturday received detailed coverage from NPR radio. The NPR reporter, Joel Rose from Philadelphia's public radio station, WHYY, has been doing a fine job following this story (also here). Particularly poignant was this quote from a Randolph College student, heard on … [Read more...] about The Maier Massacre: Randolph College Students Speak

Advertisement for Italy's "Maratonarte": "Act as if Italy were your own house." Under the auspices of Italy's Ministry of Culture, the country's first cultural telethon, Maratonarte, raised some 2.8 million euros as of 7 p.m. Sunday, the last day of a three-day broadcast campaign to support seven cultural preservation projects. Contributions are still being taken by phone and … [Read more...] about Cultural Telethon: What Will the Italians Think of Next?

I haven't had time to absorb this material yet, but I throw you these links for those who are looking for something to occupy all your free time on this Columbus Day: ---Yesterday's Washington Post and the Oct. 15 issue of New York magazine both have big, multi-article art sections for your perusal: The Washington Post's "Museums" section includes musings by distinguished … [Read more...] about Think on These Links: NY Magazine and Washington Post Art Packages, Hirst to Hermitage