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David Smith's "Song of the Landscape" in front of Jackson Pollock's "Number 28, 1950" in the Met's Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman installation Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman's benefaction to the Metropolitan Museum of 63 objects from her collection of Abstract Expressionist and other modern works (55 of which are now on display) is notable not only for its high quality but … [Read more...] about Newman’s Own at the Met: Less Ego, More Filling

Richard Leventhal (above), anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and curator of its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, recently informed me that he assigns CultureGrrl to students in his course on Museums and Cultural Heritage. I've also been read by Steven Miller's students in the graduate school program in museum professions at Seton Hall University, … [Read more...] about The CultureGrrl Curriculum

In interviews, André Emmerich, who died Monday at the age of 82, spoke with the erudite articulateness and elegant articulation of a scholar, not a salesman. Along with Leo Castelli and Sidney Janis, he was one of the deans of New York City's contemporary art dealers, during an earlier era when the scene was much less diffuse and diverse than it is today. But Emmerich was also … [Read more...] about André Emmerich: Erudite Dean of Contemporary Dealers

Photo by Augusto Salinas Xiomara Laugart Sánchez (above) says : "I don't sing like Celia." Don't you believe it. From the moment she opened her mouth in the uneven preview that I saw of Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz at New World Stages, more than two weeks before last night's official opening, I was blown away by her channeling of the Queen of Salsa's hard-driving … [Read more...] about Breakout Performance in “Celia,” the Musical

The surmise (scroll down) of Bloomberg's Linda Yablonsky was correct: Kathy Halbreich, who is set to leave the directorship of the Walker Art Center on Nov. 1, will become associate director of the Museum of Modern Art [via]. She will be joined in New York by her current closely cooperative colleague on the Twin Cities art scene, William Griswold, director of the Minneapolis … [Read more...] about Minneapolis Invasion: Halbreich Joins Griswold in New York

MAJOR CORRECTION: This is a whopper---I originally and erroneously wrote below that the contested Klimt belonged to Ronald Lauder. I have now corrected this entry. It's Leonard Lauder, Ronald's brother, who owns the work in question. It was an egregious error, which I deeply regret. I need a refresher course in reading comprehension. ---Robin Pogrebin of the NY Times has a … [Read more...] about Links for the Rink CORRECTED: Claim for Lauder’s Klimt, Elton’s Goldin Seized as Porn, The Genius Watch, Art’s Economic Impact

She's the new director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, succeeding William Griswold, but previously I'd never heard of her. The MIA has a history of prominent professionals in its top post (Evan Maurer, Samuel Sachs II), so her relative obscurity took me by surprise. When she arrives from the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, she will be one of five female museum directors in … [Read more...] about Who is Kaywin Feldman?

Oh my prophetic soul! Not only has the Getty's signing of the the 40-object repatriation agreement with Italy brought a withdrawal of civil charges against the Getty Museum's former antiquities curator, Marion True, but Jason Felch and Livia Borghese report in the LA Times that the Italians have now indicated that nothing much is going to happen to her in the criminal case. … [Read more...] about Good News for Marion True UPDATED

This just in from MASS MoCA: MASS MoCA announced today that it has begun removing materials gathered for "Training Ground for Democracy" and will not permit the public to enter the planned installation which was cancelled on May 21, 2007.... After giving careful deliberation to the interests of many constituents, including the artist's own views, and factoring in the limited … [Read more...] about News Flash: MASS MoCA Removes the Büchel Remains UPDATED

She did it (maybe): Fisk University and Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art have reached an agreement for the Bentonville, Arkansas, museum to buy a 50 percent undivided interest in Fisk's Alfred Stieglitz Collection for $30 million. This would give Crystal Bridges the "right to publicly display the collection on an equal basis." The deal still has to be … [Read more...] about News Flash: Fisk Agrees to Sell Half-Interest in Stieglitz Collection to Crystal Bridges UPDATED

The Getty will today formalize its agreement with Italy for the return of 40 objects, Stephen West of Bloomberg reports. Nothing about this yet on the Getty's or Italian Culture Ministry's websites. Why not? Will Marion True be returned in exchange? … [Read more...] about Speaking of Export Restrictions…

I don't favor such things, but if there were ever a case for export restrictions in this country, this is it: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sotheby's in New York will present for sale The Magna Carta, the royal document revered as the birth certificate of freedom. This iconic manuscript, dated 1297, is the original charter that enshrined the rights of man into English law, and … [Read more...] about Perot’s Magna Carta Up for Grabs

This just in: Not wasting any time, artist Christoph Büchel has just filed a "Notice of Appeal" to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in his dispute with MASS MoCA. Meanwhile, MASS MoCA is still scheduled to announce tomorrow whether it intends to display (as now permitted by U.S. District Court) the materials from Büchel's aborted commission. For the most complete … [Read more...] about News Flash: Büchel Appeals MASS MoCA Ruling

Peter Dobrin It takes a music critic to solve the Barnes problem. Bucking his own newspaper's MegaBarnes-friendly news coverage, as well its editorial writers' campaign in strong support of the Barnes Foundation's planned move from Merion to Philadelphia, Peter Dobrin, the Philadelphia Inquirer's music critic, solved the whole Barnes mess in two paragraphs in the most recent … [Read more...] about Peter Dobrin of “Philadelphia Inquirer” Devises a Barnes Solution

Judge Michael Ponsor of U.S. District Court in Springfield, MA, apparently agreed with my layman's surmise that the Visual Artists Rights Act does not apply to the Christoph Büchel mess at MASS MoCA. What's more, the North Adams, MA, institution is free to display the material assembled for the abandoned project. As reported by John Dyer in the Boston Globe, Judge Ponsor ruled … [Read more...] about MASS MoCA Gets Thumbs-Up from Art-Loving Judge