Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

This was the year when I had to solve this conundrum: How do you sustain an art blog when the only art you've seen since early February is what's in your own apartment? As someone in a virus-vulnerable category (seniors), I've been ultra-cautious and led a mostly boring life since the pandemic hit: Not only did I eschew museums; I haven't even ventured into Manhattan … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2020 Edition: It’s not over until the Deaccession Diva sings

I didn't disclose my contrarian reaction to the Whitney Museum’s ambitious, widely acclaimed Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945 at the time when it opened last February. But with it now in the last stretch of its run (extended to Jan. 31, due to the Covid pause), I feel less compunction about tempering the praise lavished by art critics on this … [Read more...] about New York Chauvinism? “Groundbreaking” Show at the Whitney Builds on Dartmouth College’s Lead

Artnet's art-market reporter Eileen Kinsella beat me to the punch today in reporting on Sotheby's rebuttal of the NY Attorney General's complaint that accused the auction house of complicity in a client's allegedly "fraudulent avoidance of sales tax." Eileen cited but didn't link to Sotheby's 27-page Memorandum of Law, which seeks the court's dismissal of the AG's complaint. … [Read more...] about “No Duty to Police Clients”? The Continuing Saga of NY Attorney General’s Sales-Tax Suit vs. Sotheby’s

While many museums are experimenting with quirky new ways of organizing (or disorganizing) their permanent-collection displays, the Frick Collection, currently closed, is going in the opposite direction: It will use its planned temporary occupation of the Whitney Museum-owned Breuer building (the eventual fate of which is still undetermined) as an opportunity to unveil a more … [Read more...] about Frick Tricks: Reinvention to Convention, as Peripatetic Displays Move from Brutalist to Beaux Arts (with cocktails)

The sorry tale of of the Baltimore Museum of Art's (BMA's) deaccession debacle, chronicled on this blog in real time in successive posts (six links), got a comprehensive recap on Sunday from the indispensable Sebastian Smee and Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post. Their main takeaway from this saga is that "the still-reverberating controversy didn’t just leave … [Read more...] about Deaccession Dejection: Whither the Embattled Baltimore Museum of Art? (plus: Brooklyn’s castoffs)

An expression that I've always liked has particular resonance in these times when nothing seems certain about whether or when we can resume life as we once knew it. Derived from a Yiddish proverb, this saying was popularized by Woody Allen: If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.[Yiddish Proverb: “Der mentsh trakht un got lakht."---Man thinks. God … [Read more...] about A Role Fit for Me: Who Will Play Alice Walton in Upcoming Netflix Series? (& other dubious plans)

Already anticipating a more culture-friendly president than the one who tried to eliminate federal appropriations for the National Endowments of the Arts and for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, some arts advocates are making noises about the creation of a federal Ministry of Culture, or if not that, at … [Read more...] about A U.S. “Ministry of Culture” Under Biden? Just Say No, Joe! UPDATED

Watching Barack Obama being interviewed at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) by Scott Pelley of CBS's "60 Minutes" brought back memories last Sunday of one of my two Best Press Previews Ever---the NPG's unveiling of Obama's portrait by Kehinde Wiley. (My other most memorable press preview was here.) Revisiting those galleries for a conversation pegged to the publication of … [Read more...] about Obama’s Return Engagement at the National Portrait Gallery: His “60 Minutes” Close-Up

NY State Attorney General Letitia James has sued Sotheby's for its alleged role in helping a client (unnamed in the AG's complaint) to "pose as an art dealer so he could illegally qualify for sales-tax exemptions reserved for the art trade" when purchasing art (in the words of Kelly Crow's recent report in the Wall Street Journal). According to the AG's 42-page complaint, … [Read more...] about “Fraudulent Avoidance of Sales Tax”: NY Attorney General’s Lawsuit vs. Sotheby’s UPDATED

Joseph Rishel, the brilliant, resourceful Philly-based curator of memorable exhibitions including Cézanne and Beyond, has left us for the Great Beyond. He was "brilliant" in making evocative connections and sharing deep insights regarding major works that we had thought we already knew; "resourceful" because he knew where all the hidden pictures were buried, and he had the … [Read more...] about The Late Joseph Rishel, 80: Witty, Erudite Curator Extraordinaire

As an mild antidote to severe post-election anxiety, let's savor a morsel of good news from the federal government: Although it falls short of what I'd hoped for, I'd like to think I may have had something to do with this announcement last week from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): In New York, New York, an NEH Chairman’s Grant [of $30,000] to Bronx Community … [Read more...] about Bronx Cheer! Hall of Fame for Great Americans (Championed Here) Gets an NEH Chairman’s Grant CORRECTED

UPDATE: Darrell Rocha, Sotheby's estimable senior VP, director of Press Office, Americas, revealed that "my time at Sotheby’s [13 years] is coming to a close at the end of this year." Karina Sokolovsky had assumed his title as Worldwide Head of Communications in early October. (He and Mitzi Mina had been co-heads of communications.) The misadventures of Sotheby's David … [Read more...] about Deaccession Deactivation: Fallout from Baltimore Museum’s Pullout from Sotheby’s (& other pratfalls) UPDATED

Can you stop a speeding freight train before it crashes? UPDATE: The "speeding freight train" has just screeched to a halt! The Baltimore Museum of Art has just issued a statement that the board and leadership "decided to pause on the upcoming sale of works by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol."Here's a link to the Baltimore Museum's full statement on its … [Read more...] about 15 Past Presidents of AAMD Sign Letter Calling for Baltimore Museum to “Reconsider” Planned Sales–2 UPDATES

Better late that never (but not soon enough), Brent Benjamin, current president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, is attempting to backpedal from the precarious position he championed just six months ago, when AAMD temporarily loosened its tight strictures against the use of proceeds from art sales for anything other than acquisitions. Undoubtedly prompted by … [Read more...] about AAMD’s Failed Oversight: Murky “Clarification” of Its “Financial Flexibility” Resolutions

Sirens (coming from the street) were heard wailing at the beginning of Sotheby's Virtual Preview of Highlights from Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art---a fleeting but thematically appropriate soundtrack for the alarming disposals set to occur at the auction house's Contemporary Art auction on Wednesday evening in New York. That startling prelude may have been edited … [Read more...] about Alarming Preview: Sotheby’s Hawks Baltimore Museum’s Clyfford Still & Brice Marden