Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Showing a courage and candor that’s been in short supply among museum officials who are navigating the choppy waters of racial tensions, political unrest and economic difficulty, Salvador Salort-Pons, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, has publicly engaged with the issues raised in a Change.org petition calling for his removal. In their petition, DIA Staff Action—a … [Read more...] about Salort-Pons’ Response: Detroit Institute’s Director Tussles with Anonymous Detractors

Already battered by the economic ills inflicted by the global pandemic, many art museums suddenly find themselves barraged by attacks from aggrieved staffers and former employees accusing the higher-ups of racism, harassment and micro-aggressions. Striving to quell the unrest, art museum officials have pledged to do better and, in some cases (notably at the Metropolitan … [Read more...] about Nyerges on the Purges: Virginia MFA’s Director Defends Bondil, Himself, Other Beleaguered Leaders

True to her outspoken nature, Nathalie Bondil, the summarily sacked 13-year director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, is not going quietly. Having gotten a taste of her feistiness and grit during a meeting we had three years ago in New York, I'm not surprised. Bondil, who joined the museum in 1999 as curator of European art, became its chief curator the following year … [Read more...] about Bondil Ordeal: Another Face Off Between a Prominent Museum Official & Staff

After posting my contrarian defense on Tuesday of Gary Garrels, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s distinguished (now deposed) senior curator of painting and sculpture, I ducked, anticipating a pile-on of invective. Instead, I got confirmation of what I've always known: I've got a classy readership---intelligent, civil and reasonable...even while contesting my … [Read more...] about Garrels Quarrels: BlogBacks on My Defense of SFMOMA’s Deposed Curator

In the second of what threatens to become a series of parlous CultureGrrl posts, I'm again risking the wrath of the thought-police by coming to the defense of another consummate museum curator who has had the misfortune of wandering into the cancel-culture crosshairs. Joining Keith Christiansen, the Metropolitan Museum's chairman of European paintings, in this predicament is … [Read more...] about Garrulous Gary Garrels: The Thought-Police Nab Another Unguarded Curator

I did a double take at the end of Donald Trump's long-winded July 3 paean to the four Mount Rushmore-enshrined Presidents, which devolved into a diatribe against "the violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats in every case...the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other … [Read more...] about Trump’s New Sculpture Park for “American Heroes”? Fuhgedaboudit! The Bronx Already Has that Covered

As I had anticipated, government strictures prevented Sotheby's from realizing its tentatively announced plan to hold "live evening and day auctions of Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art...in New York the week of 29 June...pending the lifting of certain restrictions and confirmation from the relevant authorities that we can proceed." When it became apparent … [Read more...] about “Live” But Not Too Lively: Auction Torpor (not Fever) at Sotheby’s Evening Sales

The thought-police have come for Keith Christiansen, the Metropolitan Museum's chairman of European paintings. I'm posting (a blog entry, not bond) to bail him out. As reported in yesterday's paper by the NY Times' Robin Pogrebin, Keith's ill-advised (now removed) Juneteenth entry on his personal Instagram feed (also vanished) has ignited a firestorm of indignation for … [Read more...] about Instagram Slam: Don’t Cancel the Metropolitan Museum’s Embattled Keith Christiansen

I knew that my contrarian suggestions about what to do with the controversial sculptures of Confederate leaders on Richmond's Monument Avenue would provoke some pushback, but I hoped for the constructive critiques that I've come to expect from my knowledgeable, insightful readers. That's exactly what I got in two thoughtful responses to Monumental Misdirection: Topple … [Read more...] about BlogBacks: John Ravenal & Alan Wallach (& me) on the Confederate Sculptures Fracas

Those who prize equality and equity have been rightly horrified and mobilized by videos of the fatal encounters between police and George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks last Friday in Atlanta. But the fierce energy behind violent, destructive expressions of rage that leave ruins in their wake should be applied to battling today's glaring injustices, not to … [Read more...] about Monumental Misdirection: Topple Injustices, Not Lost-Cause Statues (Some Juneteenth Musings)

Sotheby's has quietly upped its charges for purchasers of its offerings: An "Overhead Premium" of 1% of the auction hammer price will supplement its buyer's premium, effective Aug. 1. According to its announcement last month, little noticed by the public until Bloomberg's Katya Kazakina recently tweeted about it (more on that below), Sotheby's new charge will be "payable by … [Read more...] about “Overhead Premium”: Sotheby’s Invents a New Fee for Buyers

During this tumultuous time, I keep flashing back to the turmoil of the late '60s---the era when I came of political age as a college student, participating in the landmark 1969 March on Washington against the Vietnam War and attending antiwar "teach-ins" conducted by professors and students at my university, Cornell, which had a strong, politically active Asian Studies … [Read more...] about Back to the ’60s (again): Ex-Whitney Trustee Warren Kanders’ Dow Chemical Moment

In a striking departure from their customary reluctance to take strong political stands that would alienate some visitors, art museums around the country, speaking separately but with one voice, responded to the asphyxiation of George Floyd. The Metropolitan Museum arguably had the most startling response, in the form of today's stark banner at the top of its … [Read more...] about The George Floyd Fallout: Art Museums Take a Knee

Our loss yesterday of Christo, the canny conceptual artist with tangible appeal, is a poignant reminder of more innocent times---16 days in early 2005 when New Yorkers from all walks of life converged on Central Park for one peaceful purpose---to walk together basking in the luminosity of flowing canopies of saffron rip-stop nylon that were hung in a procession of some 7,500 … [Read more...] about Great “Gates”: A Tribute to Christo, 84, Who Made Magic in NYC’s Central Park

Facing reality, Sotheby's today officially abandoned what I had correctly characterized in a May 21 post as wishful thinking---its plans for live June auctions of contemporary and Impressionist & modern art. The firm unaccountably promoted that hope at a time when the Pandemic Effect had made the likelihood of actually being allowed to hold in-person sales seemed remote at … [Read more...] about Reality Check: Sotheby’s Belatedly Drops Plans for Major Live Auctions in June, Adopts New Format