Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

“None of us want her to step away. She is integral to the museum,” Jason Moment, the new president of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), said of his predecessor, Diane ("Dede") Wilsey, in comments reported Monday by the San Francisco Chronicle's art critic, Charles Desmarais. That appraisal anticipated the board's Tuesday vote anointing Moment and giving Wilsey … [Read more...] about Shifts at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: Wilsey Steps Down, Controversy Ramps Up

The elephants-not-in-the-room at this morning's press conference celebrating the appointment of Lonnie Bunch III as the Smithsonian Institution's new secretary (effective June 16) were the man currently occupying the Oval Office and conservative members of Congress---politicians not known to be sympathetic towards federal cultural support in general and politically sensitive … [Read more...] about Bunch Crunch: How Will Smithsonian Institution’s Secretary-Elect Navigate DC’s Political Minefields?

More on this here. With three decades of experience at the Smithsonian, leading up to his current post as founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Lonnie Bunch, 66, is an ideal candidate to hit the ground running, on short notice, as the Smithsonian's 14th Secretary (effective June 16). As the driving force of the acclaimed, … [Read more...] about Lonnie Bunch Named Smithsonian’s New Secretary

It's like a museum, only everything's for sale. That visitor's comment, overheard by me at Christie's presale display of its evening-sale offerings earlier this month, isn't usually true nowadays at the auction houses, especially when it comes to Impressionist and modern art: Relatively few major Monets, Manets, Cézannes or van Goghs remain in private hands, making those … [Read more...] about Philanthropy Fail: How Museums Got Hammered at the Major Spring Auctions

It's time for me to re-up my September 1978 ARTnews investigation into the Metropolitan Museum's secret Sackler enclave, in the context of the recent news that the Met "will stop accepting gifts from members of the Sackler family linked to the maker of OxyContin" (in the words of today's NY Times report). My piece zeroed in on the "good" Sackler---the oldest brother, … [Read more...] about Sackler/Kanders: My 1978 ARTnews Exposé on Met’s Sackler Enclave (plus: my takes on opioids, tear gas)

The Metropolitan Museum's Camp: Notes on Fashion installation, which opened today (to Sept. 8), begins promisingly with a deep dive into the early history of camp, including the derivation of that designation as an aesthetic category (first known usage: Molière's "The Impostures of Scapin"). But its sprawling, diffuse finale embodies the "camp" worldview at its … [Read more...] about Sontagian Revulsion: My Notes on “Camp” at the Metropolitan Museum

Audiences and critics were scratching their heads at some of the eclectic opening presentations and commissions at The Shed---New York City's recently opened incubator for unconventional new works in the visual and performing arts (sometimes commingled). As I suggested at the end of my previous post, the offbeat offerings intrigued me, even though (in two instances) I didn't … [Read more...] about Bred at the Shed: Three Boundary-Busting Inaugural Commissions (with video)

More about this here. When an ambitious new cultural institution chooses its architect six years before appointing an artistic director/CEO, you know its priorities are upside-down and backwards. Such was the case with The Shed, New York's new multipurpose, multi-discipline cultural venue, which gave me a very mixed impression during its opening week. For many reasons, … [Read more...] about Getting It Backwards: The Shed’s Architects Came 1st. Its Artistic Director, a Distant 2nd (with video)

In yesterday's post, I had suggested that the Metropolitan Museum could show its support for the fire-ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral by returning to it the Head of King David now in the Met's collection, for eventual installation at the building for from which it had been removed during the French Revolution. Today, the Met announced that it would offer a free "informal … [Read more...] about To Be Returned? Met’s Own Notre-Dame Sculpture Figures in Museum’s Program on the Cathedral

"We will rebuild it," vowed French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, after people around the world collectively gasped at the horrific sight of Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. The sickening collapse of its spire was captured on video---an image almost as nightmarish as the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center towers but, mercifully, without the catastrophic the … [Read more...] about Notre-Dame in Flames: What Happened, What’s Next

The Eagles may have booted Don Felder out of the band, but he was the one who enjoyed a star turn at the Metropolitan Museum's memorable press preview for Play it Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll, which opened yesterday (to Oct. 1). Following comments by several rock luminaries (see below), Felder strolled up to the microphone, picked up his trusty double-neck sidekick, and … [Read more...] about Rockin’ at the Met with “Play It Loud”: Guitar Action & My Copyright Infraction (with video)

My new friends at BBC Radio 5 have given me an embeddable form of the audio from my interview with on Leonardo's "Salvator Mundi" with Rhod Sharp, host of "Up All Night." What's more, unlike the version on BBC's website, this one has no expiration date. So if it was too complicated trying to deal with finding my nine minutes of fame on the audio bar for Wednesday's … [Read more...] about Hear Here! My BBC Radio Talk on Leonardo’s “Salvator Mundi” Can Now Be Heard on CultureGrrl

I was surprised on Sunday when the NY Times ran a long front-page article about the status (or lack thereof) of the $450.3-million Leonardo da Vinci that has unaccountably fallen off the public's radar screen. The Times piece was merely a detailed summary of all the reporting that has preceded it (including numerous posts that appeared on CultureGrrl), even though it was posted … [Read more...] about Lee on Leonardo (once again): BBC Radio Quizes Me on “Salvator Mundi” Conundrums (Corrected)

A family outing last Sunday to the Nassau County Museum of Art with my two Long Island grandchildren began auspiciously but ended on a discordant note: After my little ones cheerfully created fish-themed collages in the Manes Education Center, we went out to explore the sculpture installation on the spacious grounds of the Roslyn Harbor, NY, museum. We were instantly … [Read more...] about Mauling Sprawling Art Installations: Are Outdoor Works Destined for Desecration?

Having heard Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice, expound on Tintoretto's "values" during yesterday's livestream of the National Gallery of Art's press preview for the Venetian artist's first full-scale retrospective in America (Mar. 24-July 7), I'm convinced that museums need to lay down some content guidelines (especially for non-museum professionals) to discourage pronouncements … [Read more...] about Tainted “Tintoretto”: Venice Mayor Mars Kaywin Feldman’s Blockbuster Debut at National Gallery UPDATED