Is it mere coincidence that First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a shoutout to the National Endowment for the Arts (@NEAarts) on the same day that her husband released a FY2020 budget proposal (pp. 110 & 111 of the above-linked .pdf) that would eliminate NEA and its sister agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities, because "activities funded by NEA [and NEH] are not … [Read more...] about Culture Closures: Trump’s FY2020 Budget Proposal Would Ax NEA, NEH, IMLS
Molesworth Speaks! Silenced at LA MOCA, She Vents (about Alice Neel) at Zwirner (with video)
Having been fired a year ago from the prestigious (but precarious) perch of chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Helen Molesworth resurfaced with a splash on Wednesday night at the David Zwirner gallery, New York. Feeling liberated, she flavored her well attended walkthrough of Alice Neel: Freedom (to Apr. 13) with a salty disquisition on "tits," … [Read more...] about Molesworth Speaks! Silenced at LA MOCA, She Vents (about Alice Neel) at Zwirner (with video)
Breach of Trust? Rothko Gave SFMOMA Its Soon-to-Be-Auctioned Painting at the Museum’s Request
Dear SFMOMA and Sotheby's: Have you no shame? In my previous post on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's ill-conceived deaccession of an important Rothko, I noted that there were "circumstances specific to this disposal that make it uniquely problematic." Let me elaborate: In its online sales pitch for Rothko's "Untitled," 1960, to be auctioned in New York on May … [Read more...] about Breach of Trust? Rothko Gave SFMOMA Its Soon-to-Be-Auctioned Painting at the Museum’s Request
Wroth Over Rothko: SFMOMA’s Distasteful Disposal
More on this here. What museum director would choose to sell from his institution "an important work completed at the apex of Rothko’s artistic powers, ...one of just 19 paintings completed by the artist in 1960"---a year that marked "a critical juncture in the iconic Abstract Expressionist’s career"? The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Neal Benezra, that's … [Read more...] about Wroth Over Rothko: SFMOMA’s Distasteful Disposal
Fool’s Gold at Metropolitan Museum: Tom Campbell’s Golden Coffin & Golden Parachute
The hits to the Metropolitan Museum's finances attributable to its previous director, Tom Campbell, just keep on coming. In a contrite press release, the museum reported on Feb. 15 that it had recently surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney's office (for return to Egypt) the gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh. Evidence had emerged that the late Ptolemaic cartonnage, … [Read more...] about Fool’s Gold at Metropolitan Museum: Tom Campbell’s Golden Coffin & Golden Parachute
J.P. Morgan’s Fixer-Upper: Conserving His Library, “A Building Unlike Any Other in New York” (video)
Having reviewed (here, here and here) the Morgan Library & Museum's extensive 2010 renovation, I didn't expect to be writing about another major Morgan re-do any time soon. But while the interior was repaired, re-lit and restored under the directorship of William Griswold (now director of the Cleveland Museum), the exterior deterioration had yet to be dealt with. Issues … [Read more...] about J.P. Morgan’s Fixer-Upper: Conserving His Library, “A Building Unlike Any Other in New York” (video)
“Telegraph” Gaffe: Louvre Affirms Its Hope to Display the Elusive Leonardo “Salvator Mundi”
Contrary to what the Telegraph pretends, the Musée du Louvre did ask for the loan of the "Salvator Mundi" and wishes to present it in its October exhibition. So wrote Sophie Grange, the Louvre's press spokesperson (with the link added by me), in response to my queries this morning regarding a widely disseminated report---Paris Louvre 'will not show' world's most expensive … [Read more...] about “Telegraph” Gaffe: Louvre Affirms Its Hope to Display the Elusive Leonardo “Salvator Mundi”
New Conservation Center & Stellar Van Gogh Show: David Bomford’s Last Hurrahs at MFA, Houston
Gary Tinterow, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has a knack for attracting distinguished staff, perhaps capitalizing on contacts he made during his tenure as former chairman of 19th-Century, Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum. After Gary's homecoming to Houston (where he grew up), to assume the MFAH's directorship in 2012, one of his first … [Read more...] about New Conservation Center & Stellar Van Gogh Show: David Bomford’s Last Hurrahs at MFA, Houston
Ballsy Bezos: How His Midlife Crisis “Complexifies” His Relationship with the Washington Post
My intimation that the unseemly story of Jeff Bezos' steamy, seamy midlife crisis could be problematic for the Washington Post, which he owns (and which is exemplary for not only its political coverage, but also its cultural coverage), was truer than I knew when I tweeted this on Friday: Self-centered @JeffBezos has it backwards in stating that his role as … [Read more...] about Ballsy Bezos: How His Midlife Crisis “Complexifies” His Relationship with the Washington Post
Meet the “New MoMA,” Same as the Old “New MoMA”
It was déjà-vu-all-over-again when I returned yesterday from a California sojourn to the "news" about how permanent-collection installations in the new MegaMoMA (my sobriquet, not theirs) will contrast with those in the current iteration of the ever-expanding Museum of Modern Art. Below is a rendering of the new 53rd Street façade, as reconceived by the project's … [Read more...] about Meet the “New MoMA,” Same as the Old “New MoMA”
How Good is the Hood? Dartmouth’s Expanded Art Museum Reopens CLARIFIED and UPDATED
After a much delayed $50-million renovation and expansion, Dartmouth College's 65,000-object Hood Museum of Art at last reopened on Jan. 26 with six new art galleries, three new study galleries and three classrooms equipped with "the latest object-study technology." The museum's total area of 62,400 square feet represents an increase of over 50 percent and provides a 42% … [Read more...] about How Good is the Hood? Dartmouth’s Expanded Art Museum Reopens CLARIFIED and UPDATED
“Woke” Museums: Metropolitan’s Diker Display Fuels a Growing Debate on “Identity Politics”
In his Wall Street Journal review last week of the Metropolitan Museum's provocative new installation, Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection, veteran cultural journalist Edward Rothstein once again demonstrated a lack of tolerance for exhibitions of American Indian art that explore the societies' injustices and hardships, rather than sticking with … [Read more...] about “Woke” Museums: Metropolitan’s Diker Display Fuels a Growing Debate on “Identity Politics”
For MLK Day: Recap of My Visit to the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Visitors who had scored timed entry passes for a Martin Luther King Day pilgrimage to the deeply engrossing, profoundly moving National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in DC were out of luck: Its doors remained locked today, due to the federal government shutdown. (Pass holders will eventually be sent instructions on how to reschedule.) I tweeted … [Read more...] about For MLK Day: Recap of My Visit to the National Museum of African American History & Culture
“Exciting Future”? Monitoring the Uncertain Condition of the Embattled National Academy
Without no permanent director and no home in which to display highlights from its 7,700-object collection of American art, the shuttered National Academy of Design (NAD), New York, is extricating some 100 key works from long-term storage to send them on a three-year, eight-venue national tour, beginning next month, under the auspices of the American Federation of Arts. "Get … [Read more...] about “Exciting Future”? Monitoring the Uncertain Condition of the Embattled National Academy
Abstraction Dejection: Riffing with Griffey at the Metropolitan Museum
It's always dangerous for a critic to bring preconceptions to an exhibition she hasn't seen yet. But it's a pitfall that I sometimes fall into, against my better judgment. I went out on a limb in October when I optimistically touted an exhibition that wasn't opening at the Metropolitan Museum until mid-December---Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera, organized by Randall … [Read more...] about Abstraction Dejection: Riffing with Griffey at the Metropolitan Museum