Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

While supervising the Museum of Modern Art's second major expansion (here's the first) during his 23-year tenure, director Glenn Lowry has been thinking about how his soon-to-be reconfigured institution should change with the times. If his ideas gain traction elsewhere, he could be a daring (or, to my mind, reckless) disruptor of bedrock principles of museum … [Read more...] about Glowering at Lowry: MoMA Director’s Renegade Proposals for Collection Management

In explaining why the 46 artworks deaccessioned by La Salle University were spirited away from its museum by Christie's during intersession (while the Philadelphia campus was mostly devoid of students and faculty), Colleen Hanycz, the school's embattled president, dug herself and her institution into a deeper reputational hole. Addressing a student forum about the … [Read more...] about CultureGrrl Confidential: Leaks from La Salle President’s Student Forum on Art Sales

I had misgivings from the start about Claudia Gould's appointment to the directorship of the Jewish Museum, New York. Her personal and professional backgrounds seemed more suited to directing a contemporary art museum than an identity museum. Showing the art of our time has long been an important part the Jewish Museum's mission, but only one part. At the press preview … [Read more...] about Judaica as “Curiosities”: Are Jewish Museum’s Reinstalled Collection Galleries Good for the Jews?

Should a museum accept money from a private collector to show a work (or works) from his personal collection? Unless the work in question has been promised to the museum, such arrangements reek of pay-to-play, even if the collector's motives are believed to be altruistic. What are we to think, then, of the deal that will bring this record-breaking auction star to the … [Read more...] about Pay-to-Play? Maezawa Bankrolls Brooklyn Museum Show of His $110.5-Million Basquiat

With opposition continuing to grow over La Salle University's plan to sell 46 prime artworks from its collection through Christie's to fund non-museum activities, Susan Dixon, chair of the Philadelphia institution's art-history faculty, has circulated a letter lambasting the deaccessions (full text below). So far, I've seen nothing about whether this luminary intends to … [Read more...] about Assailing the Sales: La Salle’s Art History Chair Says: “We Were Not Consulted”

Although I share the dismay over the Metropolitan Museum's new admissions policy (which, nevertheless, I grudgingly acknowledge may be necessary), I've been equally unsettled by the misconceptions and misinformation promulgated by many of the pundits who oppose the new fee. Before castigating the Met, the combatants need to take time to understand the complexity and … [Read more...] about Derision for Admission Revision: Parsing the Metropolitan Museum’s New Mandatory Fees

I've never met an art dealer as brilliant and multifaceted as Eugene V. Thaw, who died Jan. 3 at the age of 90. Selling works of highest quality, from old masters to modern, he advised the wealthiest and most discriminating collectors. But he generously took time, long ago, to share his insights with me as a young journalist trying to understand the mysterious ways of the … [Read more...] about My Debt to Eugene Thaw, the Late Dealer, Collector, Connoisseur, Scholar, Donor, Mentor

As they did in the ongoing Berkshire Museum saga, the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors have just issued a joint statement strongly opposing La Salle University's planned sales of 46 objects from its museum, announced while students and faculty were away for winter intersession, which ends Jan. 12. (The Association of Art Museum Curators … [Read more...] about Intersession Deaccession: AAM and AAMD Issue Joint Statement Deploring the La Salle Sales UPDATED

Were it not for my free-admission press pass, I'd be personally affected and affronted by the Metropolitan Museum's new admissions policy. I'd feel as if a longtime lover had jilted me. As a Bronx native who grew up roaming the Met, I took full advantage of what used to be free access for all. As current residents of Fort Lee, NJ, my neighbors and I live closer to the Met's … [Read more...] about Admission Revision: Metropolitan Museum Raises Eyebrows with Mandatory Fees for Non-New Yorkers

More on this here and here. La Salle University's website provides surprisingly scant information about its astonishing plan under a relatively new president to dispatch to Christie's some 46 objects from its museum's collection to raise funds for non-museum activities. Here's the brief blurb about the planned disposal on the museum's webpage: In January 2018, La Salle … [Read more...] about More on La Salle’s Sales: My Revealing Q&A with the University’s Spokesperson

I'm sick of doing deaccession stories. But here we go again: Following in the stumbling footsteps of the Berkshire Museum, La Salle University, Philadelphia, has announced plans to sell some 46 works from its collection of more than 5,000 objects. The proceeds will "help fund teaching and learning initiatives in its new strategic plan," as reported by Susan Snyder and … [Read more...] about The Berkshire Museum Effect? La Salle University to Sell 46 Works from Its Museum

For me, 2017 was a year of transition: It marked the end of my decades-long run as a freelancer for the Wall Street Journal, precipitated by my having openly expressed unhappiness with the cutbacks in its superlative arts coverage, which I was proud to be part of. Disinclined to scramble for assignments in my grandparent stage of life (with three new family members so far), … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl: Kicking the “*!%&@” Out of Plan B (for “Blog”)

"This drawing is the reason why I’m a curator at the Met," Carmen Bambach confided during a victory lap around her masterpiece marathon---Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer (to Feb. 12). She told me she had joined the Metropolitan Museum's staff because doing so gave her "extraordinary access" to its sheet of studies for a figure on the Vatican's Sistine Ceiling, … [Read more...] about A Plenitude of Nudes: Drawn to Michelangelo’s Musclemen at the Met

"Have you dreamed of getting VIP treatment at The Met?...Now you can." That sounds like a quip I've used repeatedly on CultureGrrl. But the Metropolitan Museum is dead serious: If you wanna be a Met VIP, it'll cost you---$125 per "adult," defined (below) as ages 0-99. (I guess that discourages you from bringing the kids.) Here's the dubious deal: Exclusive access to … [Read more...] about Wanna Pay $125 to See Two Shows at the Met? Now You Can!

It's time for the Berkshire Museum to face reality: Its pursuit of easy money through art disposals has backfired, devolving into a litigation exhibition with no end date, costly to both its reputation and what's left of its financial wherewithal. In a two-sentence notice filed today, Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Joseph Trainor disregarded the surprising request by … [Read more...] about Time to Rethink: Court Extends Injunction Preventing Berkshire Museum Disposals