Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

In their initial responses to last night's Massachusetts Appeals Court preliminary injunction, neither the Berkshire Museum nor Sotheby's has explicitly vowed to continue what could be a self-defeating legal fight in the museum's misguided attempt to sell works from its collection to bankroll purposes other than acquisitions and preservation of the collection. A wiser course … [Read more...] about Berkshire Museum’s Deaccession Debacle: Reactions of the Protagonists & Antagonists

Score one for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. The Massachusetts Appeals Court tonight granted the preliminary injunction that she had sought in order to delay the controversial sales at Sotheby's of works from the Berkshire Museum's collection. The series of auctions containing the deaccessioned works was to have begun Monday with an American art sale that was … [Read more...] about News Flash: Massachusetts Appeals Court Delays Berkshire Museum Sales

Major update here. Now it gets really interesting. The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office has just filed a motion for an injunction pending its appeal of the Superior Court decision to allow Berkshire Museum's art sales this Monday at Sotheby's. You can read the full Appeals Court filing here. The AGO says its investigation "is not yet complete, but cites "the … [Read more...] about News Flash: Massachusetts Attorney General Files Appeals Court Motion to Enjoin Monday’s Berkshire Museum Sales

It's entirely in keeping with Rusty Powell's self-effacing nature that the National Gallery's homepage today is all about the art, with no hint of its big news: The museum's longest-serving director, who assumed that post in 1992, has announced his plans to retire in early 2019, when he'll be 75. As did Philippe de Montebello at the Metropolitan Museum, he's giving his … [Read more...] about Trusty Rusty: Powell to Retire from Longtime Gig at National Gallery

I wasn't invited to the Louvre Abu Dhabi's opening ceremonies today (no surprise), but I did get an emailed invitation to watch them livestreamed on the museum's Facebook page. Below is my tweeted account of that broadcast, which was abruptly interrupted without explanation, depriving us of what I assume were to have been speeches by the Louvre's director, Jean-Luc Martinez, … [Read more...] about Macron Magic: My Live Tweets of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Aborted Livestream of Opening Ceremonies

It seems that the Attorney General Office's intervention in the Berkshire Museum case was too little, too late in the view of Judge John Agostini of Berkshire County Superior Court. He ruled this afternoon (full text here) that the museum could proceed with its controversial planned art sales, notwithstanding the opposition of several plaintiffs and the Attorney General's … [Read more...] about “Tepid Investigation” by the AG: Judge Permits Berkshire Museum Sales

In consigning its collection's 40 highest-valued artworks to Sotheby's, the Berkshire Museum tried to pull a fast one. That's not gonna wash. In a nutshell, that's the position taken by the Massachusetts Attorney General in her brief filed Monday (full text here) and in arguments yesterday in Berkshire County Superior Court. She chided the museum for "notify[ing] the AGO of … [Read more...] about Berkshire Bombshells: Revelations in the Attorney General’s Berkshire Museum Brief

After hearing more than two hours of arguments today (Wednesday) from two sets of lawyers for plaintiffs, as well as a response to the plaintiffs' motion by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Judge John Agostini of Berkshire County Superior Court in Pittsfield reserved judgment on whether to grant requests for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction … [Read more...] about After Inconclusive Hearing, Attorney General Steps In as Possible Plaintiff in Berkshire Museum Case

As I reported Monday on my Twitter feed (while I was traveling and off-blog), the Massachusetts Attorney General has officially entered the fray in the legal battle over the Berkshire Museum's planned art sales. Now we're talking: @MassAGO seeks temp restraining order vs @BerkshireMuseum's planned art sales. Still reviewing https://t.co/UlOo3Ypy3E — Lee Rosenbaum … [Read more...] about Deaccession Obsession: AG Enters the Fray; Compendium of My Berkshire Museum Commentary UPDATED

In the continuing saga of Berkshire Museum's planned art sales through Sotheby's, a second lawsuit and motion for an injunction (following close upon these) have today been filed by a new set of complainants in a different court. Both legal challenges, to my mind, fail a crucial test---the need to argue convincingly that the sales would violate explicitly stated donor … [Read more...] about Parsing the Arguments: Second Lawsuit and Reply Brief Filed Today on Berkshire Museum’s Art Sales

There have been two major plot twists in the convoluted saga of the Berkshire Museum's highly controversial plans to sell 40 works from its collection at Sotheby's. This just in from the Berkshire Museum: The Berkshire Museum today announced that effective Oct. 31, 2017, museum operations will be led by Acting Co-Executive Directors Nina Garlington [the museum's chief … [Read more...] about News Flash: Berkshire Museum’s Head on Medical Leave; 21 of 40 Consignments Pulled from Sotheby’s Auctions

As I previously wrote, the only realistic hope to stop Berkshire Museum's misguided course would be legal action, either by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office (which is reviewing the case but has not yet announced whether it will act) or by opponents to the sale. Now it's happened. This just in from Foley Hoag, the Boston law firm: Foley Hoag LLP filed a complaint … [Read more...] about Berserk in the Berkshires: Lawsuit Filed Against Berkshire Museum Sales UPDATED TWICE

I recently denounced as a bad role model for the Berkshire Museum the deplorable disposals by the New-York Historical Society 1995. Those selloffs were recently touted by Felix Salmon in a Berkshire Museum-related article as "relatively responsible deaccessioning." Now, here's some breaking news about a much better role model: Last night, another financially endangered … [Read more...] about Dandy Danforth: Framingham Approves Win-Win University Partnership to Rescue Museum & Its Collection

It seems Christie's couldn't resist the chance to pair Leonardo da Vinci's Jesus with one (or, more accurately, 60) by art-market megastar Andy Warhol, whose 32-foot-long "Sixty Last Suppers" (riffing on the Italian Renaissance master's famous take on that subject) is being offered at the same Nov. 15 Contemporary auction as the incongruous interloper, "Salvator Mundi." The … [Read more...] about Warhol Effect: Can Leonardo’s Strange Bedfellow Make Christie’s Bidders Salivate for “Salvator Mundi”?

More about this here and here. "Without question," Christie's confidently declared last week, Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" (being auctioned on Nov. 15 in New York) is "the greatest artistic rediscovery of the 21st century." Really? With 83 years still remaining in this century, we're entitled to pose a few questions. First off: Might this century have other … [Read more...] about Salvaging “Salvator Mundi”: Inside Look at “Extensive Restoration” of Leonardo at Christie’s