Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

The Berkshire Museum's self-proclaimed deaccession-or-die desperation measure has triggered traumatic flashbacks to the National Academy's failed attempt to secure its future by selling off important works by Frederic Edwin Church and Sanford Robinson Gifford---a story I broke and closely followed on CultureGrrl. In light of the widely condemned, deplorable developments in … [Read more...] about Memo to Berkshire Museum: Homeless National Academy Suspends Its School, Slashes Price for Its Posh Digs

I predicted in my previous post that the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums were "likely to exert pushback" against the Berkshire Museum's deplorable deaccession plans. Now they have, after communicating with the errant museum's leadership earlier today via … [Read more...] about “Deeply Opposed”: Joint Statement by AAMD & AAM Blasts Berkshire Museum’s Planned Art Sales UPDATED TWICE

More on this here. The hit list is out. The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, today identified all 40 works that it intends to sell through Sotheby's to bankroll its $60-million reinvention plan. Based on this report in the Berkshire Eagle, I had previously written that the museum's Calder mobiles were "not being sold." In fact, two landmark 1932 Calders---"Dancing Torpedo … [Read more...] about Berkshire Museum Disposables: Bierstadts, Bouguereaus, Calders, Church, Inness, “George Washington”

More on this here, here and here. Why should it matter if the Berkshires lose two major paintings by Norman Rockwell, when there are already so many in the vicinity? That mindless mindset seems to be driving the deplorable decision by the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, to monetize, in a series of Sotheby's auctions, some 40 artworks in its collection, including … [Read more...] about “Public Trust” Bust: Berkshire Museum to Jettison 40 Works (including 2 artist-donated Rockwells) UPDATED

How is the ambitious, soon-to-open Museum of the Bible (MOTB) hoping to repair the collateral damage to its reputation, now that Hobby Lobby---the crafts and home decor company led by the museum's founder, chairman and mega-donor, Steve Green---has been roundly condemned by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York for committing antiquities-collecting sins … [Read more...] about Bible Bumble: The Befuddled Build-Up to the New Museum of the Bible

Now that Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell has officially left the building (as of June 30), who will serve as acting director until a new director is chosen? Surprisingly, the short answer appears to be: "No one." Here's the memo sent to the museum's staff by its president and CEO, Daniel Weiss (the text of which I received from a highly reliable Met … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum’s Empty Director’s Chair: Text of Dan Weiss Memo to Staff

I can understand why Philip Kennicott felt unenthusiastic about the Hirshhorn Museum's Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn (to Jan. 1), which riveted me when I saw it to best advantage at its original venue---Alcatraz. The Washington Post's art critic dismissively stated that the renowned Chinese dissident "needs to make better art, more thoughtful art, art that isn’t consumed and … [Read more...] about Shoehorned at Hirshhorn: Imprisoning Ai Weiwei’s “@Large” Alcatraz Installation

Back in 1973, clutching a masters degree in journalism from Columbia, I decided to take the class that Gabe Pressman, gave at the New School. This "indefatigable dean of New York's television reporters" (as described in his Friday NY Times obit) generously allowed a few students to shadow him on different days. I was one of the lucky ones. Gabe proved to be both a tough … [Read more...] about “On Deadline with Gabe Pressman”: My Starstruck 1973 Profile of the Late Dean of NYC TV Reporters

If a newspaper accepted outside compensation for favorable coverage, that would be clearly be a violation of journalistic ethics---a conflict of interest, potentially compromising the integrity of its reports. That's essentially what's happening, though, on the arts pages of the NY Times, where clickable "FIND TICKETS" buttons have been appended to theater and movie reviews. … [Read more...] about Ethics and Critics: Conflicts of Interest Infect NY Times Reviews

In last week's post---Metropolitan Museum as Renegade: Reorganization Defies AAMD’s Professional Standards---I noted that Met President Daniel Weiss' designation as his museum's CEO, with the yet-to-be-named new director as his subordinate, ran contrary to the professional guidelines (P. 5) of the Association of Art Museum Directors. I also predicted that AAMD's reaction to the … [Read more...] about AAMD’s Response to Metropolitan Museum’s Renegade Reorganization: “Guidance to Consider”

The Metropolitan Museum has become a renegade. Its decision to rejigger its organizational chart---elevating the finance-oriented CEO (now President Daniel Weiss) above its (as yet unnamed) new art-centric director---runs contrary to common wisdom about the appropriate chain of command in art museums. That said, I reluctantly concede that desperate times may call for … [Read more...] about Metropolitan Museum as Renegade: Reorganization Defies AAMD’s Professional Standards

Congratulations, Daniel Weiss. You've passed the audition. As announced in today's press release, the Metropolitan Museum's board voted unanimously to make permanent President Weiss' previously interim appointment as the museum's CEO. No surprises there. The big news, unmentioned in today's NY Times report, but implicit in the Met's official announcement, is the board's … [Read more...] about President Dan Weiss Snares Top Spot at Metropolitan Museum (with director as subordinate)

After my involuntary hiatus, I re-joined the scribe tribe on Thursday to learn more about what Robin Pogrebin had already announced to us in the NY Times earlier that morning---the completion of Phase One of the Museum of Modern Art's $450-million capital project (the renovation and reconfiguration of the eastern portion of its sprawling physical plant) and the plans for the … [Read more...] about Diller Thriller: MoMA’s Mega-Makover, An Irreverent Photo Essay

I was surprised and saddened to realize (from Robin Pogrebin's tweet) that I hadn't been invited to Tom Campbell's press briefing at the Metropolitan Museum on Wednesday---the last of these biannual events before he "step[s] down" (his words, my link) from the museum's directorship on June 30. I've attended these informative conclaves for decades: Hearing of my plight, a … [Read more...] about Proud and Unbowed: Tom Campbell’s Valedictory to the Press (plus, a look to the future)

Memo to LA Times art critic Christopher Knight: You were mistaken when you wrote the last week that "an impermanent permanent collection"—such as what is being proposed by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for its planned Peter Zumthor-designed galleries—"is unprecedented." It's already happened at New York's Museum of Modern Art---a cautionary tale that should give pause to … [Read more...] about The Impermanent Permanent-Collection Display: LACMA Follows MoMA’s Dicey Example