Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

William "Bro" Adams, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and an Obama appointee, clearly knew what was coming when he precipitously resigned his position yesterday, effective today. Short notice, Bro! As reported by The Hill, the NEH, National Endowment for the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting are … [Read more...] about Doomsday Scenario: President Trump’s Bludgeoned Budgets for NEA, NEH, IMLS (with video)

Sotheby's Contemporary auction tonight was a mostly workmanlike affair, with one shining exception: Basquiat's vibrantly scary 1982 "Untitled" skull, the undisputed star in this week of major auctions in New York, leered at his puny presale estimate ("in excess of $60 million"), and powered his way to a $98-million hammer price ($110.5 million with buyer's premium). The … [Read more...] about $110.5-Million Man: Yusaku Maezawa Buys Basquiat, Setting Auction Record for Any American Artist

After Sotheby's public disclosure last Wednesday of how much it is relying on guarantees in general and irrevocable bids in particular, Christie's on Friday responded to my question about its own guarantee portfolio. Its figures suggest that Christie's is relying on pre-orchestrated bids even more heavily than is Sotheby's: "Overall," a Christie's spokesperson told me, "we have … [Read more...] about Suspension of Suspense: Christie’s Tops Sotheby’s in Relying on Pre-Arranged Bids for Major Auctions

Ahead of next week's major Impressionist, modern and contemporary art auctions, both Sotheby's and Christie's are assuring possibly skittish buyers that there are "signs of strengthening"  in the market (in the words of Tad Smith, Sotheby's CEO) and cause to be "confident in the art market" (in the words of Sara Friedlander, Christie's department head for post-war and … [Read more...] about Next Week’s Bellwether Auctions: Guarantees, Investor Pleas, Uncertainties

I thought I'd give it another try by attending the preview for Frieze Art Fair (to May 7), but I still find that, for me, art fairs are a a good way to network with artworld luminaries but a poor way to view and absorb art. A suitable format for conveying this superficial, disjointed experience is chain of live tweets. Aside from the people mentioned in my tweets, I ran into … [Read more...] about Schmooze & Peruse: My Live Tweets on the Frieze Art Fair in New York

The strong efforts of arts-and-humanities advocates appear to have (at least temporarily) overcome the pernicious, fallacious notion that the National Endowments of the Arts and Humanities are preserves of the elite and therefore unworthy of government support. But Congress has added some of its own guidelines for awarding federal arts grants, just to make sure. Far … [Read more...] about Defying Trump, Bipartisan Deal Would Boost Funding for NEA and NEH (with strings attached)

John Ravenal, executive director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, which offers free admission to Lincoln residents, takes issue with Out-of-Towner Downer: Metropolitan Museum Considers a Xenophobic Admission Policy. Your comments on the Met's possible change in admission policy seemed shortsighted to me (and the metaphor of "xenophobia" strikes me … [Read more...] about Blogback: John Ravenal, deCordova Director, Defends Higher Museum Fees for Out-of-Towners

Saul Steinberg's famous New Yorker cover portraying how Manhattanites view the rest of the world came to mind when I read Robin Pogrebin's NY Times article about the Metropolitan Museum's tentative (to my mind, wrongheaded) proposal to discriminate against out-of-towners in charging admission fees. Especially at a time when our President is fueling his supporters' … [Read more...] about Out-of-Towner Downer: Metropolitan Museum Considers a Xenophobic Admission Policy

William Griswold has no interest in leaving the directorship of the Cleveland Museum for Art (CMA) any time soon...not even for the top spot at the beleaguered Metropolitan Museum (for which I had presumptuously nominated him). That's what he averred towards the end of our extended conversation over oatmeal at the New York hotel where he was staying recently, from which he … [Read more...] about “Moral Obligation”: My Chat with Cleveland Museum of Art’s William Griswold (plus Benjamin & Rub)

"Barratt's Back," I announced in the erroneous headline of a recent post. It seems that she never left. At least that's what Metropolitan Museum President Daniel Weiss told me at Thursday's press preview for the Met's latest Roof Garden commission---Adrián Villar Rojas' The Theater of Disappearance (to Oct. 29). "Theater of the Absurd" might be a more apt title for this … [Read more...] about Amidst Villar Rojas’ Chaotic Ruins on Met’s Roof Garden, Dan Weiss Sets Me Straight (with video)

Art historian and gallerist Francis Naumann responds to Plumbing Duchamp’s Urinal: How Erudite Art Historians Piss on Simplicity: As you can well imagine, I took considerable offense in your remarks, as you go on to identify me as the erudite art historian who has pissed on simplicity. To begin with, you call me a gallerist, which I am right now, but which I was not when this … [Read more...] about Blogback: Francis Naumann on Duchamp’s Remakes of the “Fountain” Readymade

When pondering the meaning of enigmatic artworks, critics and scholars often mix factual knowledge with leaps of interpretive imagination, conveyed through highfalutin verbiage. Thus it was when Francis Naumann, art historian and gallerist, expounded on the significance of Duchamp's commissioned knockoffs of his own game-changing 1917 "Fountain"---the unpretentious object … [Read more...] about Plumbing Duchamp’s Urinal: How Erudite Art Historians Piss on Simplicity

Last July, it was reported that the Metropolitan Museum's deputy director for collections and administration, Carrie Rebora Barratt, was one of those who had taken a voluntary buyout at the Met. Now, it appears, she's back: She was quoted in today's Met press release about the gift 91 works of Native American art from the collection of Charles and Valerie Diker. UPDATE: Met … [Read more...] about Barratt’s Back: A Harbinger of the Met’s Administrative Readjustments? UPDATED

With the intense interest generated by Robin Pogrebin's shocking front-page revelations in yesterday's NY Times about the Metropolitan Museum's governance lapses, it's likely that pundits will pile on with commentaries fueled more by indignation and sensationalism than by the deep knowledge of the Met's policies, practices and personnel that informs Pogrebin's latest … [Read more...] about Unfair at “Vanity Fair”: William Cohan Muddies the Met Mess

Two weeks ago, I had suggested that the increasing barrage of negative assessments of Tom Campbell's leadership at the Metropolitan Museum might lead him to "decide jointly with the board that it could be best to end his tenure sooner than scheduled" (at the end of June), rather than to prolong "a lame-duck directorship." Now, having read Robin Pogrebin's jaw-dropping NY … [Read more...] about “Inappropriate Relationship”: Tom Campbell Must Go; Metropolitan Museum’s Board Must Reform