Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

"In the end, I’d say that I’d hope I had been chosen for what I had between my two ears and not because of what I don’t have between my two legs," Nathalie Bondil, director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, said in a wide-ranging conversation with me in New York last Thursday, the day after the Association of Art Museum Directors released its report on The Gender Gap in Art … [Read more...] about Bonding with Bondil: Montreal MFA’s Head on Succeeding as a (Female) Museum Director

The Whitney Museum has now composed what is, to my mind, the most succinct, sagacious response to the firestorm of castigation, pontification and rationalization swirling around Dana Schutz's powerful "Open Casket" at the Whitney Biennial. Here's the statement sent to me this morning from the Biennial's co-curators, Mia Locks and Christopher Lew, in response to my … [Read more...] about “Emet” & Emmett: Why Truth-Telling (like Schutz’s) about Till’s Murder Should Be Ecumenical UPDATED

In a departure from usual protocol, Daniel Weiss, the Metropolitan Museum's president, handed Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal a detailed scoop (published online this afternoon) about his revised plans for the museum's capital projects, which entail the sequential replacement of skylights in the European galleries, renovation of the British galleries and musical instrument … [Read more...] about Dan’s Plans: Weiss Rethinks the Metropolitan Museum’s Capital Projects UPDATED

In the problematic tradition of kick-'em-while-they're-down, the NY Post and Vanity Fair magazine have opted for tabloid sensationalism with headlines about the Metropolitan Museum's financial predicament that are more click-worthy than praiseworthy. Money-Losing Met Hands Execs Hefty Raises is the title for Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein's Post piece. They reported last … [Read more...] about The Met Mess: Two Toxic Articles Make Bad Situation Worse

Late yesterday we learned that President Trump's proposed budget, released today, would do what we had feared: eliminate funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which, while minuscule in relation to the total federal budget, has been the lifeblood of large and small museums and arts groups across the country. On page 5 of America First: A Budget … [Read more...] about Bludgeoned Budget: Reaction & Resistance to Trump’s Proposed Zeroing of NEA, NEH, IMLS, CPB

More on this here. How politically provocative can or should a nonprofit cultural institution allow itself to be in contentious times? With its 2017 Biennial (Mar. 17-June 11), the Whitney Museum is navigating those choppy waters. Some museums have been notably circumspect in their polite pushback against Trumpism. After all, they need to seem welcoming to all … [Read more...] about The “Resistance” Biennial: The Whitney Museum Gets Tough UPDATED

In December 2008, anticipating the imminent eminence of Thomas Campbell as new head of the country's premier art museum, I presumptuously posted a to-do list for the director-designate. The Met, I then felt, needed to be less insular, more outward-looking and more creative in conceiving exhibitions, notwithstanding the undeniably monumental achievements under Philippe de … [Read more...] about Ten Suggestions for Tom Campbell’s Successor at the Met

I got an early jump on the culture pundits who are rushing to analyze Tom Campbell's planned departure from the directorship of the Metropolitan Museum. Commentary is now pouring in from people whose strong opinions are not always founded on a complete grasp of the facts. Holland Cotter's prescription for curing the ailing Metropolitan Museum bore an uncanny resemblance to … [Read more...] about More on Met Directorship: My Takes on Puzzling Punditry by Cotter, Gibson, Dobrzynski, Oliver

More on this here and here. Ever since he was named to the Metropolitan Museum's directorship, I've had serious qualms about whether Tom Campbell embodied The Peter Principle---the notion that talented employees eventually rise to a level beyond their competence. Robin Pogrebin today reported on the NY Times' website that Campbell is on his way out from the Met after 22 … [Read more...] about Who Should Lead the Met? Tom Campbell Decamps UPDATED

"I feel good," Tad Smith repeatedly declared during Sotheby's earnings call with securities analysts this morning. Buoyed by New Year's hopes for better performance in 2017 after a lackluster 2016, Sotheby's president and CEO enumerated the ways in which his firm had upped its game---the addition of an advisory service for artists and their estates to Art Agency, Partners … [Read more...] about Burying the Bad News: Sotheby’s Earnings Call Ignores 30% Drop in 2016 Adjusted Net Income

Arts and humanities constituents rose to the challenge of meeting Monday's deadline to gather more that 100,000 signatures on a petition to the White House calling for the federal government "to support the arts by not defunding" the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. All 107,779 of us (at this writing, and still counting) can now pat ourselves on the back and … [Read more...] about The “Leveraging Effect”: Why Small Grants from the Endangered NEA & NEH Matter

One of the two major museum stories that broke while I was doting early this month on my newborn CultureGrandson (a Silicon Valley native) involved the Museum of Modern Art's decision to respond to the Trump travel ban (now in abeyance) by interpolating seven works in its fifth-floor permanent-collection galleries and one in its Garden Lobby, "to affirm the ideals of welcome … [Read more...] about Salves for Trump Bumps: Getty’s Direct Salvo vs. MoMA’s Discreet Indirection

Robin Pogrebin's damning NY Times report about the "tensions" and "challenged morale" among staffers at the Metropolitan Museum has emboldened me to say what I've been thinking for a long time about Tom Campbell's stewardship: Sadly, the misgivings that I expressed more than eight years ago, when the respected tapestry curator was named to succeed the revered Philippe de … [Read more...] about Buck Stops with the CEO: Holding Tom Campbell Accountable for The Met Mess (with podcasts, video)

More on this here. Catching up on museum news after five days in California, blissfully cuddling my precociously two-weeks-early new grandson (CultureDaughter's first child), I did a double-take at the online headline for Robin Pogrebin's Page One piece in Sunday's NY Times: Is the Met Museum "a Great Institution in Decline"? The print headline was only slightly less ominous … [Read more...] about The Met Mess in the NY Times: Are Tom Campbell’s Director Days Numbered?

Widespread reports that President Trump has decided to ax the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities may (or may not) be premature. The only hard information on this that I've seen is Alexander Bolton's report in The Hill, a week ago, that the Trump transition team had proposed eliminating the NEA and NEH and privatizing the Corporation for Public … [Read more...] about Cause for Cautious Optimism? NEA’s Statement on Continued Federal Funding