Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

Most of what I've seen so far regarding today's naming of Stephanie Stebich, director since 2005 of the Tacoma Art Museum, to become the next director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), has left unmentioned her most notable (and laudable) past Smithsonian connection: In 2012, her Tacoma (WA) Art Museum proudly hosted the controversial HIDE/SEEK: Difference and … [Read more...] about “Hide/Seek” Champion Stephanie Stebich Named Director of Smithsonian American Art Museum

With President Trump's transition team's having reportedly recommended elimination of federal funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (as well as for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting), a petition opposing possible NEA and NEH cuts has appeared on the White House's website, on the We the People webpage for citizens' petitions. At this writing, … [Read more...] about Never-Ending Battle: Mobilizing (once again) to Save the National Endowments for the Arts & Humanities

I opened up a can of worms at the Museum of Modern Art's press breakfast yesterday, when I asked the first question after the director's and curators' presentation about upcoming exhibitions: Many museums are wrestling with the problem of how to or whether to deal with the current political situation. Is MoMA addressing this in any way and, if so, how? Most of the … [Read more...] about Stumped by Trump: MoMA’s Lowry Walks “Fine Line” Between “Asserting Values” & Being Partisan

UPDATE, 7/18: Phoenix is back in the news with a libel suit against Dow Jones over this Wall Street Journal article. Regarding the gallery's January suit, described below, Ron Hartwig, the Getty Trust’s vice president for communications, today informed me: "We have moved to dismiss all of the tort claims and we are prepared to litigate any remaining issues should that be … [Read more...] about “Baseless Claims”: Getty Blasts Phoenix Ancient Art for Megamillion Lawsuit Over Torlonia Collection

When I read the art-related passages in the New Yorker's Total Return: When the feds went after a hedge-fund legend (aka Steve Cohen, the mega-collector ), all I could think of was: Where are the magazine's fact-checkers when it really needs them? Sheelah Kolhatkar, a former hedge fund analyst and current staff writer at the magazine, will publish a book next month enlarging … [Read more...] about Art Errors: Steve Cohen Evades Not Only the Feds, But Also the New Yorker’s Fact-Checkers

If you're down in the dumps about Trump, or just coping with some post-holiday blues, I'm making an effort this month to perk you up with something atypical of the hypercritical CultureGrrl---good news. I'll start by my eating some of my critical words while extolling plans for the Getty Villa's long-overdue sweeping reinstallation of its antiquities collection at the Getty … [Read more...] about Good News for the New Year: Reinstallation of the Getty Villa

Adam Weinberg went all Meryl Streep on us tonight. Like the impassioned actress speaking at the Golden Globes award ceremony last night, Weinberg never mentioned the President-elect by name earlier this evening, when he feelingly addressed the press at a cocktail reception at the museum. But neither speaker left any doubt that Trump was their subject. Weinberg's … [Read more...] about “Staying Strong” to Get Over the Trump Hump: Whitney Director Adam Weinberg Makes His Stand

In my Friday post about the St. Louis Art Museum's (SLAM's) controversial plan to lend Bingham's “The Verdict of the People,” 1854–55, to grace the Jan. 20 Presidential Inauguration Luncheon, I questioned the appropriateness of a museum's allowing one of its treasures to leave the building not for scholarly and/or public purposes, but as decor for a private event. As it … [Read more...] about St. Louis Blues: A Bingham for Trump’s Inaugural Lunch Could Have Come from the White House

Let's be blunt: Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri understandably turned to his home state's museum when, as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, he set out to find an appropriate American painting to grace the Jan. 20 Presidential Inauguration Luncheon. Who could slam SLAM (the St. Louis Art Museum) for obliging its Senator with this? As … [Read more...] about St. Louis Blues: Art Museum Unfairly Slammed As a Trump Chump

As chance would have it, I was on the premises of the Metropolitan Museum today when it issued its press release about regime change in Communications, the department with which I have the most contact. Kenneth Weine, an attorney, will soon become the Met's chief communications officer, with responsibility for media relations, as well as marketing, audience research, tourism, … [Read more...] about Weine & Weiss (aka Ken & Dan): Alliterative Communications Partners at Metropolitan Museum

In my 2015 yearly round-up post, I crowed about a high point of my CultureGrrl career—the munificent Art Writers Grant awarded to my blog by Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation. In keeping with the general gloom surrounding 2016, I'll introduce this year's round-up by confessing a low point: The likely end to my freelance gig with the Wall Street Journal, where I've been a … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2016 Edition

Rod is no clod. In one of the most engaging (but also slightly troubling) emailed holiday greetings I've seen this season, Bigelow, executive director and chief diversity and inclusion officer (a mouthful) of the Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, gracefully trips the light fantastic through the otherwise visitor-free galleries. His footwork is pegged to the museum's current … [Read more...] about “Happy Holidays”: Nimble Bigelow Dances Through Crystal Bridges Museum

John Ravenal, curator of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (and now executive director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA), set himself two prerequisites for undertaking the scholarly yet easy-to-love show---Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life (to Feb. 20)---that I reviewed for the online version of today's Wall Street … [Read more...] about “Meditations on Mortality”: Illustrated Companion to My WSJ Review of Jasper Johns/Edvard Munch at VMFA

Decades ago, before Christie's introduced the buyer's premium to New York, auction houses in the U.S. were clear on who they represented: Their client was the seller. Today's murky waters just got murkier with Sotheby's jaw-dropping announcement yesterday that it hopes to "provide planning services and manage projects for artists, artist estates and foundations." This … [Read more...] about Mission Mishmash: Divided Loyalties in Sotheby’s Plan to Advise Artists, Their Estates & Foundations

One thing I know about Brett Gorvy, Christie's departing chairman of Post-War and Contemporary art, is that he's very smart---probably the savviest auction-house specialist I've ever encountered. So it's almost impossible not to interpret his decision to change course after 23 years, leaving the frenzied auction world for the sedate sanctum of an old-school gallery, as … [Read more...] about Brett’s Bet: What Gorvy’s Sudden Exit from Christie’s May Mean for the Art Market