More on this here. Hyperbole is always the order of the day when the auction houses unveil their wares at their press previews for the big evening sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art. But the back-to-back presentations by the Big Two auction houses on Friday ("Taxi!") were even more boastful than usual. In my CultureGrrl Video, below, you'll hear the experts … [Read more...] about “Masterpiece” Theater: Sotheby’s & Christie’s Tout Megabucks Wares at Auction Previews (with video)
Auction High-Wire Act Without a Net: Sotheby’s Daredevil Taubman Guarantee
More on this here and here. This is a watershed moment for Sotheby's and its new CEO, Tad Smith. When I heard the astonishing news in September that Sotheby's had provided the Taubman Collection's consignors with a guarantee of approximately $500 million for some 500 works, ancient-to-contemporary, I assumed that the auction house would make strenuous efforts to offload … [Read more...] about Auction High-Wire Act Without a Net: Sotheby’s Daredevil Taubman Guarantee
Walid Raad’s Blurred Lines at MoMA: Does Truth Matter?
The Museum of Modern Art's bewildering Walid Raad exhibition (to Jan. 31) "investigates distinctions between fact and fiction," according to its press release. In truth, it blurs those distinctions in a ways that sometimes feel more like heavy-handed propaganda than subtle artistry or clever parody. Raad intentionally distorts political and economic relationships through lens … [Read more...] about Walid Raad’s Blurred Lines at MoMA: Does Truth Matter?
Suffering Suffragettes: Save Tenafly’s Feminist Landmark (aka Charlie Brown’s)!
I ate at Charlie Brown’s while it was there for 25 years, and I never felt a connection with Elizabeth Cady Stanton while eating there. So said Mayor Peter Rustin of Tenafly, NJ, whom I knew quite well during the 21 years that I lived in this town. Pete's statement applies to me too: I had no clue about the historic significance of this meat-and-potatoes place, site of many … [Read more...] about Suffering Suffragettes: Save Tenafly’s Feminist Landmark (aka Charlie Brown’s)!
BlogBack: Curator Jonathan Stuhlman on the Met-to-Sotheby’s “Danae”
As suggested in the BlogBack below, a few CultureGrrl readers and tweeters have interpreted my previous post---“Danaë” Downpour: Metropolitan Museum & Yale University Shower Dealer Richard Feigen With Gold---as criticizing the Metropolitan Museum's curators for their high praise of a privately owned work displayed in their galleries that has now been dispatched to Sotheby's … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Curator Jonathan Stuhlman on the Met-to-Sotheby’s “Danae”
“Danaë” Downpour: Metropolitan Museum & Yale University Shower Dealer Richard Feigen With Gold
More on this here. Dealer Richard Feigen has once again used the imprimatur of the Metropolitan Museum to add luster to a work transferred from the Met's galleries to an auction house's premises. It now appears that Danaë's golden sojourn at the Met was an extended presale exhibition. When it opened its expanded and revamped European paintings galleries in 2013, the Met … [Read more...] about “Danaë” Downpour: Metropolitan Museum & Yale University Shower Dealer Richard Feigen With Gold
More on Carmine Branagan’s Departure from the National Academy
You have reached the office of Carmine Branagan, director of the National Academy Museum and School. So said the voicemail message when I called Branagan's office about an hour ago. But a highly reliable informed source today unequivocally informed me: "She's gone." Based on previous tips I received, I broke the story on Oct. 4 about the shakeup rumor, which I believed … [Read more...] about More on Carmine Branagan’s Departure from the National Academy
Worth 1,000 Words: An Illustrated Companion to My WSJ Review of the Wadsworth Atheneum
At the Wadsworth Atheneum, an Old Building Gets New Life---my article in today's Wall Street Journal on the gloriously transformed Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford---paints many verbal pictures of what I enjoyed during my visit. But "verbal" is often a poor substitute for "visual." To help you see what I saw, here's my illustrated tour of what I described in the WSJ (and a bit … [Read more...] about Worth 1,000 Words: An Illustrated Companion to My WSJ Review of the Wadsworth Atheneum
“Overwhelmed by Art”: My WSJ Article on Wadsworth Atheneum’s Dazzling Transformation
More on this here. Can the Wadsworth Atheneum regain its former reputation as a midsized museum with outsized importance? My article for tomorrow's Wall Street Journal (online now)---At the Wadsworth Atheneum, an Old Building Gets New Life---details the sweeping physical and conceptual transformation that could help it return to its former glory, when legendary director A. … [Read more...] about “Overwhelmed by Art”: My WSJ Article on Wadsworth Atheneum’s Dazzling Transformation
Blank Space: What’s Missing from the Metropolitan Museum’s “Ancient Egypt” Show? (with video)
The Metropolitan Museum's grand Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom (Oct. 12-Jan. 24) displays some 230 objects, ranging from monumental stone sculptures to delicate jewelry---"the first comprehensive exhibition to be presented of Middle Kingdom art," in the words of Met director Tom Campbell. Thanks in large measure to the museum's own excavations, about one-third … [Read more...] about Blank Space: What’s Missing from the Metropolitan Museum’s “Ancient Egypt” Show? (with video)
ISIS Crisis: AAMD’s Risky “Safe Haven” Initiative for Endangered Archaeological Material
Understandably distressed by the inability of the international cultural community to prevent the continued decimation of world heritage by ISIS, members of Association of Art Museum Directors could be putting their own institutions at risk by implementing their newly issued Protocols for Safe Havens for Works of Cultural Significance from Countries in Crisis. Intended to … [Read more...] about ISIS Crisis: AAMD’s Risky “Safe Haven” Initiative for Endangered Archaeological Material
National Academy Update (plus: details on its shaky financials)
The "update" is that there is no update. On Saturday, I was told by architect Bruce Fowle, president of the National Academy, that a press release would be issued on Sunday or Monday, “clarifying her [director Carmine Branagan’s] status at the Academy.” On Monday (yesterday), I was told by the Dewey Blanton, the Academy's director of communications and public … [Read more...] about National Academy Update (plus: details on its shaky financials)
More Perfect Union (than with Corcoran): University of Maryland & Phillips Collection Tie the Knot
It seems that Wallace Loh, president of the University of Maryland (UMD), never got over his desire to form a far-reaching partnership with a Washington, D.C., art museum. Change the partner from the (now dismantled) Corcoran Gallery to the thriving Phillips Collection, and you've got wedded bliss: The Phillips and UMD today jointly announced a new agreement for sharing … [Read more...] about More Perfect Union (than with Corcoran): University of Maryland & Phillips Collection Tie the Knot
Shakeup Rumored at the National Academy
Because of my past coverage, I've become an unofficial clearinghouse for rumors about trouble at the National Academy. Some haven't checked out and I've not published them. But I believe that the rumors I started hearing yesterday regarding an impending change of status of the Academy's director, Carmine Branagan, are likely to stick. One tipster (who gave me his name … [Read more...] about Shakeup Rumored at the National Academy
My Twitter Chain: Museum-Tech Tweeters Pummel Me, Re: My WSJ Article & Blog Posts
The museum digerati have struck back. Below is my compilation of the Twitter storm that erupted yesterday around my Wall Street Journal story and related blog posts about museums' use of technology in their galleries. I became the subject of a social-media feeding frenzy, in which I was transformed into a straw man (stick-in-the-mud adversary of tech-related experimentation, … [Read more...] about My Twitter Chain: Museum-Tech Tweeters Pummel Me, Re: My WSJ Article & Blog Posts