Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

It's not quite cold and snowy enough here in New Jersey, so I think I'll go on a workation to Cleveland, where the temperature tomorrow night is predicted by the National Weather Service to -11 °F (not counting the wind chill). Here it will be a toasty 0 °F. (Where's global warming when we really need it?) I'll get to catch up with my old friend Bill Griswold, now ensconced … [Read more...] about Cleaving to Cleveland: Where I’ll Be on My Winter Workation

I have nothing but admiration for Leonard Lauder's accomplishments as a collector and his beneficence as a museum patron---especially at the Whitney Museum and now at the Metropolitan Museum and Boston Museum of Fine Arts (not to mention our mutual alma mater, the Bronx High School of Science). But I did wonder about Carol Vogel's claim in her April 2013 front-page NY Times … [Read more...] about Cubist Accumulation: How “Unrestricted” Are Leonard Lauder’s Metropolitan Museum Gifts?

Chris Crosman, Crystal Bridges Museum's founding chief curator, took up my challenge to my readers to "share your views" on the secrecy surrounding the rollout of news on the museum's stellar new acquisitions. Here's what Crosman fired off in the "comments" section below the museum's bungled blog post yesterday, in which it attempted to explain its misconceived policy on … [Read more...] about “CultureGrrl is Right”: Crosman, Founding Chief Curator, Posts Comment on Crystal Bridges’ Website

Two days ago, I asked Crystal Bridges Museum for an explanation as to why it hadn't announced its recent highly important new acquisitions, which it purchased at public auction. Late this afternoon, the answer arrived in the form of an emailed link to a new post on the museum's blog---Announcing New Acquisitions: Process & Recent Highlights, written by Diane Carroll, its … [Read more...] about Mauling Malaro: Crystal Bridges on Its Reasons for Keeping Its Acquisitions Secret

They never actually used the "A" word. But the College Art Association (meeting this week in New York) has just issued some needed guidance for appropriation artists who fear running afoul of copyright laws. CAA's 22-page Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in the Visual Arts, available free online, may help stem the tide of lawsuits targeting artistic appropriation, by … [Read more...] about College Art Association’s Guidelines for Appropriation Art

More on this here. Artnet was quick to pick up on my Crystal Bridges acquisitions story today, but missed an obvious follow-up about Alice Walton's November shopping spree, which was hiding in plain sight on its own website. It took Arkansas Times journalist Leslie Newell Peacock (whose company I enjoyed during my visit to the then in-construction Crystal Bridges Museum), … [Read more...] about Arkansas Times Detective Work: Four More Likely Crystal Bridges Acquisitions at Sotheby’s

More on this here and here. Contrary to standard museum practice, Crystal Bridges Museum has yet to announce two highly important purchases that occurred almost three months ago---a Georgia O'Keeffe and a Jasper Johns, acquired for a total of $80.4 million at separate Sotheby's auctions in November. In my earler post about a radio interview last month with Rod … [Read more...] about $80.4-Million Question: Why Hasn’t Crystal Bridges Disclosed Purchase of Major Works by O’Keeffe & Johns?

After suffering an exodus of its top officials, Crystal Bridges has taken an major step towards rebuilding its ranks with today's announcement that Margaret (Margi) Conrads will become the Bentonville museum's director of curatorial affairs, effective next month. Margi had impressed me with her knowledge and skill in 2009, when she gave me a tour of the new installation she … [Read more...] about Crystal Bridges’ Great Catch: Margaret Conrads Named Director of Curatorial Affairs

In a tribute to the late Walter Liedtke , posted Thursday evening (judging from when people started to link from it to my blog), Tom Campbell, the Metropolitan Museum's director, said the news that the museum's eminent, long-time curator of European paintings had died Tuesday (not Monday, as Campbell had written) in a Metro-North train crash "sent shock waves through the … [Read more...] about “Deep, Strong Opinions”: Met Director Tom Campbell’s Remembrances of Curator Walter Liedtke

More on this here. I've attended hundreds of museum press previews over the past four decades, but the ones I relished most were those where Walter Liedtke was our erudite, entertainingly witty host. The Metropolitan Museum's great European paintings curator, 69, a renowned expert in Dutch and Flemish painting and decipherer of all the period references and cultural … [Read more...] about Walter Liedtke, Consummate Curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting, Dies in a Train Crash (with my late video at the Met)

My previously stated conviction that the Metropolitan Museum didn't get what it bargained for in its silver swap with Sicily was reaffirmed yesterday, when I again saw in the Met's Hellenistic galleries the pieces it had relinquished five years ago as part of a broader 2006 agreement with Italy: All photos by Lee Rosenbaum In accordance with the Met's agreement to … [Read more...] about Happy Returns: Relinquished Hellenistic Silver Back on Display at Metropolitan Museum

"Where's Kimmelman?" I had asked the end of one of my many posts (beginning with this one) about the need to save Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph's endangered Orange County Government Center, Goshen, NY. Almost three years later, the NY Times' architecture critic, seemingly more intent upon writing about urban planning issues than architectural achievements, has at last turned … [Read more...] about Goshen Commotion: Kimmelman’s Belated, Muddled Plea to Save Architect Paul Rudolph’s Masterpiece (with video)

In yet another sign that Holland Cotter may have been right to debunk "the one-personality blog of yore," Andrew Sullivan, the widely read and respected creator of The Dish, wrote today that he has "decided to stop blogging in the near future." Sullivan has posted almost daily for 15 years, leaving his host publication, the Daily Beast, in 2013 to set out on his … [Read more...] about “The Dish” to Fold: Andrew Sullivan’s Blogger Burnout

Sometimes wrongly, but sometimes rightly, Glenn Lowry has a major public-trust problem. That's why I did a double take when I saw he was one of the panelists for the “Conversation on the Public Trust" at the Association of Art Museum Director's midwinter meeting in Mexico City (ending today). I did another double take yesterday, when I followed AAMD's live-tweets from … [Read more...] about Glenn Lowry as AAMD’s Improbable Expert on “Public Trust”

In the midst of a flurry of publicity about how the Big Two auction houses are self-sabotaging their profitability through cutthroat competition to win top consignments, Sotheby's today announced an attempt to bolster its profits---yet another hike in the fee it charges to buyers. If things go true to form, Christie's will soon follow the leader. Here are Sotheby's new … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Raises Its Buyer’s Premium. How Much Is Too Much?