Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

The Association of Art Museum Directors hasn't released many substantive details about topics and possible actions being considered at its midwinter meeting, which began Saturday and ends tomorrow. While those of us in the Northeast are bracing for a blizzard, the directors, with a talent for being in the right place at the right time, are gathered in balmy Mexico City, where … [Read more...] about AAMD’s Midwinter Meeting: Cultural Property, “Public Trust”

It's about time that architect Steven Holl got another shot at a major art museum in the U.S., given the nearly universal acclaim that greeted his 2007 addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City. Judging from his preliminary renderings (presented an NYC press lunch last week) for a suavely handsome, 164,000 square-foot-building for 20th- and 21st-century art---just … [Read more...] about “Translucent Complementary Contrast”: Steven Holl’s Alluring Expansion of MFA, Houston (with video)

After I published Kevin Murphy's candid appraisals (here and here) of his frustrating stint as American art curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, I invited the museum to respond. I received no reply. But Sara Burningham of KUAF, the Fayetteville, AR, public radio station, did get the museum's reaction, as part of her "Ozarks at Large" segment … [Read more...] about KUAF Public Radio Gets Crystal Bridges Officials’ Response to Kevin Murphy’s CultureGrrl Lament

George Washington University's media relations office today announced this new development related to the controversial GWU-Corcoran-National Gallery deal that I just posted about: TTR Sotheby’s International Realty announced that it will serve as the exclusive listing agent for the former Corcoran College’s Fillmore building, which the George Washington University plans to … [Read more...] about George Washington University Offers Corcoran’s Fillmore Building for $14 Million (plus: preservationists’ challenge) CORRECTED

Peggy McGlone in her Washington Post report last week, ominously suggested that there's some sinister plot afoot regarding the collection of the defunct Corcoran Gallery of Art: The works are "being divvied up under a cloak of secrecy," she warned. But it's unreasonable to expect the National Gallery of Art, the new custodian of the Corcoran's collection (as approved by … [Read more...] about Corcoran Collection Under Wraps: Long Wait Until “Legacy Gallery” Opens

In 2006, I complained that the “State of North America’s Art Museums” survey, which the Association of Art Museum Directors released annually from 2002 to 2011, was "frustratingly incomplete." Fast-forward to Art Museums by the Numbers, a six-page infographic released by AAMD last week, which makes earlier AAMD surveys seem like a mathematical PhD theses. (You can see the … [Read more...] about Statistical Shenanigans: AAMD Plays the Numbers on Admission Fees (so does Indianapolis Museum)

It was an open secret that the most heroic, steadfast and principled art museum director I've ever met, the Detroit Institute of Arts' Graham W.J. Beal, was likely to retire when his contract expired June 30. He will have stayed the often difficult but rewarding course for almost 16 years. Clearly Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press knew Beal was soon to leave: Like … [Read more...] about News Flash: Graham W.J. Beal, Detroit Institute of Arts’ Director, To Retire (“Quite a Ride”)

The Barnes Foundation has just announced that Thomas ("Thom") Collins will be its next executive director and president, succeeding Derek Gillman, who left the building a full year ago. Collins will take the helm in mid-March. A Philadelphia native, Collins has been director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (formerly Miami Art Museum) for the last five years. As detailed in … [Read more...] about News Flash: Thom Collins Named to Head the Barnes Foundation

In my original post on John Elderfield's new Princeton University appointment, I stated that "the conflict-of-interest potential" inherent in simultaneously working as a museum curator at Princeton and as a commercial gallery consultant for Gagosian "seems obvious." Apparently, though, it isn't obvious to Elderfield or to James Steward, director of the Princeton University … [Read more...] about Museum-Commercial Gallery-Museum: John Elderfield’s Head-Spinning Revolving Door

With the unannounced departure at the end of 2014 of Eleanor Goldhar, who followed Betsy Ennis down the ramp, the Guggenheim has lost two top-ranking communications veterans in rapid succession. Whether this is symptomatic of a broader institutional malaise or merely an unfortunate coincidence may become clearer if other key players leave the building. The Guggenheim's … [Read more...] about Communications Gap? Exodus of Guggenheim’s Top PR Officials

John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, who on Feb. 1 will become distinguished curator and lecturer at the Princeton University Art Museum, responds to Fielding Elderfield: Will Princeton’s Catch Remain Gagosian’s Designated Hitter?. The following is my response to your email of Dec. 26, which arrived while I was away … [Read more...] about “Strict Separation,” “Transparency”: My Q&A with John Elderfield on Princeton/Gagosian Loyalties

I admit it: For me, 2014 was all about that little guy in the center of the photo (his parents---my son and daughter-in-law---are on the left; my daughter and son-in-law, on right). In fact, I'll be headed his way as soon as I finish this post, to find out how many new words and new tricks he's acquired during his California vacation. This year's professional landmark, for … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2014 Edition

UPDATE: Elderfield's response is here. Can you be a museum curator and a commercial-gallery consultant at the same time? The conflict-of-interest potential seems obvious, but possibly not to the Princeton University Art Museum and John Elderfield. They recently announced that the chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, who now organizes … [Read more...] about Fielding Elderfield: Will Princeton’s Catch Remain Gagosian’s Designated Hitter? UPDATED

In some ways, the new Cooper Hewitt, which reopened on Dec. 12 after a three-year renovation, reconfiguration and technological revolution, is still a work in progress. The most obvious unfinished business in this $91-million (including $10 million for endowment) undertaking is the much hyped introduction of the Interactive Pen, which is currently on display as an Inactive Pen … [Read more...] about Souped-Up Cooper Hewitt, Part II: Touchstones Amid the Touchscreens (An Irreverent Photo Essay)

I recently got tapped by Apollo magazine to tackle the topic listed on the lower-right corner of the January cover (above): "The trouble with museum franchises." Little did I know how timely this would turn out to be, thanks to the just released 2014 independent monitor report on employment practices at projects (including the Louvre Abu Dhabi) on Saadiyat Island, where the … [Read more...] about My Apollo Magazine Debate on Satellite Museums; Plus: Latest Abu Dhabi Workers’ Rights Report