Blog

In Cleveland – Here’s The Rub

Timothy Rub is taking over as director of the Cleveland Art Museum. “In person, Rub is an imposing figure. Tall and trim, with blue eyes and a full head of sandy hair, he looks like a museum director from central casting. But he’s not stiff or formal. Moments after greeting a visitor recently at the Cincinnati museum, he scooped a clump of dust off the museum floor and swept it into the pocket of his well-cut navy suit. Most striking, however, is Rub’s manner. His speaks in a calm, deliberate way and answers questions in full paragraphs, not sound bites.”

Faking Russia

Someone is flooding the Russian art market with fakes. “Fueled by the country’s burgeoning wealth and the desire for prestigious assets with patriotic cachet, Russia’s upper class has driven the market for Russian art to unprecedented heights. The frenzy has also attracted some very skilled and knowledgeable crooks.”

African American History On The Mall

A decision about where a new museum in DC celebrating African-American history is to be made this week. “The country has always been reluctant to come to grips with the slave part of its history. Washington, more than any other city, has that contradiction. People look at the South with the cotton plantations and sugar plantations and say, yes, slavery. But the idea of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as slaveholders is a much more difficult idea. You don’t sit in Lafayette Square and think about the slave auction block.”

Where Did All The Stars Go?

“Who killed the movie stars? Conversations with dozens of Hollywood insiders result in a forest of pointed fingers. Certainly, the entertainment media are blamed for their obsession with tearing down talent as fast as it blooms, but so is the death of the midlevel movie, the dismantling of the studio system, competition from television and the Internet, the enormous paydays with their just as enormous expectations, not to mention the sometimes questionable behavior and talent of the young stars themselves.”

LA County Museum Plan Tests Architect’s Reputation

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop is the firm you hire when what you need from your architect is clarity, craftsmanship and refinement. But the latest version of the architect’s scheme for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art suggests that in this case, the combination of a tight budget and an ill-matched collection of existing buildings is severely testing those skills.”

The Pixar Deal – A Steep Price For Talent

Just what is Disney getting for its $7.7 billion purchase of Pixar? “Disney executives are assuming that Disney will get back $1 billion from Pixar’s cash and investment portfolio and recoup another $700 million from what Pixar will earn from its share in the past coproductions and from future video, pay-TV, and television sales. If so, the net cost of acquiring John Lasseter’s talents—and employment contract—will be just over $6 billion. The deal memo in fact specifies that Disney can pull out of the acquisition if Lasseter does not agree to provide his services.”

What Did Frey’s Publisher Know And When Did She Know It?

“Nan Talese was in no position to call Frey’s book ‘brutally honest’ in 2004 because that was after her conversation with the Star Tribune [which published a piece questioning the book’s accuracy]. But she didn’t tell Oprah that. Nor did she say she had no idea in 2004 that there were problems with the book, which would be an outright lie. Instead, Talese said, ‘[T]his whole experience is very sad’ and observed that you can’t ‘get inside another person’s mind.’ This last is an especially preposterous non sequitur because by 2004 you didn’t need to ‘get inside’ Frey’s mind to find out that his memoir wasn’t factual.”