Attention Sarah Palin fans (and hataz)!!!!
I am not the magazine writer Michael Joseph Gross so please don’t send me love or hate letters for him. Speaking of which, attention Fox News fans: Neither am I the lawyer Michael Gross who sometimes appears on Fox News, so please don’t send me mail meant for him, either. Oh, and guys? You’ve got mail (but I’ve deleted it).
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 | Permalink
Reading List
D Magazine in Dallas reports that Roger Horchow of the Horchow catalogs has very good taste in books.
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 | Permalink
Splitsville, Styles-style
Styles of the Times has just posted a piece on the Peter Brant-Stephanie Seymour divorce that is, alas typically, a day late and a dollar short. Anyone seeking more telling background on this fiercely ambitious and oddly-well-matched pair may want to dip into Model, where the compelling Mr. Brant’s criminal record (which goes unmentioned in the Times), and the stunning Ms. Seymour’s riveting sexual past with the likes of John Casablancas (it gets a sentence), Axl Rose (two sentences!) and Warren Beatty (also unmentioned) are given a full airing. A small taste, describing a 1992 fight between Rose and Seymour: “Seymour swung at him with a chair and punched him in the crotch. Stephanie, said the singer’s sister, ‘wants to push thing to the edge.’” She met her match in Peter Brant.
Posted on August 21st, 2010 | Permalink
Rogues’ Gallery a #1 Bestseller
Just back from a long trip to faraway places and with internet access restored noticed that not only is Rogues’ Gallery the #4 bestselling paperback non-fiction book at Bookhampton this week, it is the #1 bestseller that is not about the Hamptons. So thanks again, discerning East End readers. “Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost.” –Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959
Posted on August 19th, 2010 | Permalink
We are #4!
Rogues’ Gallery is #4 on the Bookhampton non-fiction bestseller list this week. Thanks Bookhampton and all you East End readers!
Posted on August 12th, 2010 | Permalink
It’s good to be the director
Gripebox first revealed Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell’s $4 million Fifth Avenue apartment–and some of the peculiarities of his living arrangements–here back in March. That’s not it above, but the floorplan shows the same apartment one floor above Campbell’s. Today’s New York Times reveals that though Campbell receives free housing across the street from his museum office, he pays no income tax on a perk that’s got to be worth a tidy six-figure sum annually. As so often happens when it deals with the Met, the local community newspaper went easy on Campbell, covering his situation in two very brief paragraphs, while serving up seven paragraphs on the similar housing perk given to Ellen Futter, director of the American Museum of Natural History (which has not had the sense to put mutiple Sulzbergers on its board of trustees). Too bad. The history of the Met’s housing benefit and who has benefitted from it is, to say the least, titillating. Thomas Hoving, for instance, refused it, preferring not to live (metaphorically speaking) above the store. There’s lots more of what the Times didn’t tell you in Rogues’ Gallery. Click the link to the left to buy a copy.
Posted on August 10th, 2010 | Permalink
A Diller of a Promise
Forty American billionaires have made moral (i.e. not binding, but public) pledges, at the urging of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to give half their fortunes to charity, instead of using them soley to spoil future generations. Among those taking the pledge plunge: Paul Allen, Mike Bloomberg, Eli and Edythe Broad, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Larry Ellison, Barron Hilton, Ken Langone, George Lucas, Ronald O. Perelman, Pete Peterson, T. Boone Pickens, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Sandy Weill and Shelby White. Visit givingpledge.org to see the entire list–and if you’ve got the money, join in.
Posted on August 4th, 2010 | Permalink
Attention Ron Burkle: B&N on the Block??
Barnes & Noble has announced that it is considering a sale of the company in order to increase stockholder value and raise its share price.
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 | Permalink
R.I.P. Judy Peabody
Judy Peabody died yesterday after a long and difficult illness. David Patrick Columbia has written a touching remembrance of this compassionate and open-minded heroine, one of the great ladies of New York City in this or any era.
Posted on July 26th, 2010 | Permalink
Beach Reading: Rogues’ Gallery Rising
Rogues’ Gallery has rocketed to #2 on the Book Soup paperback non-fiction bestseller list this week. Love the Soup (and I don’t mean Tom Campbell’s) and thanks all you readers in Los Angeles!
Posted on July 20th, 2010 | Permalink
Heavy Lifting
Maureen Dowd’s burqua notwithstanding, no one has ever accused the New York Times op-ed page of being either fashion-conscious or fashionable. But today’s top piece, correlating the appearance of platform shoes for women with economic distress is kind of fashion-clueless. “Economic distress causes distinctions between male and female dress to widen among the fashion-conscious,” the paper informs us, showing platforms from the Depression, World War II, 1974 and now in support of a claim that women don platforms to lift their moods. Have they never heard of The New York Dolls (shown circa 1974, above)?
Posted on July 15th, 2010 | Permalink
“Creative and complete”
Yesterday, the design blog UnBeige praised my suggestion for the future of Marcel Breuer’s brutalist Whitney Museum as “the most creative and complete” in a recent poll of experts by The Art Newspaper: a museum of cultural philanthropy in which archival documents concerning great contributions are stored, catalogued and displayed. Meantime, the New York Observer called the idea “off-the-wall” but added, “We’re a fan of that idea.” We’re a fan of the New York Observer, too.
Posted on July 13th, 2010 | Permalink
Gaunt, but not forgotten
News flash: Super-sized model Crystal Renn has the blogosphere up in arms over a recent weight loss that shrank her from a size 12 to a size 8. The New York Post’s Mandy Stadtmiller examines this shocking story of a model and her fluctuating appetite in “A Big Fat Lie.” I comment: “Maybe Crystal Renn just created a job-opening.”
Posted on July 7th, 2010 | Permalink
What to do with the Whitney?
The Art Newspaper asked a panel of experts what should be done with Marcel Breuer’s Whitney Museum (the architect and his creation are above) when the museum moves downtown. My tongue-in-cheek thought follows those of former Whitney director David Ross and former Breuer architect Terence Riley.
Posted on July 6th, 2010 | Permalink
“You will never look at the Wrightsman Galleries in the same way again.”
“Michael Gross examines the Met through the prism of [its] generous and often loathsome benefactors, from the robber barons to the present day Page Six personalities,” writes Nashville Realtor Elizabeth Colton Walls on her book review blog. Check it out here.
Posted on July 3rd, 2010 | Permalink
Rogues’ Gallery is coming to Westhampton Beach
I try to get out and they keep dragging me back. For all you East Enders, I’ll be speaking and signing Rogues’ Gallery (and 740 Park) on Saturday July 17th at 6 PM at the new Books & Books store at 130 Main Street in Westhampton Beach, NY. That’s the Books & Books we know and love from Miami–so please come support their first northern venture.
Posted on July 1st, 2010 | Permalink
Attendance is up, so why are they so down (on Rogues’ Gallery)?
Attendance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned to levels not seen since 2001, says the The New York Observer. Perhaps understandably, no thank yous were issued to Rogues’ Gallery, but independent-minded reviewers have said the book re-ignites interest in and passion for the museum. “Even if you’ve been to the museum many times before, the stories Gross tells make you want to return immediately,” wrote Silvana Paternostro in Poder. “The tales are so compelling that instead of trying to downplay this book, the museum should be selling it in its gift shop.” Fat chance! But the paperback edition is on sale just about everywhere else that books are sold.
Posted on July 1st, 2010 | Permalink
Soupy Sales and more….
Rogues’ Gallery has returned to the bestseller list at Book Soup, my favorite book store in Los Angeles (above). Also, this week, Crain’s New York Business references the book in its anniversary issue in a story on philanthropy as an economic engine by Miriam Kreinin Souccar, who describes the book as “a tell-all about power struggles behind the scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Posted on June 30th, 2010 | Permalink
And on that note, adieu
In a recent email exchange, the chief flack for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, charged that I was “averse to reason” when it comes to the museum I honor and the fascinating people whose lives are illuminated in the pages of Rogues’ Gallery. That led me to wonder if in fact it isn’t the museum’s administration and trustees who are averse to the beauty of truth. But enough. It’s almost summer, time to buy a few good books and chill in the heat. Here’s what independent experts said about Rogues’ Gallery. My advice? Decide for yourself.
“Explosive.” –Vanity Fair
“A blockbuster exhibition of human achievements and flaws…pages of Vanity Fair-worthy name-dropping and social-climbing.” –Amy Finnerty, New York Times Book Review
“Gross demonstrates he knows his stuff. It’s a terrific tale…gossipy, color-rich, fact-packed…What Gross reveals is stuff that more people should know.” –USA Today
“Who doesn’t love the Met, and who wouldn’t want to read tantalizing gossip about the upper echelon of social climbers, philanthropists, and curators who have warred for prestige and control over the storied museum since its beginning?…Completely unauthorized, this irresistible read exposes the dirty money and politics behind the Met’s rise. Plundered relics, millionaires’ meddling, and ambition disguised as social philanthropy are revealed thanks to Gross’ muckraking, producing one of the year’s most entertaining books. Take it to the beach (but not the museum).” –Nancy Bass Wyden, The Daily Beast
“Dense and exhaustively factual … the book is important, and what’s more, splendidly readable.” –Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com
“A compelling tale of the money, greed, egotism, and less than kosher acquisitions that have made the Met the mega-institution that it is today. It’s high culture meets lowlife behavior. And Gross has certainly dug up the goods—from Met-sanctioned tomb raiding in Cyprus to the classless antics of power-hungry trustees.” –Rachel Wolff, The Daily Beast
“Reads like an adventure novel.” Claudia Steinberg, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
“An insightful, entertaining look at a great institution–with all its flaws and all its greatness.” -Gay Talese
“Riveting and accurate… I learned a lot.” –Tom Hoving, Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1966-1976)
“A prodigious piece of work about those who created and operate this nations’ leading museum of art. It’s simply great theatre. We’re indebted to Mr. Gross.” –Daniel Herrick, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1968-1985)
“Enlightening…persuasive…Gross is to be congratulated for the ingenuity of his research…After 140 years in existence, the Met was due for an exposé.” Avis Berman, The Economist
“Completely fascinating; lucidly and engagingly written…insightful….a marvelously readable volume.” –Stuart Silver, Chief Exhibition Designer, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1962-1977)
“Fun, gossipy, fascinating reading; the perfect museum lover’s book for summer at the beach or at home.” Dominique H. Vasseur, The Columbus Museum of Art
“Unofficial, juicy and probably very true history…a definite must read for anyone with an interest in art and museums.” Amy L. Hofland, Director of the Crow Collection of Asian Art (Dallas, Texas)
“Digs deep … a supremely detailed history.” –Kirkus
“Sprawling history……Behind-the-scenes dirt and an intriguing look at the symbiosis of culture and cash.” –Publishers Weekly
“A big tell-all book … zestfully mixes factual reportage with piquantly entertaining anecdotes.” –Booklist
“Dignified…authoritative…fascinating.” –Jesse Kornbluth, Headbutler.com
“A page-turner that unravels like an elite whodunit…fearlessly unearths secrets.” –George Christy, Beverly Hills Courier
“Fabulous, realistic, well-researched.” –Liz Smith
“By turns funny, outrageous, and disconcerting…Makes public what arguably should have been public knowledge long ago… nearly effortlessly and without disdain.” –artinfo.com
“A primer on how things are done to move the machines that make the metropolis….A great historical document.” –David Patrick Columbia, newyorksocialdiary.com
“Gross is a meticulous storyteller, and Rogues’ Gallery is an entertaining romp.” –frieze magazine
“A gripping, glib and gossipy deconstruction of the curators, directors, donors and trustees who dominated the Met since its founding.” –The Tulsa World
“This book is a museum piece.” — Page Six, The New York Post
“Yummy.” –New York Daily News
“A vivid view into the murky world of the super rich.” —Samantha Ettus, Obsessed TV
“A fine topography of the major players…Excavating the Met’s history in six chapters from 1870 to 2009, Gross reveals the personalities and relationships between donors and directors, curators and dealers, and the city of New York and its cultural crown jewel. It is astonishing what people will do for money, power, and social prominence, and we see a great deal of what they will do in Rogues’ Gallery. In the end, Gross wants the Met to succeed—he is not lobbing stones at the cathedral, but rather revealing what the men and women at the pulpit have been up to behind closed doors.” –Rick Ring, Providence Journal
“No holds barred… “stuffed with entertaining - and often embarrassing - detail about the Met’s administrators and donors.” –Financial Post (Canada)
“If you thought former J. Paul Getty Museum curator Marion True’s illegally procured antiquities trial was a cause célèbre, don’t miss Rogue’s Gallery. Michael Gross’s 483-page behemoth (on the heels of his equally dishy 740 Park) recounts the prestigious museum’s often-unsavory elitism…early acquisition practices others would call looting and takes on modern-day big wigs like Met vice-chairman, socialite—and Oscar’s honey—Annette de la Renta, whom Gross paints as an avid social climber in this sustained takedown of the rich and famous.” –Felicia Feaster, The Atlantan.
“Endlessly entertaining.” –Newport Seen
“This slightly irreverent history of one of the world’s great art museums, New York’s Metropolitan, is an intriguing look behind the scenes…an invaluable addition to the modern history of the art world.”
–The Calgary Sun
“A juicy, deliciously detailed history of the nation’s largest museum and the oversized egos of those who run it….As a history of culture in this city, it’s spot on.” — Brook Mason, Artnet.com
“Audacious…intriguing…factual…often irreverent…A honeypot of gossip…detail [that] boggles the mind.” –Jean Reeves Barre, The Buffalo News
“Incredible investigative reporting and pretty damning stuff…With every page, Gross exposes intimate details…to illustrate the fascinating history of this venerable institution…He tells the stories of the men and women who form the inner sanctum of wealth and power, how those who are at the pinnacle of New York society got to be there—by maneuvering marriage and money, by hook or by crook. The book is more like two books: one is the straight gossip of the who’s who with all the antic details of tabloid journalism. The other is a serious document of social history, exhaustively researched and meticulously crafted…Even if you’ve been to the museum many times before, the stories Gross tells make you want to return immediately. The tales are so compelling that instead of trying to downplay this book, the museum should be selling it in its gift shop.”
–Silvana Paternostro, Poder.
“A tell-much extravaganza…about the rich and powerful folks behind New York City’s Met, one of the finest art museums in the world. Stick this Rogues’ Gallery in your weekend bag or on your night stand and read it at your leisure. It won’t disappoint….With only a little more effort, however, and perhaps a little thought here and there, you can read a more substantial book, one that raises a serious question: Is the social web that created and sustained the Met about to disappear, leaving the Met with the life prospects of a beached whale? Even as he was having fun digging into the archives and tracking down skeletons in Fifth Avenue closets, Michael Gross was, in effect, rethinking the nature of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rather than thinking of it as a big solid structure that house and protects three millennia’s worth of art treasures, Gross came to present it as a fragile network of social relationships that somehow manages to balance the good, the bad, and the ugly in such a way that The Beautiful has a home…Gossip about the people who built the Met is the history of an institution told at the level of individual desires and actions. And, if gossip is a moral activity directed at maintaining social norms, then Rogue’s Gallery becomes something of an intervention directed at the institution itself.”
– Bill Benzon, The Valve
“A fascinating look into the inner workings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” –Hamptons Magazine
“A dishy read about behind-the-scenes social and civic maneuvering of the moguls who shaped the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” –Alan Peppard, The Dallas Morning News
“The ultimate insider’s look at the colorful characters who populate New York’s Metropolitan Museum.” — Washington Life
“Michael Gross is an acclaimed cultural journalist and an incisive, skilled, gossip-driven chronicler of the fashion and society worlds. He is fearlessly able to breach walls of secrecy and to nail down a story where no one wants to talk. As we move through the breathless behind-the-scenes narrative, we see the Met as we now know it take shape. Battles are fought over naming galleries, restrictions on donations are ignored by the latest generation of trustees, and the new donor holding the next great treasure is courted assiduously by an institution driven with a lust for acquisition that may have no rival in human history. Rogues’ Gallery sheds light on just why the Met does not want light to shine behind the scenes. It is a compelling portrait of New York as we know it. Peopled with outsized egos, often with doctored credentials, amassing wealth and treasures in strange and sometimes criminal ways, the Met is a quintessentially New York institution.” –Raymond Dowd, New York Law Journal
“Wonderfully juicy tell-all about the Metropolitan Museum…highly recommended if you like reading about how major museums and/or rich people operate.” –unBeige.com
Posted on June 10th, 2010 | Permalink
En garde, Goliath!
Today, Jason Boog, editor of Galleycat, the book biz blog, asked me how I felt when I learned that Robert Silvers, eminence gris of the New York Review of Books, did indeed (as I speculate in the new afterword to Rogues’ Gallery) give an embargoed review copy of the book to Annette de la Renta, who promptly threatened to sue. My answer is here.
Posted on June 7th, 2010 | Permalink
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