Twelve years ago when I was pregnant with my first child, a (male) curatorial colleague asked whether I was now only going to schedule exhibitions about wombs and by women artists. Although I was perhaps understandably perturbed at first by this suggestion, I then promptly scheduled a solo show with...

Warning: This post contains artistic nudity which may be considered inappropriate for some audiences.

The image of Pinocchio's nose growing longer each time he tells a tall tale is a ubiquitous one from childhood. Currently on television, there is a commercial for an insurance company where two executives from a...

I have always believed in erring on the side of generosity. I give people the benefit of the doubt when it appears that less than their best judgment is in play. I give of my time, energy, and resources to organizations that I believe contribute to the good society. I...

A very close friend of mine told me many times that "it is a long, long life." It is not without irony that he died five years ago at the age of 38. In college we took a class together on the "History of the 1960s," and he ended his...

Last year Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), spoke at a meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). He came to speak with us about what he perceived as a lack of civility in contemporary American society and to seek our help. His...

I recently read an article by UC Berkeley Professor Michael Pollan about global warming and the seeming futility of our efforts to avoid a collective decline into a world without many things, including snow. He asked, "Why bother?" Why bother to turn off the lights, recycle, eat local, fill in...

Last year, after exiting a gallery show in New York in Chelsea, I felt a physical illness induced by what I deemed to be the complete and utter soullessness of the work I had just viewed. Eager to locate an antidote, I hailed a cab uptown to the Metropolitan Museum...

Walking through the Louvre, I was struck by a group of grade-school children sitting on the floor being instructed in front of Éugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830).

They were learning about French history and the time-honored tradition in France of revolution, utilizing...