Arts, Briefly : The Smithsonian, Again
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W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian Institutionâs National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself, The Washington Post reported. The painting, by Burton Silverman, a New York artist whose portraits have appeared on the cover of Time and in The New Yorker, hangs in the patronsâ lounge of the museum. Mr. West, 64, whose last day on the Smithsonian payroll was Monday, also spent more than $250,000 over four years on travel and hotels, the Smithsonian has confirmed. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Rules Committee, have asked for independent investigations of the expenses. The Smithsonian said it did not comment on former employees. Similar questions about personal spending by the Smithsonianâs secretary, Lawrence M. Small, led to his resignation last March.
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A few things you may not have caught in last week's news.
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Anxious about dwindling crowds and shorter attention spans, museums and historical sites are turning to special effects to tell their stories
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It's not just cyclist Lance Armstrong, baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson and other heroes of sport the Smithsonian Institution is celebrating.
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By Dan Sorenson, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson  Sep. 15--There's something croaking at the International Wildlife Museum.
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The new attraction in Washington, DC, can help bring part of the Smithsonian to Kansas, director of Wichita museum says. BY ALAN BJERGA.
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The Whitney Museum's show, a mad scientists' fair of screwball contraptions, provides a fresh riff on body art.
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Beginning Jan. 22, 40 of Lee Friedlander's black-and-white photographs will go on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibition âLee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks.â
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The Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush Administration
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The Queens Museum of Artâs show seems less about New York than about the trendy interests of the international curator set.
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A landmark exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York tackles surprising contemporary issues.
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The Smithsonian Institution has become more dependent on taxpayer funds over the past seven years because of a "governance crisis" and the "imperialistic and insular culture" created by its former leader, an independent review committee reported Wednesday.
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Visits to England's museums and galleries that scrapped entry fees three years ago rise slightly again.
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The Guggenheim Museumâs spirited if sometimes disjointed display of works from its collection offers a good argument for expansion of its New York branch.
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Arts & entertainment: English Heritage makes a small addition to the nation's collection of protected buildings
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The Arthur M. Sackler Galleryâs show glows like a treasury, radiates like a compass and seems as rich with potential information as the World Wide Web.
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Tuesday the Smithsonian&#39;s new National Museum of the American Indian opens near the US Capitol. By all accounts, it is a landmark worthy of the people it seeks to celebrate.