Although she leads with a photo of Richard Avedon-inspired elephants, Lee Rosenbaum, aka the art-blogger culturegrrl, doesn’t mention the elephant in the room, Rogues’ Gallery, in her post today on the Metropolitan Museums’ new Costume Institute show, “The Model as Muse.” But she does second the point already made in the book and in comments I made to the New York Post last week, which a spokesman for Vogue Magazine deemed cynical. She finds the relationship of the museum to that magazine, its editor Anna Wintour, and its publisher Conde Nast “highly problematic,” adding, “The connections between the sponsors’ professional interests and the contents of this deftly installed, intelligently explicated extravaganza seem too close for curatorial comfort. The result is a confection that’s delicious but leaves an objectionable aftertaste… The show comes across more as a display devoted to Vogue than as an exhibition focussing on garments from the Met’s own collection and lenders… The lapses in ‘The Model as Muse’ argue for a new model for future Costume Institute exhibitions: No major sponsorship should be solicited or accepted from a business or individual having a substantial professional and financial interest in the specific contents of the show. If the current show hasn’t actually been compromised by conflicts of interest, it gives that impression. Such conflicts, real or perceived, undermine the soundness of the enterprise.” Bravo, Lee. I obviously agree. (image of Dovima and Elephants from Michael Hoppen Gallery website)