Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Museums

Betsky Asked To Leave Early?

The situation at the Cincinnati Art Museums gets stranger and stranger. Director Aaron Betsky, who was pretty much forced out at the beginning of the year, will leave on May 1 — instead of his earlier plans to stay until his successor was named.

betsky_aaron_jan07This move, my sources suggest, reflects deep turmoil within the museum caused by Betsky, who is a polarizing figure, if nothing else. His tenture there has been marked by turmoil.

In a statement sent by board president Martha Ragland to employees yesterday, she said: “The Director has asked us to leave on May 1 instead of Sept. We have granted his request.  Dave Linnenberg (the COO) will be the interim Director. Let us support him at this time, especially with our limited budget.”

But these statements rarely reflect the whole story, and one source tells me that the search firm looking for the new director “will not send candidates until he left and is not apart of the decision making process.” I hope that is not entirely correct — if the search firm, which in this case is Russell Reynolds, is driving the decision instead of trustees, that is a big problem.

I hope to have more on this later.

Meantime, here is the press release from the museum; here is my post from last May outlining some of the problems; and here’s what the Cincinnati Enquirer had to say.

 

Definitions: Two Experts Opine On What Museums/Directors Should Do

When Philippe de Montebello was about to retire five or so years ago, one of his rumored successors was Max Hollein (pictured), the director of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The job went to Tom Campbell, of course, and I am  not sure if Hollein was seriously considered or if he wanted the job.

HolleinNonetheless, the two names came together in a funny way in the last few weeks, thanks to two completely different articles. In the U.S., the East Hampton Star interviewed de Montebello and in Germany, Deutsch Well interviewed Hollein.

When asked about his combination of talents, in both art and finance, Hollein responded, in part:

I think the job of a museum director is, on the one hand, to define the programmatic identity of the institution, while on the other hand also to make sure that the museum has the potential to develop and evolve – when it comes to the program and the collection as well as the financial circumstances and the culture of support that is directly linked to that. From the beginning on I saw that as one of the main tasks, and I hope I accomplished that to a certain degree.

And asked about his tactics beyond Frankfurt, he said:

We would definitely act differently in another city. However, as a cultural institution we’re generally faced with a situation in which the public authority has not been the single source of financing for a long time – and it also doesn’t want to be. That’s something you simply have to realize and you have to find creative solutions that can be different depending on the city and the cultural sphere. But what’s the same everywhere is the direction of the action and the necessity to act.

Back in the U.S., a profile of de Montebello noted a few pertinent notions:

“I think the role of the museum is to make things accessible, make it as attractive as possible, make engagement with the work as comfortable as possible, and as rewarding as possible, both intellectually and visually. Once you’ve established lighting, text, the conversations among the works, the way you place them side by side and the distance, then it’s up to the visitor. I don’t think curators should go around with bludgeons and compel people to do anything.”

And:

“Obviously you need to balance the budget if you can and be run efficiently. Yet, there is a major difference between being run in a business-like manner and being run like a business.”

Somewhat unrelated, but something I feel the same way about:

“There was never a favorite work for 31 years and there isn’t one now,” not even a shortlist when he visits now for pleasure or brings classes. “I move around. I’m not tied only to paintings, either. I go to the Islamic galleries, the Egyptian galleries. I am eager to see what the new curator will do with the European decorative arts and sculpture galleries. I’m watching it. I’m only one block away.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Dubai Ruler Orders Four New Museums

Before I was diverted yesterday to write about a Dubai auction, I was planning to share news of the Dubai subway system. It’s about to become a museum or, rather, a set of museums.

167896079-507x310The state news agency there recently reported that Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum wants themed museums in the subways as inspiration. As Gulf Business wrote:

“We want to inspire and communicate with every employee on his way to work, every student on his way to pursuing education and every tourist visiting Dubai,” said Sheikh Mohammed. “We want to transfer Dubai Metro stations to museums accompanying passengers to all destinations.”

The project starts with four stations, and each will have a theme:

Islamic arts and arabic calligraphy museum, inventions museum, contemporary art museum and visual art museum will be launched during phase one.

The Islamic art and calligraphy museum will include a collection of Islamic artworks and a display of manuscripts, ceramics and jewellery along with calligraphy paintings.

The Inventions Museum will highlight the most important human inventions in different fields such as engineering, mathematics, medicine, geography, astronomy and other fields. The Contemporary Art Museum will display paintings, design, graphic illustrations and models done by contemporary artists from around the world.

The visual arts museum will screen movies and documentaries highlighting the work of contemporary artists. It will also give visitors a chance to exhibit their work.

Gulf Business says that the Dubai subway systems handled more than 137 million passengers last year, and eventually this idea will be extended through the entire system.  It did not say who would design or implement this plan, or what artists might be involved.

But the sheikh wants it done fast: there four will be “completed within a year and will be launched during Art Dubai 2015.”

Yes, I know other subways systems have art — Paris and New York, to name two. This sounds more extensive. Could be nifty.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gulf Business

Friendship Outs: Giant Gift Of Marin Watercolors Goes To…

Not a museum in Maine, where he painted for much of his last 40 years. Not a museum in New York, the center of the U.S. art world, or in Los Angeles, the west coast hub. Or New Jersey, Marin’s birthplace.

Tree, Stonington, Deer IsleNo, Norma B. Marin, the artist’s daughter-in-law, recently donated nearly 300 watercolors, drawings and sketchbooks to the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, according to the Kennebec Journal.

…Norma Marin’s gift to the Arkansas Arts Center was neither random nor the result of a falling out with Maine’s cultural institutions, as some speculated when the gift was announced. Instead, it was the result of a cultivated friendship between Norma Marin and the Little Rock museum and based on the expertise of the center’s staff, past and present.

The curator who will interpret this gift studied Marin as part of her dissertation, and previous museum directors built the museum’s reputation on artworks done on paper. The Marin gift also helps satisfy Norma Marin’s goal of expanding her father-in-law’s artistic impact beyond Maine, where his stature is secure and where hundreds of his oil paintings, watercolors and drawings have permanent homes in museums statewide.

To put this in context: “…Colby College Museum of Art…holds [Maine’s] largest collection of Marin artwork, with more than 60 images.” And, “Combined, museums in Maine have more than 100 Marin paintings, drawings and prints in their collections…the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor has 26, the Portland Museum of Art has 13, Bowdoin has seven, and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art has two. His paintings are also part of many private collections in the state.”

So the gift is a big one.

There’s a lesson here, too, in specialization — something I’ve championed for museums. As the KJ explained:

In the 1970s, [Arkansas Arts Center] director Townsend D. Wolfe recognized that building the museum’s reputation through a strong collection of works on paper was a more affordable strategy than collecting oil paintings. He secured a purchase grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Among the first purchases were works by Andrew Wyeth and Willem de Kooning, vastly different painters but both among the best known in their genres in the last half of the 20th century….

[Now] The Arkansas Arts Center has more than 5,000 drawings in its collection, dating to the Renaissance and including works by 19th century American and European masters. The bulk of the collection is from 20th and 21st century artists…

Strength can attract more strength.

Photo Credit: Tree, Stonington, Deer Isle, Courtesy Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection via the Kennebec Journal

Kids And Museums: A Few Words

DenverPlay2I like kids, and I like to see kids in museums. But maybe with a few boundaries.

A feature article that appeared in recent days in several places — here it is in the Chicago Tribune, headlined Taking the Kids — and exploring an art museum in a new way — reminded me of an exchange of views I had on this just over a year ago with Christoph Heinrich, director of the Denver Art Museum.

I visited the museum last January, and at times it seemed that children were everywhere, but that they could have been anywhere. In other words, many were just playing — they may have been coloring, but some were just horsing around or talking, in ways unrelated to what was in the galleries. I took a couple of pictures: one, top left, of kids in Denverplaythe El Anatsui exhibition, and right below, of kids in the museum’s Spanish Colonial galleries.

My question is, if they could have been anywhere, wouldn’t all museum-goers benefit if they didn’t have to step around the kids to see art? (Some were more rambunctious in that El Anatsui show than my picture suggests.)

I know that will get some people angry, and I raised the issue with Heinrich. He made two very valid points. One, I was visiting during what was still Christmas break from school, and the museum (well, parts of it) was very crowded that day, with more children than usual.

What’s more, Heinrich said, Denver is a family town, and the museum must cater to families.

I agree. That’s why I liked reading the above-mentioned article, which talks about the museum’s “Backpacks and Art Tubes,” the former “full with artmaking, games, and puzzles” and the later for those that are “Short on time.”

As the article put it:

…You can Live Like a Chinese Scholar in one exhibit or create an American Indian horse mask in another. Become a detective, as you make your way through the furniture gallery.

Did I mention these backpacks are yours to borrow during your visit? That they’re designed for different age groups, including preschoolers? If you are short on time, the kids can grab an Art Tube with one simple activity, like decorating special eyeglasses to enhance your viewing pleasure. This might explain why on weekends and during school breaks one in four visitors to this museum are kids. And, given Denver’s large Hispanic population, every activity is bilingual.

You’ll also find hands-on family activities throughout the museum. For younger kids, there is a dress-up area where they can try on Chinese robes and make their own paper robe….

DenverPaintStudioThe writer, Eileen Ogintz, continues with more  and adds a little about what’s going on at a few other museums, too. All of the activities are about art and art-making, not just playing. And in Denver, the backpacks and art tubes are just two of the many available “Kids & Families” activities and programs.

At the time I was there, the Denver museum also had a Paint Studio, designated for experimenting with paint, adjacent to a contemporary art exhibit, as I recall. It’s at right.

So let me repeat — lest I be misinterpreted — I want to see children in museums as much as anyone. But I do think there are boundaries, and I applaud the museums, like Denver, that are working hard to make the link with art and artmaking clear, even if they are not always successful.

Photo Credits: © Judith H. Dobrzynski Â