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Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

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The True Cleveland Story…

I didn’t want to disclose this, but as it is now out in the public domain, I will link to it.

The reason David Franklin quit as director of the Cleveland Museum of Art was indeed “personal.” It involves an affair he had with a woman at the museum, and her subsequent suicide. His continued position at the museum was untenable, and I don’t quite frankly know how it lasted this long. It has been five months since the death.

Cleveland Scene has the story.

I have no comment other than how sad for all.

Opening In Cleveland: Director’s Job — UPDATED

Sadly, I must report that David Franklin has resigned as the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Here’s the notice I received from one of his supporters — subject line was “bad news from Cleveland”:

Dear Supporting Circles Donor,

Because of your important relationship with the Cleveland Museum of
Art, I am writing to make sure you are aware of today’s CMA Board
announcement that David Franklin has resigned his position as Director
of the Museum, effective immediately. David’s decision was a personal
one so it isn’t appropriate to provide additional detail on the
reasons for his departure.

We have named Trustee Fred Bidwell, a nationally known art collector
and creator of the Transformer Station, as interim director of the
Museum. We believe Fred’s unique combination of business experience
and passion for museums and collecting makes him a great choice to
lead the Museum during the search. As you may know, he is the retired
executive chairman of JWT/OgilvyAction, a national advertising agency
serving leading brands. In addition to being a trustee and member of
the Executive Committee of the CMA Board, he has twice been president
of the Board of the Akron Art Museum. Earlier this year he and his
wife Laura were awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize Martha Joseph Award
for Distinguished Service to the Arts.

Thanks to the Museum’s world-class team, we have accomplished a great
deal in recent years. We are in excellent shape and are financially
strong, and our recent renovations have left us with a facility and a
collection that are the envy of Museums around the world. This will
clearly be one of the most attractive positions in the field and we’re
confident we’ll find a great leader to continue our momentum.
Museum Trustee and prominent Cleveland executive Peter Raskind will
lead the search committee. We will begin looking for a new Director
immediately but there is no timetable for completion. David has agreed
to be available, at Fred’s discretion, to help with select projects
during the transition.

Thank you for your continued support of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
If you have any questions, please call Fred Bidwell at xxx-xxx-xxxx*
or me at xxx-xxx-xxxx at your convenience.

Kind regards,

R. Steven Kestner
CMA Board Chairman

I have no comment at this time. but I don’t think RCA readers should use those phone numbers above. 

UPDATE: Here’s a good wrap-up of the situation, with background, from Crain’s Cleveland Business.

*I have blacked out the numbers above at the request of the museum.

How The Asia Society Museum is Evolving

110412_Melissa_ChiuI’m still away, but the news never stops. Actually, I finished an article on Melissa Chiu’s vision for the Asia Society Museum before I left the U.S., and it was published in today’s Wall Street Journal. Headlined A Society Evolves, it is pegged to the opening this weekend of an exhibition on art created in Iran between 1950 and the 1970s, while the Shah was in control. He allowed, surprisingly, relative freedom in the arts. I am looking forward to seeing the show; so far I’ve looked only at the catalog.

But my article is broader than that, and I hope you’ll have a look.

Chiu said her exhibits are more about history than art history, though they involve both, obviously — they are, she hopes, topical.

The Asia Society Museum is surely different from many other museum, and it was good for us to hear Chiu out and think about that difference.

I am in Ukraine, btw, and have visited some museums. I’d say that someone else might consider an effort parallel to Chiu’s with Asian museum directors here in the former east bloc. (Yes, I know there have been some efforts over the years – but can’t get into that from this far away — and not much computer access.)

Ann Goldstein Quits Top Stedelijk Post

This just in: “The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam announced today that Ann Goldstein has resigned as Director effective December 1st 2013. Appointed as general and Artistic Director in June 2009, Ms. Goldstein began working with the museum in October of that year and assumed her post in January 2010. In announcing her resignation to the board, Ms. Goldstein indicated that her work at the Stedelijk Museum is now done and that the museum is poised for a new Artistic Director to lead it into the future.”

anngoldsteinMaybe she will return to Los Angeles and take over as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, where she was a curator for 26 years.

But the announcement must mean troubles. It was only a year ago that Goldstein was settling in for the long haul. I profiled her for Art in America magazine, and wrote more about here here.

The rest of the announcement lends more credence to my instinct that things are very amiss in Amsterdam: It says Goldstein “anounced my resignation to the Supervisory Board on June 26, 2013, confident that my work is done and the museum is firmly poised for a new artistic director to lead it into the future.”

She is set to leave on December 1st 2013.

Here’s a link to the full press release.

 

Ann Freedman: “I am as shocked as everybody…

… more shocked, as I am the central victim.” That is the amazing statement made by ex-Knoedler director Ann Freedman in the lede of an article in New York by James Panero.

Panero, executive editor of The New Criterion, nailed down an exclusive interview “earlier this month,” he says. After that statement above from Freedman, came this one:  “Fifteen years. In my head, these paintings have been right up until five days ago. Horrible.” That was five days after the federal government handed up a revised indictment of Glafira Rosales, charging her with tax evasion and laying out the fraud.

AnnFreedmanWow. It’s hard to react to that. Most people I know say Freedman must have known, but here’s how the article continues:

Freedman, who spoke publicly about the scandal for the first time in a series of recent conversations with New York, says that the results of the federal investigation prove she was an unwitting agent in the scheme. Under her leadership, Knoedler sold 40 of the fakes for an alleged $63 million. Before shutting down abruptly in late 2011, the gallery made a $20 million payment to Rosales.

Saying Rosales’s story about the paintings origins was “credible,” Freedman explained: “Dealers often do not know the specifics of origin or background, or how the art left the artist’s studio. You cannot turn the pages of an auction catalogue or museum publication without seeing a majority of the works labeled ‘private collection.’ The chain of ownership is often out of order and incomplete.”

Then:

Freedman says that she did her best to get answers from Rosales. “I went to Glafira and pushed and pushed to get more information, relentlessly,” Freedman said. “My ongoing diligence met more than the gold standard; there is plenty of evidence of that.”

Speaking with Daily Intelligencer last month, Freedman listed some markers that led her to believe that the paintings were genuine. “They were very credible in so many respects,” says Freedman. “I had the best conservation studio examine them. One of the Rothkos had a Sgroi stretcher. He made the stretchers for Rothko. They clearly had the right materials. I got a consensus. Some of the paintings were featured on museum walls,” she continued. “The Rothko went to the Beyeler [Foundation], and the Newman went to Guggenheim Bilbao for the tenth anniversary exhibition. The most knowledgeable in the art establishment gave me no reason to doubt the paintings.”

How you feel about the rest of the article depends on whether or not you believe Freedman. Panero cites a dealer who doesn’t believe she did enough due diligence, and let’s her explain that she placed the paintings with the best collectors to give the works credence. She bought three herself.

I still have a nagging question; Knoedler sold 40 allegedly fraudulent works for $63 million. But she paid much, much less to Rosales. How does she explain that gap? Rosales knew what she had. How did Freedman get such giant markups without doing additional research, conservation, or any of the other things that allow dealers to double and triple the prices they charge?

Just asking.

Photo credit: Courtesy of New York