Category: visual

With a generation of seasoned postwar directors beginning to retire, at least 21 U.S. museums — including the Bass Museum of Art in Florida and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington — are searching for new directors, nearly double the usual vacancy rate

“Not every thing has been peaches and cream during De Montebello’s tenure. The fabled Temple of Dendur, installed before he arrived, was sometimes called the Temple of Dinner under his directorship because of all the fêtes held there. De Montebello could also be churlish and stubborn about contemporary art.”

“de Montebello’s impact has been as much broadly cultural as aesthetic, something that can be said of no other departing museum director. At a time when museums pander to get visitors, either by flogging, yet again, the long-dead Impressionist horse or by selling their souls to popular culture with exhibitions of motorcycles or electric guitars, the Met has drawn in its public the old-fashioned way — routinely offering it intellectually substantial fare.”

“An exhibition of major artworks in London has been given the final go-ahead by the Russian authorities.” The show had been in danger of cancellation due to Russian fears that some of the works, which were taken from private collections after Russia’s 1917 revolution, could be seized while in the UK. Parliament agreed to implement a new law to prevent seizure and allow the show to go on.

“Wasting no time, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has formed a committee to begin an international search for a replacement for Philippe de Montebello, who announced on Tuesday that he would retire after 30 years as the museum’s director.”

“Swiss installation artist Christoph Büchel and the Palestinian Arab multimedia artist Emily Jacir are among six finalists for the 2008 Hugo Boss Prize, a biannual award for significant achievement in contemporary art, the Guggenheim Foundation announced today.”

Sylvia Wolf comes from New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, where she was head of the department of photography from 1999 to 2004. She’ll replace Richard Andrews, who ran the Henry for two decades. | From 1987 to 1999, she was a curator at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Who’s in the running to replace Phillippe de Montebello at the head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? The list is headed by the British Museum’s Neil MacGregor, and also includes such art world names as Glenn Lowry and Michael Govan.

Phillippe de Montebello’s legacy “was never about celebrity architecture or fashion or political correctness. His ideal for the museum stressed the permanent collection, the public’s true heritage, and it entailed doing the difficult thing because it was right.”

“In 1988, they secretly moved the highlights of the collection to a vault in the Central Bank at the presidential palace. Seven men had keys to the vault. All seven keys were needed to open it, so by spreading them around and keeping their locations secret (in case of death, a key reverted to the keeper’s eldest son), they were able to preserve the treasures.