Once again, the Art Institute of Chicago has looked to its own staff to find its new president and director: James Rondeau, chair and curator of modern and contemporary art (departments that merged under his leadership), will succeed Douglas Druick, who announced in October his planned retirement after more than 30 years at the AIC, including more than four years in the top spot.
Rondeau’s 18-year tenure in Chicago included planning the 2009 opening of the Modern Wing and co-organizing (with Sheena Wagstaff, now at the Metropolitan Museum) the widely acclaimed Lichtenstein retrospective that I had greatly admired when it landed at the National Gallery, Washington.
In choosing Rondeau, 46, the Art Institute decided this time to go with someone considerably younger than Druick, who in 2011, at age 66, had told the NY Times that he planned to stay “a very long time.”
Maybe the age issue figured into Chicago’s passing over another veteran curator, whose appointment could at last have put a woman in charge of one of the country’s top art museums—something we’ve lacked since the untimely passing of the Philadelphia Museum’s Anne d’Harnoncourt.
I have no idea, though, whether Gloria Groom, another accomplished, long-time AIC curator, had wished to step up. In September, just before Druick announced his planned retirement, it sounded like Groom was being groomed: She was tapped by Druick to chair the European Painting and Sculpture Department. Her record of accomplishment, as detailed in that press release, seems to me more impressive than Rondeau’s résumé.
Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
Rounding out Rondeau’s credentials, today’s press release goes beyond citing the usual praise from the board’s trustees and the outgoing director. It also includes a surprising shoutout from artist/filmmaker Steve McQueen, subject of a 2012 exhibition that Rondeau had co-organized (and which is self-promotingly mentioned by the artist):
I first became a friend and colleague of James Rondeau 20 years ago, and I’ve been arguing with him passionately about art and ideas ever since. He is a person of great integrity and fervor. His appointment as director of the Art Institute of Chicago is more than deserving, and one that will benefit greatly from his infectious, innovative spirit.
I myself have been the beneficiary of this with my show at the Art Institute [my link, not his] and Schaulager Basel.
As reported today by Steve Johnson in the Chicago Tribune:
Key challenges going forward include developing the collection internationally, beyond its historic focus on U.S. and European art. The museum’s long-range plan, executives said in October, when Druick announced his plan to retire, includes potentially putting up a new building in the next handful of years, largely to showcase Asian art.
How’s his fundraising?