Bedford in Baltimore: Christopher is Third Contemporary Expert Recently Tapped to Lead a Major Art Museum

Are we seeing a trend here?

Anne Pasternak at the Brooklyn Museum; James Rondeau at the Art Institute of Chicago; now Christopher Bedford at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

In all three recent cases, a contemporary art specialist was chosen for the top spot at a museum with distinguished historic collections. (Notably bucking that trend were the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Wadsworth Atheneum.)

The impetus for this predilection for the present is undoubtedly the same force driving the Metropolitan Museum (which tapped a tapestry expert as its director, more than seven years ago) to up its contemporary game with the Met Breuer and a freshly conceived wing for contemporary art.

The reason for this contemporary fixation is obvious: That’s the sweet spot for the preponderance of major collectors, donors and visitors. But recent rhetoric has taken this focus a step further: Officials at both Brooklyn and the Met have spoken about “looking at the past through a contemporary filter,” in the words of Nancy Spector, the Brooklyn Museum’s new deputy director and chief curator (formerly of the Guggenheim).

The notion of seeing historic art through a contemporary lens is potentially problematic: Putting the contemporary cart before the historic horse is a reversal of traditional scholarship, which examines the influence of earlier masters on successive generations.

When he was named to direct the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, less than four years ago, Bedford mentioned that “ideas of social engagement and social justice [are] concepts are central to my thinking” as a museum professional. He was recently chosen as commissioner for the  U.S. Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, where he will co-curate a Mark Bradford installation of new work, having organized Bradford’s 2014 Sea Monsters show at the Rose.

In its press release announcing Bedford’s new gig (which begins Aug. 15), the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) stated that “the Rose Art Museum will continue as the organizer of the exhibition in Venice, co-curated by Bedford and Katy Siegel, curator-at-large for the Rose, and the BMA will support Bedford’s role as commissioner.” He succeeds Doreen Bolger, director of the BMA from 1998 until her retirement last year.

What we now want to know is: When is the Clark Art Institute going to name a new director, and why is it taking so long?