I didn’t actually post here at RCA that I would be away for about a week around the Memorial Day weekend, so I am sure that it looked as if I was perhaps speechless last week when major announcements came out from the Brooklyn Museum* and the Whitney Museum. I was simply AWOL–in Spain, actually, taking advantage of the strong dollar.
I had a marvelous time viewing art in Madrid and nearby towns, and one visit is pertinent to those two aforementioned announcements.
Not the Brooklyn release, which named Anne Pasternak as successor to director Arnold Lehman, who is departing late this summer. Her appointment came as a surprise to me, but not a shock. I was sure that the trustees would pick a woman–the search committee was led by three women and Brooklyn’s chair, Elizabeth Sackler, has been a vocal supporter of women artists (her named space/program at the museum is devoted to feminist art). Pasternak has a strong record at Creative Time, which she has led for the past 20+ years. She has drawbacks, most notably the lack of museum management experience. But Brooklyn does have a long-time deputy director for operations plus many veteran curators.
There’s also her main focus on contemporary art, though I am told that she has a strong interest in Medieval and Renaissance art. too. Brooklyn, need anyone require reminding, is a universal museum. She must signal early that she embraces and cares about its entire collection, imho.
I am sure that Pasternak knows that we’ll all be watching her moves very closely.
But my trip reminded me that the promotion of Donna De Salvo (above) to deputy director for international initiatives and senior curator at the Whitney, from chief curator and deputy director for programs, is also worth watching. Having just returned from Spain, I’ve not talked to a soul about this one–it may be that she was simply bumped upstairs to make room for Scott Rothkopf to get the chief curator’s post (her former job). I hope not.
The reason: De Salvo is supposed to gin up international partnerships and my many travels, including this one, always remind me that American art needs a bigger presence overseas. Sure, everyone knows Andy Warhol and more recently, because of either high prices paid for their works or their shock art, many people know Jeff Koons, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock (perhaps) and a few others. But Europeans and Asians still have little exposure to the breadth of American art.
In Spain, the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum has the strongest, biggest collection of American art. (It includes six Homers, four Hoppers, plus works by Church, Cole, O’Keeffe, Still, Sloan, Prendergast (as above) etc. etc.) At least that’s what my art historians have told me (which backs up my own experiences). It has even have the strongest American collection outside of the U.S., period.
I don’t know how De Salvo views her job–looks to me as if she can create it. But I would hope that she helps organize partnerships that sends our works overseas to provide a more complete picture of what American art actually is.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of the Whitney (top) and the Thyssen Bornemisza (bottom)