Earlier this year the Guggenheim's notoriously-hated director, Thomas Krens, announced his departure from the museum (which many blame him for turning into a McGuggenheim). The NY Times announces today that the Guggenheim is now ready to name Richard Armstrong as the next director, saying the final board meeting regarding the decision will be held on or before September 23rd.
The choice was considered a safe one after nearly 20 often tumultuous years of Mr. Krens’s maverick vision. In addition to being criticized for his globe-trotting ways, in which he created an array of satellite institutions, Mr. Krens was known for dipping into the museum’s endowment to cover operating costs and for mounting exhibitions from motorcycles to of-the-moment artists like Matthew Barney.
Armstrong resigned as director of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh this past June and says that he wants “to celebrate New York in particular but not at the expense of all the others.”
Meanwhile, over at MoMA, where John Elderfield declared in June he would be leaving as chief curator after 30 years, they have announced one of their own to fill the position. The NY Times reports that Ann Temkin will take on "the most prestigious [position] in the field of Modern art." Prior to filling the shoes of her predecessor, she was a curator at the museum. She noted "that one of her priorities would be to 'change our viewers’ experience in many ways,' especially by integrating painting and sculpture with other mediums."
Photo by Jake Dobkin.
