The announcement of three new directors at Minneapolis art museums in 2007 signaled the end of eras and the beginning of major transitions. Elsewhere, artists worked, galleries showed and collectors bought, sold and lent art, but the changes at the top are likely to be the most significant.
At Walker Art Center, card-carrying avant gardist Kathy Halbreich announced her departure after 16 years in which she raised $100 million to transform an intimate modernist institution into a sprawling labyrinth of galleries, restaurants, theater and film sites. In November, Halbreich headed to New York, where she will occupy a new post at the Museum of Modern Art advising on the museum's contemporary programs and acquisitions.
Her successor, Olga Viso, arrives in January from 12 years at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C., where she made a point of showcasing contemporary artists as well as their work, a popular outreach program that she may import at the Walker. The question for Viso is whether to continue Halbreich's aggressive championing of often obscure and esoteric international art, or to try to expand the center's audience by showcasing big-name 20th century talents. As the Walker's attendance plateaued in recent years (at a very respectable but stagnant 400,000 annually) Halbreich reluctantly turned to such familiar names as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo in an effort to boost crowds.
In an exit interview, Halbreich said the goal of such shows was "to encourage repeat visitors. The question is, are we a big enough community to make these exhibitions financially feasible?" Those are among the challenges awaiting Viso.
The Walker had a stellar run of exhibitions in 2007, including a handsome retrospective of racially provocative images by Kara Walker, a fascinating demonstration of Picasso's impact on American artists and an important Kahlo retrospective that continues through Jan. 20.
From Memphis to Minneapolis
At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, director William Griswold decamped after 23 months for his dream job as head of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, a recently expanded jewel-box institution where he had previously been a curator.
His successor, Kaywin Feldman, arrives in January as the institute's first female director. Like Griswold, she is a graduate of the Courtauld Institute at the University of London, England. His prior experience, however, included a stint as acting director of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, a huge institution. Feldman, by contrast, comes from the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee, a comparatively tiny institution with a staff of 60 and membership of 3,000 (vs. the institute's 254 staff and 25,500 members).
