Upheaval Calls Whitney’s Role Into Question : Art: Insiders say it will take at least five years for the New York institution to heal after the forced resignation of its director.

The forced resignation of Thomas N. Armstrong III, the beleaguered director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, may have been the inevitable end of a power struggle, but it is a source of dismay in the art world. While the Whitney trustees’ vote to terminate Armstrong’s 15-year tenure late Monday afternoon came as no surprise to art museum insiders, they say that it will take at least five years to heal the venerable institution.

“Everything is at a dead stop. It’s as if a major earthquake hit and we have to check all the systems,” said a source close to the museum who requested anonymity.

“If you were a potential donor to the Whitney, would you want to give money now? The museum is paralyzed. They have a press problem and a board of trustees problem. They have to restructure their program and rehabilitate their staff,” said a West Coast museum director who declined to be identified.

Armstrong has long been criticized for hiring young, inexperienced curators who are said to have neglected the museum’s permanent collection of early 20th-Century art in favor of frivolous contemporary exhibitions. He has also championed a controversial plan to expand the Whitney’s landmark building with an addition designed by architect Michael Graves. The Madison Avenue museum desperately needs more space to carry out programs demanded by the public and the board, but the expansion has faced fierce opposition because it requires destroying historic brownstones adjacent to the present museum and diminishing the imposing presence of the Whitney’s Marcel Breuer building.

Such battles come with the territory of contemporary art and high-profile museums, but the debate about Armstrong’s stewardship recently heated up to a boil, and his deteriorating relationship with some of the Whitney’s trustees has been aired in the New York press.

“War at the Whitney,” New York magazine’s Feb. 12 cover story, detailed a rift between museum president William S. Woodside and Armstrong, who has transformed the museum from a rather dowdy repository of unfashionable old art to what is perceived as a flashy showcase for young hotshots.

A New York Times commentary on Feb. 18 challenged the Whitney to define its role and to develop a “wider perspective.” Art critic Michael Kimmelman said the Whitney’s “greatest failing has been the haphazard and at times contemptuous way the past has been treated.” He accused the museum of viewing itself as “a kind of cheerleader for American art, indecorously rooting for one commercial star after another.” Armstrong and his curatorial staff responded with a letter to the editor denying Kimmelman’s accusations and listing historical exhibitions at the Whitney.

Woodside had asked Armstrong to resign in November, but Armstrong refused and lined up support at the Whitney and other museums. When the conflict reached an impasse, Armstrong still declined to step down. A committee headed by trustee Jules D. Prown, Paul Mellon professor of art history at Yale University, interviewed board members to determine their views on the museum’s role. The committee’s report was reportedly presented at a board meeting on Monday, when the trustees voted to request Armstrong’s resignation.

A one-page press release, quoting Woodside on the outcome of the meeting, said that the board “has reaffirmed the Whitney’s commitment to contemporary American art.” But Woodside concluded that it was time for Armstrong to leave: “As the board has contemplated the change and changing climate in which private cultural institutions will need to operate in the years ahead, it perceived the need for a leadership appropriate to the demands of that new environment.”

Woodside’s statement did not explain what “the demands of that new environment” might be. Press officer Steven Schlough said that Woodside and Armstrong were not available for comment and that no additional statements would be released.

The Whitney upset has raised at least three familiar issues and renewed their urgency, according to museum directors across the country. One is the relationship between museum directors and their boards. Directors are hired to carry out policies set by boards of directors, but relationships are sensitive and subject to change as new members are added and they rise to power. While some observers say that the Whitney case is unique to that institution and the personalities involved, others charge that Woodside’s approach is typical of corporate executive trustees who think that the only way to fix a problem is to fire the staff.

Most directors interviewed said that an adversarial relationship, such as that between Armstrong and Woodside, should never be allowed to fester, and such problems should not be aired in public. But one museum official said that Armstrong did his colleagues a favor by allowing the press to expose problems that are endemic.

Associate director Jennifer Russell has been appointed acting director of the museum while the Whitney looks for a new leader. Candidates are likely to be attracted by the prestigious museum but repelled by the difficulty of working with a divided board.

“Museum directors used to enjoy community support, but you lose the sense of what public service means when you start taking the heat. Many people would look twice, three times, four times before entertaining thoughts of taking a position at the Whitney. I know I would,” said Kevin Consey, director of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art and former director of the Newport Harbor Art Museum. “You have to determine what your pain level is and weigh that against the enticements. The Whitney requires a high threshold of pain.”

The second issue is the role of the Whitney, which is made visible in its exhibition program. The museum has been widely criticized for being too trendy, but opinions vary as to whether the criticism is fair. “It does seem to me that the Whitney follows fashion and that it doesn’t give enough scholarly attention to its exhibitions, but why blame the Whitney? This is a national problem. The Whitney is just in the eye of the storm,” said Henry Hopkins, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

No one seems to want the Whitney to stop showing contemporary art, but many people say the program has been too heavily focused on current trends and that the museum should present contemporary art in a firmer historical context.

There has been talk of expanding the Whitney’s strictly American scope to make it more international. Most people in the field, however, seem to favor strengthening the Whitney’s position as the country’s premier museum of 20th-Century American art. Earl A. Powell, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said he would like to see the Whitney remain an American art museum while engaging in “a broader analysis” of the museum’s role in a multicultural society. The Whitney is positioned to carve out a highly relevant place for itself as an American art museum that reflects the country’s unique diversity, he said.

Art world discussions of the Whitney’s role indicate confusion within the museum, Consey said. The Whitney hasn’t adequately defined itself, so outside forces have attempted “to fill in the blanks” and tell the museum what it should be, he said. “We had to figure that out at Newport. Were we going to be a museum of 19th-Century art, a museum of driftwood and beach scenes? Lots of people are ready to tell you what to do. If you create a vacuum, people are going to fill it.”

The third issue is a concern that today’s museum climate of big money and show business is unhealthy for scholarship. As art museums have become increasingly popular and costs have escalated, museums are under enormous pressure to produce more and more exhibitions and to fill the needs of dozens of different constituencies. “Museums turn out exhibitions that are so vast, so glitzy and so many” that it is difficult to take the time for research that would provide historical substance, Hopkins said.

Curators are faced with an impossible task of meeting exhibition deadlines while trying to do research on the material presented, according to Susan Larson, curator of the Whitney’s permanent collection. Larson, the museum’s only curator who has a Ph.D in art history, announced her resignation several weeks ago. She has been on leave from USC, and she plans to return to teaching.

Larson said her decision was based more on the fact that she missed teaching and a reflective, academic life style than on troubles at the Whitney, but she expressed concern for the dilemma of museum curators. “Museums say they want scholarship, but they don’t provide an environment where scholarship can flourish. This is a very serious issue. It will take a lot of wisdom on the part of museum boards and directors to set up a working environment that will translate into the production of ever more profound exhibitions,” she said.

NEXT STEP

A search committee is being formed this week to choose a new director for the Whitney. Several candidates have been suggested in the press, but no apparent successor to Armstrong has emerged. Two rumored candidates, Martin Friedman, retiring director of the Walker Art Center, and Robert Buck, director of the Brooklyn Museum, have said they have no interest in the position. Several years ago rumors circulated that Buck and Richard Koshalek, director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, were being considered for Armstrong’s job, but both have denied any such considerations. Other names currently being discussed in art circles include Jack Lane, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Walter Hopps, former director of the Menil Collection in Houston, and William Agee, former director of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Some observers have speculated that the director’s job may be split, with acting director Jennifer Russell taking over administrative duties while another director oversees the Whitney’s art program.