SHORT TAKES : Curator’s Ouster Sparks Furor

The ouster of a curator at the small but innovative Berkshire Museum has set off a furor, with one donor changing his mind about donating $2 million and his photograph collection. “I am appalled that the museum could cut a curator so simpatico to the arts,” Connecticut collector George R. Rinhart said of the dismissal of art curator Debra Balken.

Rinhart owns one of the largest private collections of American photographs. It includes more than a million prints dating from the 1830s to the 1960s, including Civil War scenes by Matthew Brady, along with a reference library of at least 20,000 volumes.

Museum Director Barry Dressel said Monday that Rinhart’s threat wasn’t as dire as it seemed because he never had received any written guarantees that the bequests were final.

Balken, who came to the Berkshire Museum in 1981, has been praised for bringing exciting exhibitions to the museum and for her expertise in the field of modern and contemporary art. But she also has been criticized for exhibitions that weren’t received well by some sections of the community.