7.31.2003
Whitney & Frick: Help Wanted
[Posted 11:12 AM by James Panero]
Our paper of record today reports on the search for new directors at the Whitney Museum and The Frick Collection after the “resignations” of Maxwell L. Anderson (Whitney) and Samuel Sachs II (Frick). If the Whitney has seemed more schizophrenic than usual in recent years–the smart Nadelman show followed by the chthonic “American Effect”–the indolent leadership of Maxwell Anderson (who could fill out a tuxedo but little else) has much to blame. Sachs is a different story. He increased interest in the splendid Frick Collection without damage to the seriousness of the institution, brought in excellent exhibitions such as Edgar Munhall’s ’Greuze the Draftsman,’ and tried to address the Frick’s problem of limited special-exhibition space (which is indeed a problem). His departure is a regrettable one.