“I was the last of a particular group of people that she targeted for removal from the moment she arrived - long-time staff whose personalities rubbed her the wrong way. She was clearly a brilliant curator, and her strong feminist and multicultural voice was perfectly on point,” David Bradshaw, the former Technical Manager for Exhibitions at MOCA, told Hyperallergic via email. She said all the right things about getting the place organized and doing things properly that had been haphazard before. “At first, it was a huge relief to have her. “She did not get fired because she is a woman.” “This is not an issue of gender inequality like Christopher Knight painted it,” a former MOCA employee who wished to remain anonymous told Hyperallergic, referring to the LA Times art critic. They paint Vergne as a hands-off museum director who was generally supportive of Molesworth. “We have seen three high-level women in the arts fired recently (Helen Molesworth at MoCA, Laura Raicovich at the Queens Museum, and María Inés Rodriguez at the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Bordeaux) - each for being ‘too’-something too political, too outspoken, too feminist, too invested in diversity.”ĭespite the framing of Molesworth’s exit in these terms, some MOCA insiders took issue with this characterization, describing her as a talented and ambitious curator, but also as a boss and colleague who created a toxic environment. Through her Gallery Tally project, Hebron has kept track of the gender breakdown of artists represented by dozens of galleries. ![]() “ Firing Molesworth seems like an act of institutional manspreading,” artist Micol Hebron told Hyperallergic via email. Some observers see Molesworth’s ouster as symptomatic of a struggle between her progressive ideals and the status quo, epitomized by Vergne who curated three shows of white male artists - Carl Andre, Matthew Barney, and Doug Aitken - since arriving. “Without her there, I have no idea what the show would have been for me.” “ I don’t understand how someone who has been so deeply invested in art, in people of color, in women, was let go,” she told Hyperallergic. Lauren Halsey, a young artist who recently opened a site-specific installation at MOCA, echoed Pittman’s sentiments about Molesworth’s commitment to artists, especially those institutionally under-recognized. Pittman recently resigned from MOCA’s board over several issues, including the overall lack of concern for diversity and the role of former board member Steven Mnuchin (Secretary of the Treasury under Trump), that he said were not addressed when he brought them up. Rethinking the state of our museums is not undermining.” ![]() She is that rarity that is artist-identified….There could be certain aspects of our society that see it as undermining, while some that see it as rebuilding and rethinking,” he said, referencing Vergne’s comments. Many curators are board-identified or collector-identified. ![]() “ I was very excited and rooted for her coming to LA,” artist Lari Pittman told Hyperallergic. Artist and MOCA board member Catherine Opie was told by Vergne that Molesworth was fired for “undermining the museum,” according to the LA Times, to which she replied, “I think you have made a terrible mistake.” The announcement of her departure shocked and dismayed many in the Los Angeles art world. When she was hired in 2014 by then-new museum director Philippe Vergne, the move was seen by many as the first step in getting the institution back on track after a long decline. The museum had weathered a major crisis under the leadership of previous director Jeffrey Deitch, which saw the untimely resignation of curator Paul Schimmel in 2012 after 22 years on the job. “Hiring Molesworth is a further sign that Philippe Vergne, who became director in March, is setting the ship to right after the tumultuous Jeffrey Deitch era,” Sarah Cascone wrote at the time in Artnet.ĭuring her tenure, Molesworth was praised for supporting women artists and artists of color, organizing a critically lauded and popular retrospective of the African-American artist Kerry James Marshall, as well as an exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino, part of the Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative. LOS ANGELES - As reported on Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times, Helen Molesworth, the chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, has been fired. Molesworth joins MOCA from the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (photo © John Kennard)
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