Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Orlando Museum of Art in June and seized 25 paintings the museum believed were by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the authenticity of the work has been questioned, sparking a wave of evictions. has been plaguing museum management with this problem in rapid succession.
Aaron de Groft, who brought the controversial Basquiat show to the museum, was fired from his position as museum director in June. Several members of the museum’s board of directors Cynthia Blumback — over concerns that she had kept the board in the dark over the Basquiat Shaw mount issue — instead being removed from the board itself. I cited a previously overlooked rule.
Hours after announcing their resignations, the museum made another announcement, saying it had “accepted the resignation” of the new interim director, without providing any explanation. Ruder WhitlockIt came just six weeks after he replaced de Groft and just days after Blumback praised his “steady command”. editorial at the Orlando Sentinel. Since then there has been further confusion. Brumback resigned as chairman of the troubled museum, but she remains on the board.
“I call it the Basquiat debacle” Winifred Sharpa retired judge and one of the councilors who was removed from the board last week, said in an interview. We have worked to help them since the 1920s and it has always meant a lot to me. .”
As Sharp sees it, the confusion stems from how Brumback responded when the museum received a subpoena from the FBI in July 2021. The museum hosted a large-scale exhibition centered on ‘by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The subpoena arrived seven months before Basquiat’s show opened to the public, but Brumback and museum director De Groft chose to keep it a secret and carry on as if nothing had happened, he said. Emails obtained by The New York Times according to interviews with several former directors, employees, and internal board members.
The museum’s other 29 trustees received little notice even though they hired outside lawyers and began taking statements from museum employees, the former trustees and employees said. Stated. The investigation was “best kept secret in town – even security here was asking about the FBI,” said a museum employee who was allowed to remain anonymous after being threatened with firing if museum staff spoke to news media. I remember the staff.
The exception was the trustee who oversaw the museum’s finances and inquired about the large legal costs the museum suddenly incurred, the former trustee said, the email confirmed. He was said to have sworn to secrecy. The rest of the board learned of the subpoena’s existence when he was mentioned in a New York Times article in May 2022, three months after Basquiat’s show began.
“If I knew when I should have known, the show wouldn’t have happened,” Sharpe said. “I am a former judge and attorney and I know what it means to have a subpoena filed. Usually “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”
A subsequent June meeting of the board’s executive committee convened to discuss the subpoena only added to the frustration some members felt about Brumback’s secrecy. “The board is the entire board, not the chairman of the board, and the only entity that holds the franchise of the company.” Ted Browna renowned local attorney and former board member president He said in an interview that he was one of the recently expelled trustees. “We are responsible for the museum’s good, bad, ugly and everything in between. was.”
Brumback did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In an op-ed published by Orlando Sentinel before she stepped down as her chairman, she said that de Groft had written about Basquiat’s exhibition “Heroes and Monsters.
“OMA board and staff remain perplexed by the FBI’s seizure of works from the Heroes and Monsters exhibition and subsequent negative attention,” she wrote. We are processing and continuing to work through the idea that this has become a source of ill will within the museum family and our beloved community.”
Several former board members have spoken out about what they said changed Brumback’s account of not telling the rest of the board about the subpoena. At one meeting, Brumback claimed that Brown’s attorneys at the museum had urged her to keep it a secret. said he did
That meeting ended with the decision to end the Basquiat show a year early on June 30th. However, on June 24th, the FBI raided the museum and seized the painting from the wall.
In affidavits filed to secure the search warrant, FBI agents provided evidence that the collection’s origin story, which had been told by the collection’s owner and the museum, was false, and that the work of art was not. , referring to the painting on FedEx cardboard in a custom typeface that was not used until after Basquiat’s death. It claimed that there was “absolutely no doubt” that
Since then, as the museum has made international headlines and begun to grapple with influence from donors, some board members have argued that Blumback, who had worked with a crisis communications firm, should be more transparent to rebuild trust. A board of trustees aligned with Brown and Sharp advocated an apology to both the community and museum staff. Some of them expressed concerns about the authenticity of Basquiat’s paintings before the show began, only to face the threat of dismissal if they pressed the issue.
Things came to a head last week at Brumback’s editorialSeveral trustees were upset that Brumback appeared to take no responsibility, and wondered if her remarks implied that the entire board was aware of the subpoena. Worried. Some complained that she did not share the op-ed with the board before publication. emailed to
Some trustees felt it did the opposite. By August 22, five organizations, including Brown and Sharp, have decided to call for a special board meeting on Friday. This is due to the depletion of the museum’s budget by lawyers and publicists and the fleeing of prominent donors.
Brown said the meeting’s agenda was clear. If she had been responsible for her, her board might have given her another term, he said.
Instead, his own tenure on the board was shortened. On Tuesday afternoon, Brown, along with Sharpe and his three other trustees, received a brief email. They were thanked for their volunteer service as trustees (his 30 years in the case of Carolyn Fennell, an executive at the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority) and told they would be removed from the board immediately. Friday’s meeting has been cancelled.
Sharp said she and several other limited-time directors had previously been asked to help stay and guide the museum through the ongoing crisis. , continued to ask the Chair to make a full, fair and honest statement,” Sharp said. “We were asking her to do it! It took her a while to say she had no choice but to have this meeting.” It’s clear that people don’t want to face the issues that we were trying to raise.”
Blumback then resigned as chairman, Mark ElliottIn a news release pointing out that Brumback would “work” with Elliott, the new chairman said “our job is cut short”. , added that his mandate includes “focusing on good governance and museum practices and procedures.”
One of his first tasks is to find a new museum director. Last Wednesday, the museum’s interim director, Whitlock, appeared to sympathize with some of their concerns in an internal email after the board’s dismissal, but he resigned.
“I love museums, and I want to see them do well,” said Whitlock, who temporarily headed the museum during previous upheavals, in an interview. “But by resigning, it’s clear that I wasn’t happy with certain things.”
His voice cracked and he concluded, “And that’s all I can tell you.”