- Nancy Spector resigned from her role as the Guggenheim’s chief curator after being entangled in allegations of racism.
- A highly regarded expert in Modern and contemporary art, the new chief curator Naomi Beckwith currently serves as a senior curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
- In the eight decades that the Guggenheim has operated, Beckwith is the first black woman to occupy the post.
On 8 October 2020 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York announced that its longtime chief curator, Nancy Spector, had resigned. This comes after the curator was entangled in allegations of racism.
On 2 June 2020 the museum posted a black square on Twitter with the following caption.
“The Guggenheim is observing Blackout Tuesday, listening and grieving with the family of George Floyd and the many other black lives that have been lost. We stand in solidarity with those demanding justice and an end to racism.”
To this, guest curator (and the museum’s first black curator in its 80 year history) Chaedria LaBouvier responded by detailing the racism that Spector and others at the museum subjected her to the year before. At the time LaBouvier was curating the hallmark show Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story. Speaking of her experience with the museum on Twitter, LaBouvier wrote, “Working at the Guggenheim w/ Nancy Spector & the leadership was the most racist professional experience of my life.” In addition to daily microaggressions Spector hosted a panel discussion about the exhibition without inviting its curator.
Following these allegations the museum responded by hiring a lawyer from the Kramer Levin firm and launched an investigation. In addition reviewing over 15 thousand documents, the firm’s investigation involved interviews with the museum’s current and past employees. Their investigation found that LaBouvier was not “subject to adverse treatment on the basis of her race”. While the investigation was centred around LaBouvier’s claims, a conclusion was reached without her input. She detailed this in a tweet:
“I was never interviewed for the Guggenheim’s Basquiat investigation/did not participate. It was not safe to do so — a Board member threatened me in May 2019: “I would not go up against the Guggenheim if I were you”, and did not trust an investigation instigated by said Board.”
When June 2020 was coming to a close, members of the museum’s curatorial department sent the museum’s executive a letter. The executive comprises director Richard Armstrong, deputy director and general counsel Sarah Austrian, chief operating officer Elizabeth Duggal and Spector. In the letter the curatorial department demanded that leadership confront an “inequitable work environment that enables racism, white supremacy, and other discriminatory practices.”
After taking some time off in July 2020 Spector left the post for good in October 2020.
Some months later, the highly contested vacancy has been filled. As of 14 January 2021 Naomi Beckwith has been named the chief curator and deputy director of the institution. A highly regarded expert in Modern and contemporary art, Beckwith currently serves as a senior curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In the eight decades that the Guggenheim has operated, Beckwith is the first black person and woman to occupy this position.
In her role, starting June 2021, Beckwith will oversee the museum’s collections, exhibitions, publications and curatorial programs. She is also expected to provide strategic direction for the Guggenheim’s international network spanning Bilbao, Venice and Abu Dhabi. She will have to do this while considering the museum’s recent financial shortfalls. According to ArtNews, September 2020 saw Guggenheim retrenching 24 employees and implementing salary cuts after estimating a budget shortfall of $12.6 million
Since Spector’s exit, the Guggenheim has announced plans of a two-year plan to boost diversity, equity and inclusion.In an interview with the New York Times, Beckwith said she wouldn’t have accepted the job if she weren’t confident that the museum was committed to change. “I look forward to merging our shared goals of expanding the story of art, and also working to shape a new reality for arts and culture.”