The Chosen Ones
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No one can accuse Robert Fitzpatrick of championing art for art’s sake. During his first six months as director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Fitzpatrick has appointed new administrators for membership, publications, and public relations; he’s also planned changes to the museum’s physical appearance and developed a penchant for throwing parties at the museum’s expense. But last week the former Disney executive and university administrator finally addressed the 20-month-old leadership vacuum in the museum’s curatorship: Elizabeth Smith, a 15-year veteran of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, will join Chicago’s MCA as chief curator on February 15, and Francesco Bonami, formerly U.S. editor of Flash Art International, will become senior curator on January 1. Rhona Hoffman, a local dealer who’s worked with Smith, describes her and Bonami as “high caliber” talents, and Kathryn Hixson, editor of New Art Examiner, says she’s “cautiously optimistic….Unlike Fitzpatrick, at least Smith and Bonami are connected to the international art world.” Yet both curators will face new professional challenges at the MCA, and by choosing solid but hardly world-class candidates Fitzpatrick may be delaying the question that’s dogged him since his arrival: where, exactly, is he going to take the MCA?
Like Smith, Bonami will be learning on the job: he has more experience as an editor and writer than as a hands-on curator. But Fitzpatrick may have needed to act quickly to deflect any possible concerns the board might have over his renovation plans and copious spending. Reportedly he’s been hosting numerous soirees to introduce himself and his game plan to the local cultural community, many of the parties taking place at his Gold Coast home. One source familiar with the cost of Fitzpatrick’s various dinners and receptions put the running tab close to $250,000, all of it absorbed by the museum. Penny Pritzker, president of the MCA board, concedes that Fitzpatrick has done a fair amount of entertaining since he arrived in Chicago but says the cost is “nowhere near” the quarter-million mark. Rhona Hoffman, who’s been a guest at Fitzpatrick’s house, thinks the parties are a good idea regardless of their cost: “If it helps him get the word out about his agenda and brings in more funding in the process, then I think it will prove money well spent.”
