Still seeking greatness

Alex Nyerges began work as VMFA's director and chief spin-meister on Aug. 1, 2006. (Photo by Katherine Wetzel, (c) Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)

I worked for five directors during my 32 years at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I've already written about Peter Mooz, the director who hired me in 1978. That leaves four -- two of whom were good and two of whom were ... well ... ordinary.

Keep in mind that my perspective on these four directors was that of a middle management employee and that my evaluation of them is merely personal opinion.

Paul Perrot, one of the good ones, arrived in 1984. He came to VMFA from the Smithsonian Institution, where he was Assistant Secretary for Museum Programs. VMFA was at that time in the middle of constructing its West Wing, which opened in 1985 and houses collections given to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Sydney and Frances Lewis. The two collections couldn't have been more divergent: The Mellon side of the wing houses French art and British Sporting Art, and the Lewis side houses Art Nouveau and Art Deco masterpieces and an exceptional collection of Post-World War II American art.

Most decisions about the wing had already been made by the time Paul arrived. So he devoted much of his time to the infrastructure of the existing museum -- the backstage aspects, including electrical systems, heating and air conditioning systems, and structural problems. What he found was appalling. Much of the unseen portions of the museum had been sadly neglected for years. While construction continued on the eye-popping West Wing, Paul found money and resources to modernize what already existed. It was, I believe, his greatest contribution to VMFA.

Let me give you an example of his attention to detail. I was walking through the galleries one summer morning on the way back to my office in the South Wing when I came across Paul and the museum's building and grounds manager in what was then called the Mediterranean Court. The centerpiece of the area was a large, shallow pool surrounded by pots of papyrus plants. Paul, wearing his trademark seersucker suit, had taken off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants, and waded into the shallow pool.

As I got closer, Paul picked up a handful of the gravel on the bottom of the pool and held it out for the building and grounds manager to sniff. The smell was not good: it was musty, with an aroma of decay. "Fix that," he told his subordinate. Then he picked up his shoes and socks and headed back to his office, leaving wet footprints in his wake.

Paul left VMFA in 1991 to become director of the Santa Barbara (California) Museum of Art.

Katherine Lee was named VMFA's director in 1991. She came to Richmond from Chicago, where she was a high-ranking official of the city's Art Institute. Katherine was the first female director in the museum's history. She cut back on the number of senior staff who reported to her directly and instituted what many staffers began calling "the blame game." For the first time, the museum became a bureaucratic institution. Innovation slowed, and imagination was quelled. Katherine's management style seemed to me to be one in which any innovative idea was first assigned a "designated blamee" in case of failure. Gradually, the stream of ideas slowed from a torrent to a trickle.

Katherine left VMFA in 2000, with the new 2010 wing on the horizon and not enough money in the coffers to begin the project. Katherine's personality, some senior staffers thought, was not such that she felt comfortable soliciting major donors. She left to be director of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Later in 2000, the museum's trustees picked Michael Brand, a young, talented Australian on his way up in the art world, to be the next director. Michael was one of the good ones, completely supportive of the staff, encouraging new ideas and eager to begin implementing the process of doubling the size of the museum. He was as masterful with prospective donors as he was with the media, generating excitement and enthusiasm for the museum's $150 million expansion. He stayed at VMFA for only five years, until 2005, and left to become director of the richest museum in the world, the J. Paul Getty Museum in California.

It wasn't until 2006 that a new VMFA director was named. He is Alex Nyerges, who had been director of the Dayton (Ohio) Art Institute since 1992. When the trustees announced his appointment, the first thing staff members did was to look online to learn more about the DAI. The front page of Dayton's Web site showed a splashy picture of Princess Diana to promote an exhibition of Diana memorabilia. Some thought it was a sign that Nyerges' focus in Richmond might be more on flash than substance.

Sadly, I believe, that was the case. His aim, it seems to me, was to increase attendance at all costs. I have no problem with seeking higher attendance, and flash can easily live side by side with substance. But two aspects of Alex's approach to running the museum give me pause. He recently announced that VMFA will be open 365 days a year. That's an attention-getting move, but does anybody really expect that people will flock to the museum on Christmas, New Year's, July 4th and Thanksgiving, days on which VMFA has historically been closed? Not me. My guess is that you'll find very few, if any, people at the museum on those holidays. It was decision made for show, not need.

Alex has also developed a reputation as a spin-meister. He has said that VMFA is now one of the Top Ten comprehensive art museums in the nation. Many look askance at that claim. What does it mean? And is it true? Also, in newspaper articles after the recent Grand Opening weekend, Alex was quoted as saying nearly 30,000 people had visited to celebrate the expansion. From what I can find, his numbers were wildly inflated. Spin can be an effective tool -- until you're found out.

With the opening of the museum's new wing in May, the stage is set for greatness at VMFA. National critics and the public alike have had high praise for the architecture and the logical and dazzling way in which the collections are now displayed.

What VMFA needs now is another great director in the mold of Leslie Cheek Jr. During my tenure, I worked for two good directors and two who were run-of-the-mill. I'd dearly love to see another director who could be called a visionary and effective leader.