He had been there for twenty-nine years, but reportedly was given half a day to clean out his desk and be gone. The same ax fell as swiftly upon the unsuspecting necks of more than a dozen hitherto-valued curatorial staff members. In a kinder, gentler age employee no longer needed would have been put gently and protectedly out to pasture. Similar Friday Morning Massacres have become the down-sizing procedure of choice espoused by company psychologists and personnel directors. Get them out before they have time to influence the survivors.
Fear stalks the galleries and morale plummets.
To us at The Web of Time , however, the unconscionable brutality is not the issue. Were this an isolated case one might dismiss it as a monument to managerial poor judgment. But it not alone. It is happening in other museums both in this country and in England when governing boards appoint directors and CEO's for their fund-raising experience and not for their commitment to scholarship. Without the depth and breadth of knowledge and the unbiased objectivity that are the hallmark of curatorial excellence, the next century's arts-interested public may find itself with little alternative but to wait for the day that Antiques Road Show dealers come to town.