The Menil currently has no education department and no development office. Its 500 members are a pittance compared with 20,000 households at the Kimbell Art Museum, which also is privately endowed. Lines of responsibility are fuzzy. Bertrand Davezac, a medievalist who retired last month at age 70, held the title of chief curator, but founding director Walter Hopps, a consulting curator, functioned in that capacity. Mr. Rifkin plans to hire his own person.
Money is an issue as well.
But aesthetics, not finances, are what lured him to Houston. Today's society is too result-oriented. I'm more interested in the creative process. Gaps exist, he points out. Cy Twombly, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin, are represented in depth, but others, such as Ellsworth Kelly and Agnes Martin, are missing.