Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/361673
bostoncommon-magazine.com 73 "i suspected [the herb ritts show] would be a stick of dynamite in the community... but it symbolized that the museum is capable of change." —malcolm rogers or at another institution? I see myself working independently or at a much smaller institution. But the issue is, I don't want the time commitment. I really do want to have more time to travel, to read, to do scholarship, to collect. Were there milestones you wanted to see for yourself before you decided to retire? Certainly. I wanted to see the opening of the Art of the Americas Wing, the opening of the Linde Family Wing, and the beginnings, at least, of a program of gallery renovations, which I hope will continue after I've gone. In a way you'd love to stay and see all these things happening, but the museum is like the painting of a huge bridge: By the time you've got to the end of the painting, it needs painting at the beginning again. Whenever you leave, there's a sense of leaving something undone. Looking back at the controversy you drew early on for Ralph Lauren's cars and for Herb Ritts, do you feel proud of that now? I'm proud that in the case of Ralph Lauren, I got people to look at objects that they had taken for granted and realize that they were designed by artists, made by craftsmen. The materials were beautiful. They were sculptural. Herb Ritts is a photographer I admired when I chose to mount an exhibition of his work fairly early on. I suspected that it would be a stick of dynamite in the commu- nity because he's not the kind of photographer that dowagers love. But what it did was symbolize that the museum is capable of change. When you first announced your retirement, the word "populist" was bandied about. Do you look at that as a positive or negative term? It's not a word I particularly like, because it has an implication that you're lowering your sights, that you're dumbing down…. We present a vision of excellence, but it can be very appealing to different sorts of audiences. What do you see as the role of museums today? The 20th century was the great age of profession- alizing museums. And that had many good things about it. But it also meant that museums narrowed the sense of who their audience was, not only to art historians, but also to people who knew art…. My task has been to take the museum back to its initial philanthropic roots, which was as a resource for everyone in the community who could possibly get within the doors. Is that the mind-set of museums the world over? left: Gisele Bündchen, fashion photographer Mario Testino, Anna Wintour, and Malcolm Rogers at the opening of Testino's exhibition "In Your Face" in 2012. below left: A photograph from the controversial Herb Ritts show. below right: The neoclassical façade of the MFA. The battle is still going on…. Technology has an unstoppable forward movement, and it connects you with audiences. Museums are being forced to change. And, of course, if they survey their visitors or nonvisitors, they know the tastes of audiences have changed. Attention spans are getting shorter. People love photo opportunities much more in museums. You once described the museum as "the old dowager of Huntington Avenue." How would you describe her today? I'd like to see the museum as a nimble, athletic, ageless person. How about that? BC