Jerry Saltz doesn’t like the American Folk Art Museum’s building but before he launches into that he conveniently points out that Los Angeles–which Eli Broad would like to see recognized as an art capital, if not the art capital of America–has made several major talent acquisitions in the past few years:
curator Brooke Davis Anderson has been snatched up as Deputy Director for Curatorial Planning at the ambitious Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the last decade as AFAM’s curator, Anderson, a brilliant scholar, organized extraordinary exhibitions of Martin Ramirez and Henry Darger and oversaw shows of Adolf Wolfli and Thomas Chambers — four of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Come September, LA’s gain will be New York’s loss. (This, by the way, makes the fourth such coup, after Anne Philbin leaving the Drawing Center to become Director of the Hammer, Michael Govan departing Dia to work as Director of LACMA, and Jeffrey Deitch being named Director of LA MoCA.)
The American Folk Art Museum’s New Curator Problem — and Its Old Art-Space Problem (New York)
