Changing How We See Art

Thomas Hoving, who served as director of  the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art during the 1960s-1970s and was the innovator of the blockbuster exhibit -- starting with Tutankhamen -- died on Thursday of lung cancer. Hoving was 78.

A 1992 Publisher's Weekly Review of his book, Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, described his tone as being “preening and amusingly self-deprecating at once.”

He seems to have been a man who courted controversy, and at 6'3", he was a larger-than-life character who described his collecting style as “pure piracy.” One of the acquisitions made during his 10-year tenure at MoMA was a 2,500-year-old Greek vase that had been whisked away from an Etruscan tomb; when he made the purchase, he chose to overlook the questionable methods used to obtain the work. (Years after his departure as director, in 1996, the vase was returned to Italy.)

This isn’t to say that the self-described shark didn’t expect fair play from others, however. During his 1980s sojourn as editor of Connoisseur magazine, he revealed shenanigans perpetuated at the Getty, including a tax fraud scheme and another about a fake Greek kouros that the museum had acquired.

Although I’m interested in reading Mummies to learn more, I’ve already concluded that the way he re-envisioned the museum experience 35 to 40 years ago continues to benefit art enthusiasts everywhere. Aside from developing the blockbuster-style show, he brought about other changes that are now central components. One example -- he brought live artists into the MoMA collection. (Until that time, MoMA trustees only allowed works by dead artists to be shown.)

“We are still working out of the model he set,” said Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in the Los Angeles Times. “Beyond blockbusters, it’s the fundamental assumption that our museums have to be open and accessible to the public. That’s his legacy, and it’s a very important one.”

To read up on Hoving, check out the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times. 

Also, to hear a 1993 interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, occasioned by his memoir, Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, visit NPR.