The list of departures from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington grew longer this week when Constance R. Caplan, the chairman of the board of trustees handed in her resignation Monday, The Washington Post reported.
In a letter to the Hirshhorn and the Smithsonian Institution that runs it, Ms. Caplan complained about the “contentious manner and lack of inclusiveness with which a number of trustees and staff associated with the Hirshhorn and the Smithsonian have behaved over the past year.â€
She blamed those conditions for the resignation of the director Richard Koshalek, who announced he was stepping down in May after the board split on whether to continue supporting a project he had long championed: a temporary inflatable bubble that would cover the museum’s inner courtyard. The bubble, which was first proposed in 2009, was never able to garner the $15 million it would take to finance its construction and operations. Last month, the Smithsonian announced the museum was canceling the project.
Divisions over the bubble have now contributed to the resignation of seven board members within the last year, including the previous chairman, J. Tomilson Hill.
Ms. Caplan also complained that the museum was too focused on “exhibitions and operations†instead of taking a more ambitious role as “the nation’s museum of contemporary art.†Richard Kurin, Undersecretary for History, Art and Culture at the Smithsonian, dismissed the notion that the Hirshhorn is pulling back as an innovative institution. He added that the board’s role is to advise, not to handle day-to-day management and this it is “dangerous to conflate the two.â€
Later this month the 12-member board is supposed to meet to pick a new chairman.
