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closeThursday, Sep. 03, 2009
New Kimbell director looks to take museum to the next level
With Michelangelo on the way, new Kimbell director Eric Lee is making an impact quickly.
By GAILE ROBINSON
dfw.com
If there is a probationary period for new Kimbell employees, director Eric McCauley Lee doesn’t have to sweat it.
During his first month on the job, he pulled off one of the art world’s most impressive coups: He found and bought a Michelangelo painting, one of only four nonfresco works from the great artist and now the only one on display in the Western Hemisphere. On Sept. 26, Michelangelo’s The Torment of Saint Anthony (1487-8) will make its debut at the Kimbell after spending the summer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Lee could recline on the laurels of this score for years. Instead, he is busy hustling about the museum in a constant swirl of planning meetings. A suitable location for the Michelangelo must be found. There have been many suggestions and conferences. Should it be in the west lobby, close to the foyer, to greet visitors as they approach the galleries? This is the highly visible option. Or should it hang on the end wall of a barrel vault? This is a more dramatic location, but not as easy for visitors to find. The west lobby wins.
Groundbreaking for the new Renzo Piano-designed building is scheduled in less than a year, although there are still many decisions to be made on that project. Lee is in constant negotiations with his staff, the architect in Genoa, Italy, and the Kimbell’s board.
The exhibition calendar is in flux; no additions beyond the Nov. 22 offering "From the Private Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern" have been added since Lee moved here from Cincinnati in late March. He says there are many options on the table — some traveling shows and some efforts by the Kimbell’s curatorial ranks — but nothing is concrete enough to announce yet.
The current exhibit "Butchers, Dragons, Gods & Skeletons" is getting a great deal of attention from the public, other museums and the press. "I wish I could claim some credit for it, but I had nothing to do with it," Lee says.
It was organized by deputy director Malcolm Warner before Lee was hired. Lee was ensconced when it came time to mount the show, and he surrounded the five film installations with as much of the permanent collection as could be squeezed in the galleries.
Even though "Butchers, Dragons, Gods & Skeletons" has been open for several weeks, it still necessitates internal discussions, most recently, whether pillows should be placed on the floor of the Tiepolo gallery since so many visitors tend to lie there to watch a film. It was decided that pillows might pose more problems than benefits. No pillows for Tiepolo.
Lee’s home life is equally chaotic. His two sons, ages 7 and 8, are settling into their new school, and his wife, Rima, is setting up the family’s new house in Overton Woods.
Lee has yet to decorate his office, although he can pull any piece of art from the Kimbell’s storage vaults and hang it on his walls. He has removed the fabric coverings from the cork bulletin boards so the office is as Kimbell architect Louis Kahn designed it. In homage, Lee has placed a large black-and-white photo of Kahn on a side wall.
Lee was introduced to Kahn’s work during his college years. "The Yale Center for British Art [designed by Kahn] shaped my views on architecture," Lee says.
Yale is also where he was drawn into the tight brotherhood that spawned former Kimbell director Edmund "Ted" Pillsbury, current deputy director Malcolm Warner and former Kimbell curator Joachim Pissarro. It’s an incestuous business.
When Ted Pillsbury left Yale to take up the post at the Kimbell, he was succeeded by Duncan Robinson, Lee’s adviser at Yale. Eventually Robinson left to take over directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. When Timothy Potts left the Kimbell’s director post, he went to the Fitzwilliam and Lee slid into Potts’ job at the Kimbell.
Lee seems well-suited to museum directorship, especially for the Kimbell.
"The one thing I like to do more than anything, other than playing with my children, is going to museums," Lee says. "My hobby is what I do for a living. I love museums and art. There are times when I drag the children to yet another museum, and my son will yell, 'I hate art.’ It does get to that point occasionally."
He had a brief taste of life outside the arts when he worked as a research assistant for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, but it was only two years before he went scampering back to Yale. Since then, he has taught, curated and been the director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman, Okla., and the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati.
On a recent day, he allowed us to follow him as he darted about the Kimbell, commenting on his new position and the work of a director.
The architecture of the Kimbell is so wonderful, for the first several weeks I couldn’t raise my voice. It inspires such reverence; it’s almost like a sacred space."
Eric McCauley Lee,director of the Kimbell Art Museum
The new building is a priority. Working on exhibitions and acquisitions, and thinking about the future of the Kimbell — those are the priorities."
As Lee walks through the galleries, he stops to point to many of the works. All, he says, are favorites, and he explains why.The history of acquisitions at the Kimbell has always been in terms of acquiring the major work of art that becomes available on the market, rather than filling gaps. That way you get a stronger collection. But we have no van Goghs, we have no German expressionists. A few months ago, it would have been absurd to say we had no Michelangelo. Rarity, quality and importance are what are important."
I love small, focused collections — The Frick Collection in New York, and the Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland. I love the Dulwich Picture Gallery outside of London, and I love the Gardner Museum [in Boston]. All of these are intimate museums. The Frick was the inspiration for the Kimbell. I think the idea was to create a modern Frick Collection, and I think that is what has happened here."
I knew the first semester I took an art history class, this would be my life. I viewed the National Gallery as my own personal museum. I could have been a curator at an East Coast museum, but I thought I’d have more of an impact on a small museum."
The Kimbell is a very manageable museum. Every day I get pulled in many different directions; some days I don’t deal with the art at all. The staff here is just terrific. I do think the Kimbell is one of the best well-oiled machines you’ll ever encounter in the museum world."
Gaile Robinson is the Star-Telegram art and design critic, 817-390-7113
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