Smithsonian leader moving to the Blanton

Director also will serve as adviser to UT president, professor.

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS WRITER
Friday, May 08, 2009

Ned Rifkin, former under secretary for art at the Smithsonian Institution, has been named the new director of the University of Texas' Blanton Museum of Art, university officials announced Thursday.

Rifkin replaces Jessie Otto Hite, who retired in 2008 after 30 years with the museum.

With Rifkin's appointment, the Blanton will move from its position as a division within the College of Fine Arts and report directly to the UT provost's office.

"Although the Blanton Museum is strongly connected to the academic units of the College of Fine Arts — and remains strongly connected — its mission as an art museum differs from those academic units," said Steven Leslie, the university's executive vice president and provost. "We think this move will enable the museum to strengthen and enhance its relationship with the community."

The Blanton started in 1963 as the University Art Gallery with a small exhibit space inside UT's Art Building. In 2006, the museum opened the first building of a $83.5 million two-structure complex that occupies a prominent site on the south end of the UT campus. The Blanton is now the largest university art museum in the nation with noted collections of Latin American art as well as prints and drawings. It has an annual budget of $6.4 million.

The university's Ransom Center, a research library and museum, also reports directly to the provost's office.

"Ned Rifkin is one of our nation's most visible and highly regarded art museum directors, and we are absolutely delighted to have him as our director of the Blanton Museum," Leslie said. "His appointment at UT is also a major step forward for the visual arts in Austin. Ned's leadership of the Blanton and his role as special adviser to (UT President William Powers Jr.) sets the stage for what will be a wonderful and leading-edge campuswide focus on the visual arts."

As special adviser to Powers — not a formal appointment — Rifkin will advise on the visual arts for the campus and collections at UT, university officials said.

Rifkin will also hold the position of professor of art and art history. His appointment as museum director was effective May 1, university officials said. Ann Wilson, the museum's associate director, has been serving as interim director since Hite's retirement. Rifkin's salary at UT will be $350,000.

Rifkin, 59, said that his move to Austin and the Blanton feels something like coming full circle. He started his career teaching art history at UT-Arlington in the 1970s.

"After years of working as curator, museum director and leader in the arts management field, it makes sense to return to Texas and come to a university of this stature, gives me a chance to share my experiences with students and faculty, at a deeper and more meaningful level," he said. "It's a real privilege for me to accept these positions."

At the Smithsonian, Rifkin served as the top administrator overseeing eight art museums and a budget of $100 million, a position he held from 2004 to 2008. His salary at the Smithsonian was reported in 2006 as $430,000.

During his tenure at the Smithsonian, Rifkin oversaw the renovation of a historic building for the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. He had been director and chief curator at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum after serving as director of the Menil Collection in Houston from 2000 to 2002 and the High Museum in Atlanta from 1991 to 1999.

Rifkin received a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and master's and doctoral degrees in art history from the University of Michigan.

A champion of contemporary art, public art and film as art, Rifkin organized a major exhibit of the work of painter Agnes Martin while he was director of the Menil. When he was director of the Hirshhorn, Rifkin commissioned conceptual artist Olafur Eliasson to reconceive the entrance to the museum.

"I believe that an art museum is not just a place but a force, a laboratory," Rifkin said. A museum "has to be a part of what makes people feel happy and engaged and that their curiosity is sparked. It shouldn't be passive."

jvanryzin@statesman.com; 445-3699