The chief of the Artwork Institute of Chicago, one of the vital extensively visited museums within the US, is taking break day amid an investigation into his conduct on a flight final month.
CBS Information reported late on Friday night time that James Rondeau, the president and director of the Artwork Institute of Chicago since 2016, had voluntarily stepped away from his publish whereas that investigation proceeded.
An Artwork Institute of Chicago spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to ARTnews, “The Artwork Institute takes this very severely and has opened an impartial investigation into the incident to collect all accessible data.” The spokesperson confirmed that Rondeau had voluntarily taken break day through the investigation.
In line with the CBS Information report, the investigation stemmed from an alleged incident that happened on a flight from Chicago to Munich in April. Citing nameless sources, the report mentioned that police have been “referred to as to the airplane following studies of a passenger stripping off his garments.” These sources informed CBS Information that Rondeau was that very passenger, and that “the incident occurred after he drank alcohol and took prescription medicine.”
Rondeau has been on the Artwork Institute of Chicago since 1998, when he joined as an affiliate curator of latest artwork. He grew to become chair of latest artwork in 2004, and whereas main that division, he merged it with the establishment’s trendy artwork division. The newly merged trendy and modern artwork division obtained a $400 million artwork donation from collectors Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson in 2015, in what stays the museum’s largest present ever. By that present, important works by Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and extra entered the gathering.
Because the museum’s chief, Rondeau has continued luring vital presents, together with a $75 million one from Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed final 12 months that might be used to construct new galleries for Nineteenth-century artwork, in addition to trendy and modern artwork.
Additionally in 2024, the museum confronted controversy for the best way it handled a pro-Palestine encampment on its grounds that was led by college students on the Faculty of the Artwork Institute of Chicago, a associated entity to the museum. Sixty-eight college students have been arrested after the varsity referred to as the police. (The varsity has been the topic of behind-the-scenes upheaval surrounding Israel’s battle in Gaza.) The arrests moved greater than 40 Artwork Institute of Chicago workers to put in writing a letter to Rondeau, urging the museum to chop ties with any board members with monetary connections to Israel.
