Michael Shapiro

During the past year I have had the pleasure of conversing and corresponding with Michael Shapiro, and working with members of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art staff as a volunteer. It is very unfortunate that due to fiscal problems Shapiro has decided to leave the museum ("Art Museum Director to Resign," Aug. 21), just as he was beginning to build a new relationship between LACMA and many of our county's communities, particularly those that traditionally have been underserved by mainstream cultural institutions.

It was Bill Veeck, a true maverick among the sport's moguls, who once declared that "[B]aseball must be a great game, because the owners haven't been able to kill it." Serious fans know they've given it a pretty good try over the years, with a considerable late assist from the steroidal heroes who wear the uniforms. They all get away with it because we fans don't want to know how baseball's sausage is made.

Twenty-three employees gone--some of them laid off, others transferred or prematurely retired. Galleries closed on a rotating basis. Maintenance reduced. Utilities budgets diminished. With $2 million in budget cuts mandated by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last September, this has not been a great season for the County Museum of Art. Morale hit bottom on Friday as the deadline for the county's early retirement program forced painful decisions.

For more than 40 years, I have placed Walter O'Malley, the man who moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, in my pantheon of minor villains, somewhere between Laurence Tisch, who ruined CBS News, and Bill Parcells, who deserted the New York Giants. Now, according to Michael Shapiro, he is not a villain at all. An opinion cherished for nearly half a century must be discarded, however reluctantly.

The wheels of justice appear to be turning slowly in a lawsuit filed by Maurice Tuchman, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's longtime curator of 20th-Century art, against Museum Director Michael Shapiro and the Museum Associates, LACMA's private support group, but there is action on several fronts.

The good news about the surprising appointment of Michael E. Shapiro to the directorship of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is that the 42-year-old Midwesterner has strong curatorial priorities. After a dozen years in which physical growth and program expansion were the principal goals for the Wilshire Boulevard museum, it's important that someone whose first love is the presentation and interpretation of art has now assumed the helm. LACMA's new breadth could use some depth.

The County Museum of Art's search for a new director is being conducted so quietly that many art-scene watchers have wondered if anything is happening. Indeed, the museum is likely to be headless for several months--following former director Earl A. (Rusty) Powell's recent departure for the National Gallery of Art in Washington--but there is action on the search front. At least two candidates have been interviewed for LACMA's top job, according to sources close to the search.

In the past four decades, more than a million Americans have spent up to two years each in South Korea. Although American servicemen have been to Japan and Europe in large numbers too, South Korea occupies a unique void in the American consciousness. With the exception of a few scholarly works, nothing has been written by a serious American writer about Koreans and their society.

After less than a year at the helm of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michael E. Shapiro announced Friday that he will resign, saying another leader is needed to help overcome "large and important and pressing" fiscal problems at the institution. Deep cuts in public funding and a shortage of private donations have forced the Wilshire Boulevard institution to reduce staff, curtail programs and shorten visitor hours for two successive years.

The tone and substance of your article on Michael Shapiro ("After 6 Months, Shapiro Assesses LACMA's Future," April 12) dealt most unfairly with the new, dynamic leader at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. As an executive faced with deep and unfortunate cutbacks in funding, he is managing to give the museum valuable leadership in a difficult time. I am sure that when a reasonable amount of time has passed the judgment on Shapiro and his leadership will be one of warmth and admiration.

During the past year I have had the pleasure of conversing and corresponding with Michael Shapiro, and working with members of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art staff as a volunteer. It is very unfortunate that due to fiscal problems Shapiro has decided to leave the museum ("Art Museum Director to Resign," Aug. 21), just as he was beginning to build a new relationship between LACMA and many of our county's communities, particularly those that traditionally have been underserved by mainstream cultural institutions.

The L.A. County Museum of Art's announcement Friday of director Michael E. Shapiro's resignation took the art world by surprise. Likewise, most of the museum's staff, rank-and-file members of LACMA's board of trustees and County Supervisors were stunned by the news that Shapiro planned to leave after less than a year on the job. But many observers say it was only the timing of the news that was shocking.

After less than a year at the helm of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michael E. Shapiro announced Friday that he will resign, saying another leader is needed to help overcome "large and important and pressing" fiscal problems at the institution. Deep cuts in public funding and a shortage of private donations have forced the Wilshire Boulevard institution to reduce staff, curtail programs and shorten visitor hours for two successive years.

On the Relevance of Art in Today's Society 'Our community is both riot-torn and financially strapped. . . . It is within this atmosphere that I ask a simple question: Is art relevant? Should we make art a priority when we are concerned about finding solutions to so many problems that are crippling our city? I believe the answer is yes. I believe that art can help to heal this city, can help to nourish its citizens and can help us regain our pride and redefine ourselves and our community.

The wheels of justice appear to be turning slowly in a lawsuit filed by Maurice Tuchman, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's longtime curator of 20th-Century art, against Museum Director Michael Shapiro and the Museum Associates, LACMA's private support group, but there is action on several fronts.

The tone and substance of your article on Michael Shapiro ("After 6 Months, Shapiro Assesses LACMA's Future," April 12) dealt most unfairly with the new, dynamic leader at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. As an executive faced with deep and unfortunate cutbacks in funding, he is managing to give the museum valuable leadership in a difficult time. I am sure that when a reasonable amount of time has passed the judgment on Shapiro and his leadership will be one of warmth and admiration.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday confirmed Michael Shapiro as the new director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The county board was required by law to approve the appointment of Shapiro, who was picked by the museum's Board of Trustees last Wednesday to run the facility. Shapiro, 42, the former chief curator of the St. Louis Art Museum, will take over the reins of the Wilshire Boulevard collection on Sept. 28, at an annual salary of $96,410.

Six months into his new job as director of the beleaguered L.A. County Museum of Art, Michael Shapiro has weathered a host of challenges. Arriving in Los Angeles last October, the former chief curator of the St. Louis Art Museum was rudely greeted by a financial crisis. A countywide budget squeeze cut $2 million from the museum's budget, forcing reductions of staff and operations. Memberships and donations also dropped off, leading to a decrease in private funding and additional layoffs.