Museum Outreach or Overreach? Backlash Sets in Over LA MOCA Schimmel Firing

Art philanthropist Eli Broad defended Jeffrey Deitch and the Los Angeles MOCA’s new direction, in an op-ed piece in the LA Times on Sunday, sparking a flurry of commentary, mostly negative. Blake Gopnik, in the Daily Beast, speculates on new shows coming up at MOCA to draw in the crowds the Deitch/Broad faction appears to want: “Home of the D-Cup: The Topless Girl in 20th-century Culture.” and “You Love Their Songs, Now See Their Paintings: The Art of Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan.” What was a local shake-up is taking on  larger significance as a museum populism backlash.

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