Experts criticise panel picking the National Gallery Prague director

The Czech Society of Art Historians has sharply criticised the make-up of the committee that the Ministry of Culture set up to find a new director general of the National Gallery in Prague. According to society chairman Marek Pokorný, the choice of these people “appears so unorthodox that it goes beyond all conceivable limits.”

The ministry, headed by Oto Klempíř of the Motorists party, announced on Wednesday that the committee will be chaired by his deputy and party colleague Adam Gody Kocián. Its members will also include John Mucha, grandson of the painter Alfons Mucha; art historian Jaromír Zemina; Ivo Macek, director of the Museum of Prague; photographers Lukáš and Lenka Jasanský; architectural historian Burkhardt Rukschcio; and Jan Vojtíšek, chairman of the National Gallery's trade union.

What the experts object to

In the society's view, the committee members raise doubts because of their field of expertise or their ties to potential candidates. The experts question not only the committee's overall profile but also whether most of those appointed are able to assess the gallery's needs and evaluate the candidates' proposals.

“A significant number of its members have direct links to the art market, others do not work in publicly funded cultural institutions, and the museum that one of them represents is received with bewilderment by professional circles, as it has neglected work with its collection and relies excessively on marketing at the expense of a professional foundation for its projects,” the society said. In addition, the committee has no representatives of professional associations or academia.

The society also reproaches the ministry for failing to formulate strategic priorities for the new director, to define its obligations towards the institution, and to make the terms of the selection procedure transparent and clear.

The culture minister's response

On Saturday, Klempíř told Seznam Zprávy that the committee's composition is his own decision. “I selected and nominated the members personally and bear full responsibility for this choice,” he said. According to him, the main criteria were a high level of expertise, independence and international experience, and to avoid professional “interdependence” within the narrow circle of Czech art historians, he also invited recognised foreign experts with long-standing ties to Czech fine art.

As for representatives of the ministry or professional associations, the minister stressed that the law does not oblige him to include them on the committee.

This year Klempíř has already dismissed the gallery's previous director, Alicja Knast, and announced a tender for her post. At the beginning of July he cancelled it after meeting all three finalists. The current selection procedure is therefore the second this year.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz