Former Curator Lectures On Fate of Museums

High taxes and lack of government support are crippling several of Europe’s prestigious art institutions, the former director of Harvard University Art Museums said in a speech last night.

James B. Cuno, who left Harvard last December to assume directorship of the Courtald Institute in London, spoke to an audience of about 150 in the Sackler Lecture Hall about challenges facing art museums in Munich, Berlin, and London.

“The experience in Europe is basically where America was ten years ago,” Cuno told The Crimson before his speech. “They’re facing the withdrawal of state funds, increased interference of governments and the European Union, and issues of entrepreneurship and popularity.”

An animated speaker, Cuno incorporated slides of the interiors and exteriors of many of Europe’s most famous museums into his lecture.

Cuno spoke positively of the state of museums in his new country. Since they stopped charging admissions fees, London museums are hosting twice as many visitors. Sales of season tickets to exhibits are up, indicating local interest in the city’s museums.

“In a word, London is thriving,” Cuno said. “Still, there are issues below the surface.”

Unlike other European countries, England does not protect against the exports of its art work, leading some to speculate that there is a North American drain of English art, he said.

Cuno’s speech comes at a time of transition at Harvard as the University struggles with the lack of exhibition space, postponed renovations, and changing leadership.

Cuno told The Crimson he didn’t see many parallels between challenges facing European institutions and the challenges facing Harvard’s museums.

Peter-Klaus Schuster, director of the Berlin Museum of Art, was originally slated to give the lecture, part of the M. Victor Leventritt series sponsored by Harvard’s museums. Schuster could not attend because of “unanticipated conflicts of his duties in Berlin,” according to Cuno.

Since Cuno had already purchased plane tickets to return to Cambridge for Schuster’s lecture, he seemed a natural last minute replacement, said interim Harvard Museums director Marjorie B. Cohn.

“Coming from the U.S., he really has a unique perspective on the current European situation,” she said.

At Harvard, a committee is currently deliberating a list of potential candidates for the Museums’ next director. A short list of viable suggestions will be given to Provost Steven E. Hyman this spring.

“Here at the Museums we miss him terribly,” Cohn said of Cuno in her introduction. “We miss his charisma, motivation and good ideas.”

The Leventritt lecture series this year, entitled “A Changing Picture: European Art Museums Today,” features the directors of several institutions, including the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and the National Gallery in London.

Cuno organized the lecture series last year before his departure. All lectures are free and open to the public.

—Staff writer Kristi L. Jobson can be reached at jobson@fas.harvard.edu.