A trustee at the Art Gallery of Ontario advised an acquisitions committee at the museum not to acquire a Nan Goldin piece because of the artist’s statements on Israel’s war in Gaza, according to a new report by the Globe and Mail.
The same publication previously reported that the museum had sought the acquisition of Stendhal Syndrome, a 2024 video installation that does not address Israel, Palestine, or the conflict in Gaza. The plan was initially to purchase the work in tandem with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center, which did go through the acquisition, but the AGO bailed out after a collections committee raised concerns about Goldin’s politics.
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The photographer is a vocal advocate of pro-Palestine causes and called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” during a 2024 opening at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Goldin, who is Jewish, said that the definition of antisemitism had been “weaponized” and said, “In declaring all criticism of Israel as antisemitic, it makes it harder to define and stop violent hatred against Jews.” In response, Klaus Biesenbach, the museum’s director, called the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas a “cruel act of terror” and said, “Israel’s right to exist is beyond question for us.”
The proposal to acquire Goldin’s Stendhal Syndrome appears to have split the collections committee and internally raised concerns, spurring the resignation of two members of that group and one curator: John Zeppetelli, who formerly worked in the modern and contemporary art department and remains on staff for now as a guest curator. Amid reports that some detractors on the committee labeled the potential acquisition “offensive” and Goldin “antisemitic,” the museum promised a review.
“Personal political views were brought into the conversation,” an AGO spokesperson previously said. “This is not intended to be part of the process.”
On Monday, the Globe and Mail reported that it had obtained documentation of a meeting suggesting that a trustee at the museum, Judy Schulich, had pushed for the decision not to acquire the work. Schulich, who is also a member of the committee, “described the artist as a liar and propagandistic,” according to the Globe and Mail, and raised questions about the quality of Stendhal Syndrome. Moreover, paraphrasing the meeting’s documentation, the Globe and Mail reported that she reportedly “expressed concern that the Ontario government might cut off funding if the AGO bought an American artwork.”
Additionally, according to the Globe and Mail report, an internal memo noted that one unnamed committee member compared Goldin to Leni Riefenstahl, a photographer and documentarian who created propaganda for the Nazi regime.
The Art Gallery of Ontario and the Schulich Foundation, where Schulich serves as vice president, did not respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.
