Change of position for Christine Macel, two years after her arrival as director of the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Nissim Camondo Museum. In an internal communication, the chairman of the board of directors of Decorative Arts, Johannes Huth, announced Wednesday October 9 “evolution” from art historian to a newly created position of scientific and artistic advisor reporting to the president of the board of directors.
This decision taken “by mutual agreement” comes two days after the submission of a report produced by an external firm on the management of the museum director. The institution ordered this social audit following an alert issued by occupational medicine concerning psychosocial risks. Under the direct management of the museum director, the conservation department has experienced three departures in two years.
Christine Macel will hold the position of scientific advisor until October 2025, the end of her contract with Decorative Arts. This title makes it possible to exclude the curator from the position of director and from all “managerial and operational link with the museum”as specified in internal communication.
His recruitment by Sylvie Corréard – director of Decorative Arts (MAD Paris, which includes the museums and the Camondo School) – and Johannes Huth was a gamble. A figure in contemporary art in France, Christine Macel created and then directed the contemporary creation department of the Center Pompidou for twenty years and presents an impressive CV of curating exhibitions, including that of the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
It is without experience of managing a large institution and with this contemporary profile far removed from the decorative arts that she takes the helm of the museum in 2022. The general management and the Board of Directors then counted on this collaboration to bring a “decompartmentalization between the arts”. But team management, as well as relationships with the museum’s patrons and partners, quickly became two stumbling blocks between the museum director and the establishment’s general management.
