John R. Stomberg To Direct Mt. Holyoke Museum

Leaving Williams After Nine Years

By: Charles Giuliano - Apr 21, 2011

The Williams College Museum of Art has helped to train generations of America’s top museum directors and curators. Giuliano photos.

WCMA has education and research programs in connection with the Clark Art Institute and Mass MoCA.

In his office John R, Stomberg was taken aback when we arrived unannounced. Giuliano photos.

Stomberg in one of the WCMA galleries which he helped to reinstall.

Stomberg is excited about a somewhat lateral move from Williams to Mt. Holyoke.

Lisa Corrin leaves the museum as of June but will teach at Williams during the fall semester.

 

As of August 1, John R. Stomberg will take over as director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. The museum, which was founded in 1876, was one of the nation’s first collegiate art museums.

He leaves Williams College Art Museum after nine years. His current position is deputy director and chief curator. During the past year he has largely been involved in the complete renovation and reinstallation of the permanent collection galleries.

When we visited the museum today Stomberg invited me into his office. Across the desk he pushed the news release from the college. He also took time to answer questions and sketch plans for the future.

It is the second resignation from WCMA in the span of just a few months.

As of June, Lisa Corrin is leaving her position as director of the renowned art museum. She will remain on campus for the fall semester teaching in the art history program. Corrin will also be a fellow at the Clark Art Institute where she is researching a book on changes for American museums particularly responses to new media and technologies.

With vacancies to its two top positions we asked Stomberg about the status of WCMA’s searches for the vacant administrative posts.

Although Corrin announced her plans several months ago the College is just now about to hire a search firm. It is expected that a job description will be posted in the next few weeks. With interviews to likely begin in the fall.

It is usual during such transitions for the second in command, in this case Stomberg, to take over as interim director. With both Corrin and Stomberg gone by summer it leaves a gap as to who will be in charge for the beginning of the fall semester.

Stomberg suggested that the College will seek a “solid interim director.”

It is usual for museum programming to be planned years in advance. Interim administration would be tasked to execute an existing program.

On many levels WCMA is not just another college or university art museum. Williams is renowned as a spawning ground for the nation’s top museum directors, and curators. That unfortunate term “Williams Mafia” is often evoked to describe its dominance in the art world.

Part of that remarkable status derives from its shared educational and research programming with the neighboring Clark Art Institute. It houses one of the nation’s top three libraries and research centers. Over the past eleven years nearby Mass MoCA has also become an increasingly vibrant resource for Williams/ Clark students, faculty and fellows. It has positioned Williams as one of the top programs for those pursuing careers in contemporary art. Significantly, Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, is a Williams alumnus.

That said it would seem to have been a tough decision for Stomberg to leave Williams. Since 2005 he has been a lecturer in art at Williams College. In addition to teaching the survey he designed “Photography and Modernity in the United States, 1880-1950.”

He is a specialist in the field of photography. At Boston University he earned a masters of art degree in 1990 and a Ph.D. in 1999. He was assistant director and then director of the Boston University Art Gallery from 1995 to 2002. As a reviewer I often got to discuss the exhibitions with him. This continued at Williams and I will truly miss his warmth and insights. He has a unique manner of conveying a passion for the material.

Despite the unquestionable prestige of Williams, Stomberg described Mt. Holyoke as a lateral move.

“The collection of Mt. Holyoke is slightly larger” he said. “They have 16,000 objects compared to 13,000 objects at Williams. The real estate footprint of Mt. Holyoke is slightly smaller. There is the same commitment to using the museum for teaching. I will be a member of the faculty as well as director of the museum.”

Taking the post has not been a quick or easy process. From the time he was initially contacted, until the final decision, a year has lapsed. He described excitement about being “The guy in charge. It is my museum.” At 51 this comes at mid career with options for the future.

For family considerations he plans to commute for at least the next couple of years. “It’s about an hour and fifteen minute drive and the kids get to stay in school here. As a family this gives us time to make the transition.”

While we wish Corrin and Stomberg all the best it also means that back in the hood WCMA will be off track until at least fall of 2012. Even then it will take at least another year for a new administration to initiate and execute its mandate and vision.

That’s an unsettling prognosis during a time of diminished endowments, fiscal challenges, and aesthetic turbulence. Much can and will happen over the next couple of years.