William Valerio steps down Friday as assistant director for administration of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to take the leadership of the 70-year-old museum, whose focus is artists of Philadelphia and the region.
"It's hard to leave, because of course I love the Philadelphia Museum of Art and it's one of the special places on the planet," he said. "On the other hand, when this opportunity arose, I had to think long and hard about whether I wanted to be a museum director in my life, and I did, and I decided I needed to start."
Valerio, 46, officially takes his new job Monday, but already has been involved in decisions. The museum has been operating without a director since the beginning of the year. Michael W. Schantz, chief of the museum since 1981, announced a year ago his intention to leave.
Born in Bologna, Italy, raised by artist/writer parents in Park Slope, Brooklyn, before its gentrification, Valerio holds a master's degree in art history (with a 17th-century specialization) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's from Williams College. He earned a doctorate in art history from Yale University in 1996, and was a curator at Queens Museum of Art in New York, where he became interim director of exhibitions.
Drawn to Philadelphia in 2002 by Wharton's MBA program, he worked on various projects for the Art Museum as an intern even before graduating in 2004. As a senior member of the Art Museum administration, Valerio has focused on marketing, government affairs, and other matters.
He finds at Woodmere at least one important pre-existing relationship. Marguerite Lenfest, wife of former Museum of Art board chairman H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and one-half of the region's most generous philanthropic team, is a Woodmere board member and donor.
Valerio - still "learning Chestnut Hill, the collection and the building in all its quirks" - will develop a business and artistic plan after revisiting all the museum's earned revenue sources. This summer the museum instituted a $10 fee for special exhibitions, to help compensate for a downturn in philanthropy and a smaller contribution from the endowment. The museum is otherwise free.
"One of my first jobs is to put Woodmere on a fiscally responsible track for the future," he said. "I could foresee a business plan where you say that there are some opportunities that arise because of the free aspect of the institution. I have to explore all of those options and obviously go to the board."
An effort to boost endowments - whose market values totaled $10.1 million as of Aug. 31 - is likely, he said.
An Art Museum spokesman said Valerio would be succeeded by another assistant director for administration who "will focus as a government relations professional and will also assist [president] Gail [Harrity] on other matters."
The Woodmere, which opened to the public in 1940, owns 2,750 objects - paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, sculpture, photographs, decorative arts, artists' books, collage, and plates/blocks - according to registrar Sally Larson. Its specialization in Philadelphia-region artists is not likely to change, Valerio says, though a concentration in design and architecture might make sense. He points out the museum's proximity to two modern architectural landmarks, the Vanna Venturi House and Louis I. Kahn's Esherick House, both in Chestnut Hill.
"Woodmere has a big role to play as the museum of the arts of the region," he said. "How to interpret the mission to be relevant is the question."
Valerio will continue to live in West Philadelphia, rather than in the museum-owned house on an adjacent piece of property, as his predecessor did.
Sorting out all the facility's needs - for both exhibitions and storage - will be a challenge. The current main building, an assemblage dominated by an Addams Family-esque mansard-topped tower, needs what Valerio calls "deferred maintenance" and possibly a reorganization of its objects and various galleries. Certain superior works hide in shadow, he noted on a recent visit, while less important ones are displayed prominently. Wall-mounted texts sometime fail to provide historical context or adequate interpretive guidance.
Plans for an ambitious - if controversial - 30,000-square-foot addition have been on hold. The new wing's scheme was unveiled in 2001, but groundbreaking was delayed by legal challenges from neighbors citing concerns about parking and aesthetics. A Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas decision eventually granted approval, but in the meantime funding has been lost and leadership has changed.
The architect would be Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, whose founders, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, have developed a strong relationship with the museum.
"Bob and Denise are deeply integrated family members here," Valerio said. "I would love nothing better than to put a shovel in the ground. . . . But the facilities plan has to be developed first - I have to develop a facilities plan here in working with the community."
Valerio estimates a decision will come within a year, and he has no trouble articulating the goal in terms not likely to stir controversy with anyone.
"The building has to be made friendly again, the building has to be made elegant again," he says. "Its good features have to be brought to the surface in a way that will make the collection shine, so people will connect with the art in the way a great museum connects with people."
Contact culture writer Peter Dobrin at 215-854-5611 or pdobrin@phillynews.com. Read his blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/
artswatch/.
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