With zero public fanfare, Hansen Mulford has retired as chief curator of Orlando Museum of Art after a career there that stretched more than 40 years.
The departure is attention-getting, not only because of the longevity of Mulford’s tenure: With his retirement, the museum’s three top officials during the Basquiat scandal of 2022 — former board chair Cynthia Brumback, former director Aaron De Groft and now Mulford — all have left their jobs.
De Groft was fired in June, shortly after the FBI seized 25 works of art that the museum had attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat, an acclaimed artist who died in 1988. It turned out the FBI had been investigating the works’ authenticity for years and had served a subpoena on the museum before the exhibit, titled “Heroes & Monsters,” opened in February 2022. The museum went ahead with the exhibit anyway — though multiple trustees later told the Orlando Sentinel they had no knowledge of the subpoena at the time — and De Groft championed the works to the press.
Brumback stepped down as board chair in August and left the board completely in December, “to focus on my business and my family,” she said at the time.
The departures of Brumback and Mulford could be related to recommendations from an investigation by Orlando-based Akerman law firm into the Basquiat scandal. A spokeswoman for Tucker/Hall, the crisis PR firm hired after the scandal broke, did not respond to an emailed question about whether the investigation and Mulford’s retirement were connected.
Museum officials have not publicly commented on the Akerman investigation, which they commissioned. Trustees began hearing the results of the probe months ago.
In a September interview, current board president Mark Elliott pledged to be transparent with the community over the investigation’s findings: “We know there’s so much public interest,” he said. But to date, no information has been provided. Questions as to when the public might hear about the findings were not answered this week.
Mulford’s retirement was apparently handled without much ceremony. A review of the museum’s social media accounts showed no mention of the occasion, and an internal announcement seen by the Sentinel was delivered after the fact.
“Today we are announcing the retirement of Chief Curator Hansen Mulford,” said the staff message from interim chief operating officer Joann Walfish. “We thank Hansen for over 40 years of service to the Orlando Museum of Art. Hansen’s last day as our Chief Curator was February 17.”
Walfish’s message to staff indicated curator Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon would manage the curatorial department. That was confirmed in a brief statement from Elliott, who wrote, “We will be conducting a search for a chief curator while our curator, Coralie, takes on a leading role in the department in the interim.”
The institution, which remains on probation with the American Alliance of Museums, is searching for a new director, as well.
It’s unclear how much direct influence Mulford or Claeysen-Gleyzon had on the ill-fated “Heroes & Monsters” exhibit. Publicly, De Groft took the lead on promoting the show; Claeysen-Gleyzon was not part of a preshow media tour attended by the Orlando Sentinel.
In the 164-page catalog the museum created for the exhibit, Mulford is only credited with co-writing one essay with De Groft. Titled “Diego Was Full of Unquenchable Passion,” it’s a biographical piece on Diego Cortez, the man credited with “discovering” Basquiat in the New York art scene of the late 1970s. The disputed artworks shown at Orlando Museum of Art are mentioned in the essay only once, as an aside.
None of the writing in the catalog is attributed to Claeysen-Gleyzon.
Mulford’s association with the museum isn’t completely over yet, according to Walfish’s announcement to staff.
“Hansen has agreed to be a consultant to OMA for a limited time on the Museum’s 2023 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art,” she wrote.
Mulford has been involved with the prize that honors contemporary artists working in the state since its inception in 2014. He and other staff members travel around Florida to select the prize’s finalists, whose work is shown at the museum.
The exhibition date is not listed on the OMA website, but if the museum follows its typical schedule, the process of selecting finalists is well underway. The “Florida Prize” exhibit usually opens to the public in late May or early June.
Mulford received a master of fine arts degree from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida. He joined the Orlando Museum of Art in 1981 and became a senior management team member in 1988.
During his decades there, he was part of the institution’s remarkable growth as the permanent collection increased and the building itself expanded multiple times. A few weeks ago, he led a preview tour of the museum’s “Relentless Courage” exhibition of photos from the Ukraine war.
In a 2015 interview with the Orlando Weekly, Mulford reflected on what the museum means to Central Florida.
“I have always seen the Orlando Museum of Art as the region’s flagship visual arts organization and one of the state’s major cultural institutions,” he said. “The museum brings exhibitions to the area that could not be seen elsewhere and provides an experience for visitors that is on par with other significant regional museums in the country. Quality and substance are central, but the museum strives to make the visitor’s experience rewarding and enjoyable in many ways.”
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