Art Gallery of Ontario deputy director and chief curator Julian Cox will leave his post this April after eight years in the role, marking the latest departure at the Toronto museum since it became embroiled in a controversy over a failed plan to acquire a work by Nan Goldin.
It was not clear whether Cox’s departure was in any way related to the Goldin controversy, which stemmed from a decision not to add a recent work to the collection following her comments on Israel’s war in Gaza. According to a Globe and Mail report, internal communications from the museum’s director, Stephan Jost, said that certain members of the acquisitions committee had found Goldin’s statements “offensive” and “antisemitic.”
Amid the incident, two members of the collection committee departed, as well as John Zeppetelli, a curator of modern and contemporary art. “I am very impressed by how strongly John Zeppetelli supported my sale and the right for artists to speak out,” Goldin told Artnet News.
In a release last week, the AGO merely stated that Cox had “chosen to move on from his role,” without an explanation for why. Cox was not quoted in that release, which praised him for having launched the Department of Global Africa & the Diaspora and for having grown the museum’s collection. The AGO said Cox’s last day would be on April 13.
Jost said in a statement, “Julian has had a profound and positive impact on the AGO. The quality and appeal of the AGO’s exhibitions, the significant growth of the collection, and his deep commitment to scholarship, all stand as hallmarks of his successful tenure. On a personal note, we will greatly miss his collegiality, leadership, and generosity of spirit. We wish him every success in the next chapter of his journey.”