Because it was revealed final month {that a} committee on the Artwork Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto determined to nix the acquisition of a piece by Nan Goldin over expenses that the Jewish American photographer is “antisemitic”, there have been rising requires the resignation of the trustee who instigated the choice, Judy Schulich.
Schulich is a big donor to the AGO and an govt with the Schulich Basis, considered one of Canada’s largest personal foundations—began by her father, the billionaire businessman Seymour Schulich. Representatives for Schulich haven’t replied to The Artwork Newspaper’s requests for remark.
The truth that it was Schulich who instigated the choice to not purchase Goldin’s work—first revealed by Toronto-based impartial journalist Samira Mohyeddin on X—was later reported by the Globe & Mail. The newspaper reviewed additional documentation indicating that an unnamed particular person in a decisive assembly of the gallery’s Fashionable and up to date curatorial working committee likened Goldin to Leni Riefenstahl, the Second World Struggle-era German film-maker and Nazi propagandist, and referred to as Goldin a “liar” based mostly on her outspoken advocacy for Palestinians.
Though the AGO had deliberate to collectively buy Goldin’s moving-image work Stendhal Syndrome (2024) with the Vancouver Artwork Gallery (VAG) and Minneapolis’s Walker Artwork Heart, it pulled out in mid-2025 after its Fashionable and up to date curatorial working committee voted 11-to-9 towards it. The transfer was sudden, particularly because the AGO already had three Goldin works in its assortment. Within the vote’s aftermath John Zeppetelli, the AGO’s curator of recent and up to date artwork, who had lobbied for the acquisition, resigned final yr; two volunteer members of the committee additionally resigned over the choice. (The VAG and Walker Artwork Heart proceeded with the joint acquisition.)
“That the supporters of the AGO have a variety of opinions shouldn’t shock anybody who has spent any time in Toronto just lately,” Stephan Jost, the gallery’s director and chief govt, mentioned in an announcement to The Artwork Newspaper. “We’re a public museum and pluralism is a actuality. Right now’s geopolitical local weather has created challenges around the globe for cultural organisations like ours as we’re being requested to mediate conflicts past our management. As director and CEO of the AGO, I can guarantee you we’re targeted on our mission and dealing to take the mandatory actions to make sure our processes are about artwork and respectful dialogue.”
After the revelation about Schulich’s advocacy towards the Goldin acquisition, the AGO introduced final week it is going to break up the related committee in two. Jost added: “In response to the suggestions from an impartial governance assessment, the AGO will shift the Fashionable and up to date curatorial working committee into separate committees: one specializing in Twentieth-century artwork; and one specializing in Twenty first-century artwork. This can occur later in 2026.””
The response exterior the establishment has been extra strident. A extensively circulated open letter calling for extra transparency and curatorial independence on the AGO and for Schulich to step down had garnered 540 signatures as of 1 February, together with from Goldin herself. The letter was organised by a coalition of Jewish organisations together with Jews Say No To Genocide, Unbiased Jewish Voices Toronto and United Jewish Peoples Order Canada.
“Judy Schulich, a trustee of the Artwork Gallery of Ontario, intervened to dam the acquisition of a brand new work by Jewish American artist Nan Goldin, reportedly citing a speech Goldin delivered in Berlin in 2024, wherein she condemned the actions of the Israeli authorities towards Palestinians as genocidal,” the letter begins. “In keeping with accounts of the assembly, Goldin was labelled antisemitic and her speech dismissed as ‘filled with lies’. We’re Jewish teams, allies, and artists who vociferously reject this framing and who unequivocally denounce Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
The letter’s authors write that “using wealth and institutional energy by donors to intimidate curators, override skilled decision-making and censor artists” is “antithetical to creative freedom and to the obligations of public cultural establishments”.
Expressing concern concerning the “intervention” to dam the Goldin acquisition, the letter additionally takes concern with “the broader sample of governance failures on the AGO”, together with “different cases wherein false or bad-faith accusations of antisemitism have led to severe skilled and reputational penalties”. The Artwork Newspaper reported in 2024 that the curator Wanda Nanibush was ousted by the AGO, allegedly due to her stance on Palestine.
“I signed the petition as a result of it displays badly on the museum to maintain Schulich on the board,” Goldin tells The Artwork Newspaper. “It signifies that cash and energy assure immunity, even when there’s a clear-cut case of censorship of an artist.” She provides: “It throws into query the priorities of this museum. Does that committee (that was dissolved) have the identical affect because the board?”
A spokesperson for Unbiased Jewish Voices, one of many organisers of the letter, advised The Artwork Newspaper in an announcement: “It’s essential to not let selections like this keep behind closed doorways. Too many individuals are being silenced and vilified standing up for Palestinian human rights. There’s nothing antisemitic about holding Israel to account for its actions. Artwork shouldn’t be inhibited by folks searching for to guard the Israeli state from criticism at any time however particularly not when it’s committing genocide.”
Whereas the AGO didn’t collectively purchase Goldin’s Stendhal Syndrome, it has three of her images in its everlasting assortment: Brian in lodge room with three beds, Mérida, Mexico (1982), Cody within the Dressing Room on the Boy Bar, NYC (1991) and My mattress, Lodge la Louisiane, Paris (1996).
