PAUL SCHIMMEL LEAVES MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES

The Los Angeles Times reports that Paul Schimmel, chief curator of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and “one of the most prominent museum curators in the United States,” has been fired from his job. The decision was made official yesterday. Schimmel was in the middle of organizing a Richard Hamilton retrospective that was to travel to Philadelphia, Madrid, and the Tate Modern, but now will close his tenure at LA MoCA with the exhibition, “Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949–1962,” as stipulated by the terms of a contract. While the reasons for Schimmel’s departure remain unclear, blogger Mat Gleason, who first reported the news, pointed to the museum’s ongoing financial struggles as a possible cause.