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The Orlando Museum of Art has a new director, in part because the old director sent an insulting email to an academic, The New York Times reported.
Aaron De Groft was removed from the post amid an FBI investigation of 25 works that had been attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat and had been on display at the museum but whose authenticity has been called into question. The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the artworks.
De Groft did not respond to requests for comment.
The museum hired an expert, identified by the Times as Jordana Moore Saggese, an associate professor of art at the University of Maryland at College Park. Saggese was paid $60,000 for her written report. She contacted the museum and asked that her name not be associated with the exhibition. At that point, De Groft sent her an email disparaging her.
“You want us to put out there you got $60 grand to write this?” De Groft wrote. “OK then. Shut up. You took the money. Stop being holier than thou … Do your academic thing and stay in your limited lane.”
