Following the ouster of Deitch's long-time predecessor, Jeremy Strick, the announcement took many by surprise as a bold move that ventured far outside the well-worn pattern. The choice of a private art dealer and gallery owner from New York, with little professional experience as a curator or director of a major museum brought questions and some confusion as MOCA now becomes the only major US Museum to be headed by someone from outside the fields of academia and non-profits.

 

 

The 57 year old Deitch becomes MOCA's fourth director in the last 30 years. A Harvard Business School graduate with an undergraduate degree in art history from Wesleyan University, Deitch became a private dealer nine years after beginning his career in the art world in 1979, as a co-founder of Citibank's art investment service. For the last three decades he has served as a very notable and successful consultant to private collectors, art dealers, and corporate investors. And it is that very business background, now thrust into the non-profit arena that has caused some of the stir.

 

 

Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michael Govin however applauded the move by saying, "Jeffrey Deitch has been a very creative and visible force in the contemporary art world for decades. He has always had an interest in the not-for-profit aspect of his art activities. With both strong intellectual interests and pragmatic business and education expertise, he is a welcome addition to the growing art scene in Los Angeles."

 

 

It is an audacious move that does not please everyone however. Selma Halo,director of the Fisher Museum at USC commented, saying "I think that the news out of MOCA is, frankly, stunning. Deitch has done amazing work as an extremely innovative art dealer. At the same time, we would be remiss not to ask ourselves how he and MOCA are planning to make the transition from the world of commerce and its values to another universe. One understands that these worlds blend, but there are still or should be some lines that are not crossed."

 

 

It remains to be seen if Deitch's business experience will be the remedy for MOCA's financial hemorrhaging, and how the new direction will be viewed by the public. Regardless of which side of this debate one falls, however, it is certain that much attention will fall on Deitch and MOCA in the coming year as the appointment's effects are played out.