JOHNATHAN M. LEWIS
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art announced today that its director, Hunter O’Hanian, has accepted a position at the College Art Association, the New York–based organization devoted to fostering an academic discussion about art and its purpose. Starting in July, O’Hanian will be the CAA’s executive director.
“When this opportunity came up, it was something I had to look at really seriously,” O’Hanian said in a phone interview. “I see them as being as the preeminent institution in the U.S. with regard to artists, curators, and scholars.”
O’Hanian has been the Leslie-Lohman Museum’s director since 2012. In his four years as director, O’Hanian began a project to double the size of the Lower East Side museum and significantly grow its staff. (A release notes that the goal of a larger museum will be achieved by the end of this year, and that plans for an expansion will continue on without O’Hanian as director.) He also oversaw over 30 exhibitions at the museum, notable among them a survey about the role of the nude throughout queer history and a show that featured previously un-exhibited photographs of Paul Thek from the ’50s.
Until the Leslie-Lohman Museum finds someone to fill O’Hanian’s post, trustee Meryl Allison will be its interim director. In July, O’Hanian will join the museum’s board of trustees, and will continue to be in discussions about the museum’s expansion. “My time at the Leslie-Lohman Museum was a very invigorating and very rewarding time,” O’Hanian said, “and I’m very happy to be staying involved with them.”