Madeleine Grynsztejn, one of the key figures in Chicago’s art world, will step down as director of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art at the end of the year, ending an 18-year tenure that included a series of notable retrospectives and significant expansion of the institution’s collections and operating budget.
Grynsztejn noted in a phone interview that next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the MCA and said she felt it was time to step aside and let others take over her duties.
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“I asked myself, who should be on the podium in January 2027? Is it the person who has led the museum to this moment over the past 20 years, or is it the person who will lead the museum forward in the next 20 years?” Greenstern said. “The answer to me is simple.”
She declined to say what she will do next, but said that in her next project, she will “replicate my support of artists more directly on a larger scale than I can commit to right now.”
Grynsztejn joined the MCA in 2008 and has since driven a diverse program supported by large-scale retrospective campaigns that have won praise. Under her leadership, the museum has investigated artists such as Doris Salcedo, Takashi Murakami, Howardena Pindell, Virgil Abloh, and Luc Tuymans; it has also conducted large-scale investigations, such as the recent one for Yoko Ono, who had never visited the United States before being investigated by the MCA.
Unlike a museum director, Grynsztejn has also taken a hands-on approach to programming, initiating exhibitions such as a 2016 survey of the painter Kerry James Marshall. The exhibition subsequently traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
“No one can lead a major museum for eighteen years without demonstrating a commitment to expanding its audience and constituency while maintaining the highest critical and aesthetic standards,” Marshall said in an email to him. art newsdescribes his relationship with the MCA as “a meaningful partnership for myself, the museum, and our visitors.”
Before coming to Chicago, Greenstern served as senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he doubled the MCA’s operating budget and built a notable collection of art for the museum.
One of the more notable gifts came from Greek collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos, who donated about 100 works to the MCA in 2022, most of which are jointly managed by the MCA and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. (Approximately 250 other works are also in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece.) Works by Robert Gober, Anna Mendieta, Sarah Lucas, Louise Bourgeois, Mona Khatoum, Wangechi Mutu, Paul Pfeiffer and many other luminaries are thus included in the MCA collection. Meanwhile, Chicago collectors Marilyn and Larry Fields donated 79 works to the museum and provided $2 million in funding.
Rather than giving away art in large quantities, some collectors donate money. In 2012 alone, the MCA received $10 million from Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson to name the museum’s theater, and an additional $10 million from Sam and Helen Zell. The museum eventually used funds from the Zell family to fund the creation of the Michelin-starred restaurant Marisol.
Grynsztejn said art donations from collectors help diversify the MCA collection. “I grew up in places where I was excluded because of language or other ways,” she said, referring to her upbringing in countries such as Peru, Venezuela and the United Kingdom. She added: “I have always strived to create a place that is as welcoming and inclusive as possible.”
As an example, she noted, as journalists Julia Halperin and Charlotte Burns have noted, the museum has an initiative dedicated to female artists in an effort to redress systemic imbalances that still exist in the United States. According to the museum, more than half of the art collected since 2020 has been collected by women. “We are probably the only contemporary art museum that requires a minimum of 50% female artists in all collection acquisitions and projects,” Grynsztejn said.
Not every phase of her tenure has been so rosy. In 2021, for example, Grynsztejn faced scrutiny after nearly 100 current and former employees accused MCA of failing to deliver on promises of change made the previous year. In addition, the museum laid off 41 employees in 2021, citing the impact of the epidemic. Greenstern expressed “regret” at these developments in a statement at the time, while also noting that the MCA had made the decision to “sustain the museum and the community it serves.”
But Grinstein also said the museum has been actively working to maintain relationships with staff. She noted that the museum voluntarily recognized its alliance in 2024, a first for a Chicago institution. “I believe that as long as you stand up for your principles in good times and bad, everyone will know and know where you stand,” she said.
Beginning this spring, the MCA Board of Directors will begin a search for a director position, one of the most currently vacant in the United States. Grinstein will not be involved in the search, which she said is common for current museum directors, but she will continue to lead the museum during the search.
Museum President Bill Silverstein said in a statement, “Madeline was one of the defining leaders of her generation. Her distinguished tenure elevated the MCA Chicago to new national and international heights while remaining deeply rooted in and responsive to our Chicago culture and community.”
Greenstein himself has vowed to continue focusing on artists after his departure. “I’ve been following artists my whole life,” she said. “They are our true north.”
