Who

The most controversial museum director in New York in a generation, Krens stepped down as head of the Guggenheim Foundation in 2008.

Backstory

New York City native Krens played a bit of semi-pro basketball in Europe—he's 6'5"—before becoming an art history professor at Williams in 1971. He added director of the college's art museum to his resume in 1981, spearheading the creation of what would eventually become MASS MoCA. In 1988 he left to head up the venerable Guggenheim, and he's been intensely focused on a seemingly limitless expansion of the franchise ever since. First he set his sights on Manhattan, leading the $80 million renovation/expansion of the Fifth Avenue flagship in 1992 as well as the creation of an outpost in SoHo. (The SoHo Guggenheim, alas, folded in 2001.) From there, it was off to conquer the world: A Berlin branch opened in 1997, as did the famously swirling, Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim in Bilbao. The latter was a financial and PR coup for the Guggenheim—the "Bilbao effect" now refers to the surge in tourism that follows the construction of a new museum by a celebrity architect—and it gave credence to Krens' empire-building mission. He followed up with the opening of the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum Las Vegas, in partnership with Russia's Hermitage Museum, which opened in the rarified venue of the Venetian Hotel in 2001.

Of note

Krens has long been vilified for the commercialization, globalization, and—as a few of his more acerbic detractors have put it—Starbucks-ization of the Guggenheim. His relentless focus on global domination led to regular accusations that he was neglecting the Fifth Avenue mothership and staging lackluster exhibition after lackluster exhibition. Possibly his loudest hater, art critic Jerry Saltz, called for his resignation in 2002, saying Krens had created "GuggEnron"; Saltz renewed his call for Krens's head in 2007 in a New York piece, describing the director's tenure as a "nightmare." Within the Guggenheim Foundation, the situation first came to a head in January 2005, when board chairman and top donor Peter Lewis—fed up with Krens's overspending and relentless expansion—resigned after a bitter power struggle. Krens was ultimately forced to hand over day-to-day operations of the New York museum to Lisa Dennison (who defected to Sotheby's in 2007).

Despite the bitter confrontation, Krens moved ahead with his expansion agenda and thanks to his crusading, new Guggenheims are now rising in Guadalajara and Abu Dhabi. But finally in 2008 the Guggenheim's board—headed by Bill Mack—decided it had had enough of Krens' provocative leadership and forced him to step down. But Krens hasn't cut his ties to the Guggenheim entirely: He'll remain a "senior adviser for international affairs" and will oversee the construction of the 452,000-square-foot Frank Gehry-designed branch in Abu Dhabi.

Keeping score

In 2004, Krens received $450,000 in salary, $21,468 in benefits, and $89,083 in expenses. The Guggenheim Foundation has also carried a $1.5 million interest-free housing loan for him since at least 2001.

Personal

Krens lives on Warren Street in the financial district. In July 2005, he put his 4,500-square-foot loft on the market for $5.5 million and rumors swirled that he was leaving New York. Days later, the listing was removed from Corcoran's website.