Axel Rϋger, the secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London since 2019, has been appointed director of The Frick Collection in New York, and will take up the post next spring. “The past five years at the helm of this great institution have been challenging and immensely rewarding in equal measure,” he says in a statement.
Before joining the Royal Academy—which unlike most major museums in London, does not receive direct government funding—Rüger served as director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and its sister institution, the Mesdag Collection in The Hague. He was the curator of 17th and 18th-century Dutch paintings at London’s National Gallery from 1999 to 2006.
“Leading the Frick—with its spectacular collection of stunning masterpieces, rich history of exhibitions, intimate residential setting, library, and location in such an exciting city—is an irresistible proposition, particularly at this milestone moment,” says Rüger.
The New York Times reports that “as an American institution, the Frick will present Rüger with a new set of challenges, especially the necessity of private fund-raising — compared to Europe’s government support — and a board of trustees, as opposed to the Royal Academy’s complex structure (the museum is governed by its council, made up of Academicians and external members).”
What did Axel Rüger achieve during his tenure?
The RA said in a statement that Rüger has been responsible for “leading the RA through the Covid-19 pandemic, realising the Royal Academy Schools restoration project and developing a new five-year strategic plan”.
According to this plan, “the Covid pandemic, months of closure, the erosion of demand (and with it the main sources of the RA’s income) and the recent significant increase in its cost base have put the RA under considerable financial strain. Looking ahead, Covid, Brexit, the war in Ukraine and the resulting economic context all make the road to recovery both longer and more challenging than we might have expected”.
According to a spokesperson, the RA lost £1m a month during periods of closure throughout the pandemic, and did not receive any funding from the UK government’s Culture Recovery Fund. In 2021 the institution issued a statement confirming that “regrettably 113 roles were made redundant (27% of our workforce)”.
In 2022-23, total income received by the RA was £33.9m, with 31.3% coming from donations and the Friends of the RA membership scheme. In an annual report covering the same period, Rüger wrote: “our ambition over the next five years is to deliver a financially sound, culturally and educationally renowned and environmentally sustainable RA”. This proposed plan includes promoting “outstanding achievement in art and architecture” and contributing to “advancing contemporary practice”.
He adds: “Over the next five years, we aim to reinforce our proposition and reputation as an academy through our body of engaged Royal Academicians and the RA Schools.” The five-year, £23m restoration of the Royal Academy Schools—which includes expanded studio spaces and new technical workshops—was largely funded by a £10m donation from Julia and Hans Rausing.
Rüger oversaw exhibitions including Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul (2021), Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict (2021), Francis Bacon: Man and Beast (2022) and Marina Abramović (2023). He also curated Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South (2023) and the Michael Craig-Martin retrospective, which opened last week. According to the recent annual report, total attendance for all paid-for exhibitions during 2022-23 545,748.
Under Rüger’s watch, the RA was also engulfed in a transphobia row in 2021 when the work of the German artist Jess de Wahls was withdrawn from the RA gift shop after she was accused of expressing transphobic views in a 2019 blog.
What’s next for Ian Wardropper?
Earlier this year Ian Wardropper, the current director of The Frick Collection, announced that he would retire next year after 14 years with the museum. The institution’s unparalleled trove of fine and decorative arts once belonged to Henry Clay Frick, a prominent US steel industrialist and arts patron, who bequeathed his Beaux-Arts mansion and its storied holdings to the public on his death in 1919.
Notably during Wardropper’s tenure, the Frick embarked upon an ambitious and controversial $290m renovation of its home at the historic Beaux Arts mansion of Frick on Fifth Avenue, facing Central Park. The Frick temporarily relocated to the Breuer Building which has since been taken over by Sotheby’s; the collection will unveil its highly anticipated renovation and expansion, designed by Selldorf Architects, early next year.
