Letter to the Editor: Patrick Moore’s Departure from Warhol Museum Not Precipitated by Controversy

On Friday, ARTnews reported that Patrick Moore was departing as director of Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum amid controversy over the planned Pop District. Since that article was published, Moore informed ARTnews that he resigned after accepting a different position in Spain that will be announced in the coming weeks. Steven Knapp, president and CEO of the Carnegie Museums, the consortium that operates the Andy Warhol Museum, responds below.

The March 15 article by ARTnews on Patrick Moore’s decision to step down from the directorship of The Andy Warhol Museum this summer may have given the impression that his decision was precipitated by controversy, particularly over his leadership of the creative placemaking, workforce development, and performing arts initiative we are calling the Pop District.

I can assert without qualification that this is the not case. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, of which The Warhol is an integral part, stands behind Patrick’s vision for The Pop District as well as his seven-year leadership of The Warhol overall. We see The Pop District as defining a highly original but also replicable pathway for arts and cultural institutions seeking to serve as transformational catalysts in their communities. These facts could have been clarified had staff from ARTnews reached out to anyone at the museum for comment rather than relying on anonymous sources quoted in other publications.

We are saddened by, but fully support, Patrick’s decision to relocate to Spain, the homeland his husband left some 30 years ago.

Steven Knapp, PhD
President and CEO
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh