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Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery whom President Trump announced he was firing last month, is stepping down, explaining in a statement on Friday that she thought her decision was in the best interests of the institution.
This week the Smithsonian Institution, which oversees the museum and has long operated as independent of the executive branch, reiterated that it retains the legal authority over personnel including Ms. Sajet, whom the president had criticized as partisan.
The White House had created a list of grievances that it suggested made Ms. Sajet an inappropriate choice to lead a national museum, including public comments about racial and gender inequality in America.
Ms. Sajet did not discuss the president or his remarks in her statement, which was included in an email sent to the staff by Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Smithsonian 's secretary.
'This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one,' she said. 'From the very beginning, my guiding principle has been to put the museum first. Today, I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart.'
In his email, Mr. Bunch said: 'We thank Kim for her service. She put the needs of the Institution above her own, and for that we thank her.'
The Smithsonian receives two-thirds of its $1 billion in annual funding from the federal government. Kevin Gover, the Smithsonian's under secretary for museums and culture, will serve as the National Portrait Gallery's acting director.
The White House did not react this week when the Smithsonian made clear that its secretary held the authority over personnel decisions, but it responded quickly on Friday to the news that Ms. Sajet had stepped down.
'On Day 1, President Trump made clear that there is no place for dangerous anti-American ideology in our government and institutions,' Davis R. Ingle, a spokesman for the president, said in a statement.
In alignment 'with this objective, he ordered the termination of Kim Sajet,' the statement continued. 'The Trump administration is committed to restoring American greatness and celebrating our nation's proud history.'
The Smithsonian's Board of Regents, which governs the institution's 21 museums as well as libraries, research centers and the National Zoo, appears to have taken the issues raised by the president seriously even as it challenged his authority to fire Ms. Sajet. In reiterating its autonomy this week, the institution also said in a statement that it was committed to presenting its scholarship 'free from political or partisan influence.'
In an email to staff this week, Mr. Bunch agreed to evaluate 'the need for any changes to policies, procedures or personnel.'
'While the vast majority of our content is rooted in meticulous research and thoughtful analysis of history and facts,' he wrote, 'we recognize that, on occasion, some of our work has not aligned with our institutional values of scholarship, even-handedness and nonpartisanship. For that, we must all work to do better.'
Private cultural institutions do not typically have litmus tests for the political leanings of their directors, and Mr. Bunch did not provide any examples of work that he considered partisan. But Mr. Trump's announcement prompted questions of whether national museums, funded largely by the federal government, needed to be conspicuously neutral in their handling of hot-button political issues.
Sally Yerkovich, a museum specialist at Columbia University, said Ms. Sajet's departure risked having an unwelcome chilling effect on the work of museums, which should be based on independent research. 'It can't help but make other museums pause and think twice about what they are doing,' she said.
Leaders of cultural organizations have been closely watching the situation at the National Portrait Gallery, as the Trump administration displays a pronounced interest in influencing the arts in Washington in ways that were rarely apparent during his first term.
In a recent executive order, the president called on Vice President JD Vance, who sits on the Board of Regents, to overhaul the Smithsonian with the help of Congress. In his order, the president described a 'revisionist movement' across the country that 'seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.'
And at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — where the president was greeted with cheers and boos at a performance of 'Les Miserables' this week — Mr. Trump took over as chairman of the board, with one of his allies appointed as the institution's interim president.
In the case of Ms. Sajet, Mr. Trump had called her 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.' He also said her replacement would be named 'shortly.' The Smithsonian board has given every indication that the institution's secretary would be making that choice.
The White House's list of grievances describes Ms. Sajet as partisan, citing examples such as her remarks at a 2018 'race and justice summit' that 'the 'portrait of America' has never been only about meritocracy but also social access, racial inequality, gender difference, religious preference and political power.'
Ms. Sajet appeared to refer to her efforts to broaden the portrait of America during her tenure in her statement on Friday. 'Together,' she said, 'we have worked to tell a fuller, more American story — one that fosters connection, reflection and understanding.'
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The headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution, known as 'The Castle.' It is currently closed for renovations.
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Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Samuel J. Redman, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said Ms. Sajet had done much to modernize a museum collection that had been 'very much based on the great white man orientation.'
'This is a disappointing outcome,' he said. 'Kim Sajet did a tremendous job in widening the view of what portraiture is and how the National Portrait Gallery should reflect the varieties of the American experience.'
Ms. Sajet, 60, was the first woman to run the National Portrait Gallery. Born in Nigeria, raised in Australia and a citizen of the Netherlands, she earned a master's degree in art history at Bryn Mawr College; a master's degree in business administration at Melbourne University Business School in Australia; a bachelor's degree, also in art history, at Melbourne University; and a degree in museum studies from Deakin University in Australia. She also completed arts leadership training at the Harvard Business School, the Getty and National Arts Strategies.
She served first as curator and then the director of two Australian art museums from 1989 until 1995. From 1998 until 2001, Ms. Sajet was the director of corporate relations at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and then spent seven years as senior vice president and deputy director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There she became more widely known in the museum world for helping arrange the joint $68 million purchase of Thomas Eakins's painting 'The Gross Clinic.'
She then served for six years as president and chief executive at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania before taking on the Smithsonian role in 2013.
The Smithsonian's 17-member Board of Regents includes six congressional appointees. Nine 'citizen' members are nominated by the board and appointed for a six-year term by a joint resolution signed by the president. The vice president and chief justice of the United States are also on the board by virtue of their positions.
The president has proposed to Congress a 12 percent cut to the Smithsonian's budget, which would affect other museums under its umbrella, such as the planned National Museum of the American Latino and the Anacostia Community Museum.
Zachary Small contributed reporting.
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