André Leon Talley Is Reportedly Making Museum Staffers Miserable with Diva Demands | lovebscott.com

André Leon Talley Is Reportedly Making Museum Staffers Miserable with Diva Demands

According to reports, André Leon Talley is making museum staffers jobs incredibly difficult as he curates the debut of ‘The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta’ at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, this weekend.

via Page Six:

“André is being a diva to everyone,” says one incensed source. “He has been at odds with curator Cindi Strauss, telling her what to do — while he rides around the entire museum in his motorized wheelchair. It got so bad he even made her cry .?.?. yes, CRY.”

The show was brought to the museum in part by the museum’s life trustee, the famed socialite and philanthropist Lynn Wyatt, who saw the exhibit at San Francisco’s de Young museum last year and brought it to the attention of museum director Gary Tinterow.

Talley worked on the California show and has been given the title of “curator” in Houston. But Talley’s New York attitude isn’t seducing the Houston art crowd. “He’s behaving like a diva, and let’s just say he’s not making any friends at the museum,” the source states. “He’s impossible. It’s embarrassing.”

The source continued, “He instructed the museum staff not to look him in the eyes. Even the people working alongside him .?.?. The funny thing was that most people at the museum had no clue who he was.”

The show, which opens Sunday, includes works from de la Renta starting from the 1960s and features items from Wyatt, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Annette de la Renta, and Amal Clooney’s wedding dress — the last bridal gown he designed before passing away from complications from cancer in 2014.

“It’s about beauty — a celebration of this great man’s life and I think it’s quite inspiring and wonderful,” Talley told WWD of the exhibition.

Museum director Gary Tinterow tells us, “It is unfortunate that a single source has attempted to tarnish the magnificent work that André Leon Talley has done for our museum. From our initial conversations about bringing this exhibition to Houston, to the finishing touches at the very last moment of the show’s preview, Mr. Talley has been a consummate professional, working tirelessly to honor the spirit and legacy of his friend Oscar de la Renta and challenging himself and all of us to imagine what could be achieved here. That is what a great curator does, and that is why we are so happy with his work in Houston.”

Which side do you believe?

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