From the time she started as an employee of the art museum at UT – a full 28 years ago – the university was talking about building a new home for its artwork. And when she worked her way up to the museum directorship 15 years ago, that talk turned serious and she became responsible for seeing that longtime dream realized. Now, with half of that facility finished and drawing record crowds and the other half under construction and set to open next year, Jessie Otto Hite has decided that it’s time to take her leave. On June 18, the Blanton Museum of Art director announced her plans to retire in 2008.
If it were for nothing but managing that decade-and-a-half drive to build an $83.5 million facility, one could hardly fault Hite for wanting to kick off her shoes and put her feet up. Any project of that size and scope, with so many great expectations heaped on it, is a massive load to carry, and this one was further burdened by the contretemps over the facility’s first designs by Swiss modernist superstars Herzog & de Meuron. After certain UT regents expressed extreme displeasure with them, the firm left the project, prompting a public outcry, with the dean of the School of Architecture resigning in protest, and tacking another five years onto the project. Hite, however, stayed at the museum’s helm, steered the project through to completion, and was rewarded with a grand opening of the new Blanton galleries that drew 22,000 visitors and saw another 150,000 by its first anniversary.
As consuming as the building project was, it wasn’t all that kept Hite busy. There was the 14-year journey up the ranks, from part-time curatorial assistant at the Huntington Art Gallery (as the museum was known then) to assistant curator to assistant director of public affairs to museum director. And then came the Blaton’s amazing acquisition of two major art collections: the Suida-Manning Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Art and the Leo Steinberg Print Collection. Together, they constitute more than half of the 7,000 works added to the Blanton on Hite’s watch. So part of her impetus in getting the new buildings open was to provide a real home for the museum’s art collection that she had seen expand so greatly.
With Hite’s departure set for March of next year, the Austin Arts Hall of Famer may be coming to the opening of the Blanton’s second structure as a civilian. Construction of the Edgar A. Smith building – which will house the Blanton’s administrative offices, classrooms, a 300-seat auditorium, a museum shop, and a cafe – isn’t expected to be complete until later in the spring. Ah well. Here’s guessing that her status at the opening isn’t as important to Hite as the building just being finished. Whenever that happens, Hite can rest easy.
This article appears in June 29 • 2007.