Mr. Arnault, a photographer, is married to a member of the academy, Katarina Frostenson; is a close friend to other members; and is co-owner, with Ms. Frostenson, of Forum, a cultural center in Stockholm that received funding from the academy. Some events were said to have occurred at academy-owned properties in Stockholm and Paris, and at least one woman’s complaints to the academy about Mr. Arnault more than 20 years ago were rebuffed.
The crisis escalated when the academy dismissed another member, Sara Danius, as its permanent secretary, the group’s chief official — the first woman to hold that post — though she remained part of the panel. She had severed the group’s ties with Mr. Arnault and Forum, and commissioned an investigation of the academy from a law firm.
Her demotion prompted mass protests by critics who said that a woman had suffered for the misdeeds of a man, and that Ms. Danius had been punished for trying to introduce openness and accountability to a group that preferred to close ranks.
[Read more about the Swedish Academy’s crisis here.]
Some of the academy’s 18 members resigned over Ms. Frostenson’s continued membership, and several more quit over the treatment of Ms. Danius. That has left the group with 10 active members — too few, under its rules, to elect new members.
But academy appointments are for life, and the organization’s rules do not provide for resignations; it considers those who have quit to remain members, albeit inactive, so they cannot be replaced.
That has prompted calls for King Carl XVI Gustaf — officially the academy’s patron, but normally not an active participant — to step in.
Source : Nytimes
