Mr. Armstrong was dismissed as director earlier this year after a protracted dispute among Whitney trustees.

In 1971, he joined the museum's acquisitions board and in 1977, by then president of his family's business, he became a Whitney trustee.

To understand the Whitney trustees' decision to replace Ross with Anderson, you must know something about the tangled and tortured history of the Whitney Museum.

It opens with something old and something new: an abstract painting by Cy Twombly and a 1999 portrait by Chuck Close, a Whitney trustee.

Amid sharply escalating construction costs, the Whitney trustees are said to be reconsidering whether, after having to raise several hundred million dollars, the museum will end up getting the kind of space it needs.

On October 1, 1948, the Whitney trustees cited "serious divergences" especially with regard to the showing of advanced trends in art, something the Whitney made a special point of doing.

The Whitney trustees pooled their pennies, acquired $200 million worth of postwar American art and gave it all to the museum as a gift.

After a few frenzied minutes, he finally let the bag go for $20,000 to Amy Phelan, the wife of a Whitney trustee.

"Collecting art is not about making money," Ms. Neidich said, noting that she has not sold any of the pieces she has acquired as a Whitney trustee.

Former Philip Morris Chairman and CEO, George Weissman, has been a Whitney trustee since 1979.