A former senior executive of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., has accused the institution of “soft censorship” for relocating, without explanation, a symposium inspired by its exhibition on race in American and Mexican art last year. It would explore, among more, “how attention to histories of race and racialization complicates our comprehension of American and Latin American art,” Nelson wrote in his essay, published in the quarterly art history journal October. The symposium was moved from a 400-seat auditorium at the National Gallery to a meeting room at Dumbarton Oaks that seats 80. The National Gallery of Art did not return a request for comment. Nelson concluded that by not outright canceling the symposium the gallery “was able to convince itself that it was not engaging in censorship.”