List of Directors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the director of the museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the United States. With 6,953,927 visitors to its three locations in 2018, it was the third most visited art museum in the world.[2] Its permanent collection contains over two million works,[3] divided among seventeen curatorial departments.[4] The director, currently Max Hollein, is responsible for acting as a "curator, lawyer and diplomat", according to The Wall Street Journal. They produce around 40 exhibits at the museum a year, manage the museums' approximately 2,200 employees, and oversee the collection and curatorial departments.[5]

Director of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Incumbent
Max Hollein
since 2018
Reports toPresident of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Formation1879
First holderLuigi Palma di Cesnola
Salary$2,690,207 (2017)[1]

The Director currently reports to Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of the Museum. The director typically has had a large degree of autonomy in operation, with Philippe de Montebello refusing to report to then president and CEO William Macomber in 1977.[6] It has generally been the highest ranking official in the museum's leadership, with the director serving as president. On June 13, 2017, the Met announced the reestablishment of a separate museum president, higher than the director.[7]

Past directors have historically been prominent figures in the art world. Past directors include: United States consul at Larnaca in Cyprus and Medal of Honor recipient Luigi Palma di Cesnola, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, secretary of the Art Commission of Boston and director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Edward Robinson, Parks Commissioner of New York City Thomas Hoving, and director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Max Hollein.

List
# Image Name Term Note(s)
1. Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1879 to 1904 United States consul at Larnaca in Cyprus and Medal of Honor recipient during the American Civil War.[8] As consul in Cyprus, he carried out excavations, which resulted in the discovery of a large number of antiquities, an approximately 30,000 item collection. The collection was purchased by the newly expanded Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1872, and Cesnola became the first director in 1879, until his death in 1904.[9] Survived several attempts to remove him from office.[8]
2. Caspar Purdon Clarke 1904 to 1910 Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, hired by then president of the Met, J. P. Morgan. Resigned due to ill health in 1910.[10][11]
3. Edward Robinson 1910 to 1931 He lectured on archaeology at Harvard in 1893-94 and in 1898-1902, and was secretary of the Art commission of Boston in 1890-98. From 1895 to 1902, he was curator of classical antiquities in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and beginning in 1902 was director of the museum for three years. He became assistant director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1906, and succeeded Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke as director in 1910.[12][13][14]
4.  – Herbert Eustis Winlock 1932 to 1939 American Egyptologist employed with the Metropolitan Museum of Art during his entire Egyptological career. He is credited with "revitalizing" the museum during his tenure as director.[15]
5.  – Francis Henry Taylor 1940 to 1955 Began career as a curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1931 he became director of the Worcester Art Museum Massachusetts, before joining the Metropolitan Museum in New York City as its director in 1940. Opened over 100 galleries and is credited with doubling the number of people visiting the museum, up to 2.3 million a year.[16][17][18]
6.  – James Rorimer 1955 to 1966 A founder of the Cloisters, a branch of the museum dedicated to the art and architecture of Medieval Europe. During World War II, Rorimer served in the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, protecting cultural sites and recovering stolen art work. Oversaw as director a period of general expansion despite disagreements with trustees and museum staff, and attendance at the museum tripled from 2 million to 6 million visitors annually.[19][20]
7. Thomas Hoving 1967 to 1977 Worked for the Met, briefly as curator of the Cloisters, before serving as Parks Commissioner of New York City from 1966 to 1967. Assumed the directorship on March 17, 1967 and presided over a massive expansion and renovation of the museum, successfully adding many important collections to its holdings.[21]
8.  – Philippe de Montebello 1977 to 2008 Worked in the Met, served as Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas from 1969 to 1974.[22] The longest-serving director in the institution's history, and the third longest-serving director of any major art museum in the world. Oversaw a near doubling of the museum's square footage. The museum grew into the largest tourist attraction in New York City by the time of his departure.[23]
9.  – Thomas P. Campbell 2009 to 2017 Co-founder of the Franses Tapestry Archive in 1987. Worked in the Met, at the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, becoming curator in 2003.[24] As director saw the Met's highest attendance in 40 years, in 2011, with 6.28 million visits.[25] During that year, the museum also opened extensive new galleries for both its Islamic and American art and launched a redesigned website that now attracts more than 44 million visits per year. The Met Breuer was opened in 2015.[26]
Interim  – Daniel Weiss 2017 to 2018 President of Lafayette College from 2005 to 2013,[27] and Haverford College from 2013 to 2015.[28] Interim president after Campbell resigned from directorship. Current president and CEO of the museum.[29][30]
10. Max Hollein 2018 Began career at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; served as director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Liebieghaus, and Städel Museum in Frankfurt;[31] then as Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from July 2016 to 2018.[6][32]

See also

References
  1. "Form 990" (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2017.
  2. The Art Newspaper, April 2019
  3. "Metropolitan Museum Launches New and Expanded Web Site" Archived November 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, press release, The Met, January 25, 2000
  4. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Curatorial Departments". Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  5. Crow, Kelly (April 11, 2018). "Life & Arts -- Art: Metropolitan Museum Names New Director". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. Nast, Condé. "Meet Max Hollein, the Metropolitan Museum's New Director". Vogue. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  7. Pogrebin, Robin (June 13, 2017). "Met Museum Changes Leadership Structure". The New York Times.
  8. "Gen. Di Cesnola Dies After Short Illness. Director of Metropolitan Museum of Art for Twenty-five Years. Made Cypriote Collection. Honored for Gallant Service in Civil War. Also Veteran of Austrian and Crimean Wars". New York Times. November 22, 1904. Retrieved 2013-12-23. Gen. Louis Palma Di Cesnola, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1879, died suddenly and after a very short illness on Sunday night at his residence, the Hotel Seymour, 44 West Forty-fifth Street. After his usual day's work at the museum on Friday the General attended the dinner of the Eleventh Army Corps in the evening, and left the banquet hall apparently in his usual health. ...
  9. Stanley-Price, Nicholas (September 2018). "Illicit Excavation: The Trial of Alessandro Palma di Cesnola in Cyprus in 1878". The Antiquaries Journal. 98: 297–317. doi:10.1017/S000358151800001X. ISSN 0003-5815.
  10. "Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke's Retirement". The New York Times. June 29, 1910. p. 6.
  11. Lane, John (1905). Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, Kt. J. Lane. pp. 5–7.
  12. "Edward Robinson, Art Director, Dies". The New York Times. April 19, 1931.
  13. Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Robinson, Edward" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
  14. Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Robinson, Edward (archæologist)" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  15. "Dr. Winlock Dead; Archaeologist, 65". The New York Times. 1950-01-27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  16. Custodian of the Attic, Time Magazine, December 29, 1952 retrieved October 13, 2006
  17. Devree, Howard (1940-05-05). "The Museum as a Human Thing; Francis Henry Taylor, new director of the Metropolitan, wants to make it a "living university of the common man."". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  18. "Remembering Francis Henry Taylor". Telegram & Gazette. Worcester, Massachusetts. August 11, 2016.
  19. "New Library Marks Milestone For Museum's Active Director; James Rorimer Will Now Push on for $4 Million Wing for American Art". The New York Times. January 26, 1965. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  20. "James Rorimer of Metropolitan, Duncan Phillips, Collector, Die; Mr. Rorimer JAMES J. RORIMER OF MUSEUM IS DEAD". The New York Times. 12 May 1966. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  21. Randy Kennedy (December 11, 2009). "Thomas Hoving, Who Shook Up the Met, Dies at 78". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-17. Thomas Hoving, the charismatic showman and treasure hunter whose tenure as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1967 to 1977 fundamentally transformed the institution and helped usher in the era of the museum blockbuster show, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 78.
  22. Mellow, James R. (November 3, 1985). "The Fine Art of Directing the Met Museum". New York Times.
  23. Vogel, Carol (2008-01-09). "Director (and Voice) of Met Museum to Retire". New York Times.
  24. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Press Release (September 9, 2008). "Thomas P. Campbell Named Next Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art". MetMuseum.org. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  25. Vogel, Carol. "Metropolitan Museum of Art Draws Record Number of Visitors". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  26. "Plaza Renovation Project". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  27. "Daniel H. Weiss Biography · The President · Lafayette College". president.lafayette.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  28. Greifeld, Katie (March 10, 2015). "President Weiss to Step Down in July". The Clerk.
  29. Popera, Ashleigh (June 23, 2017). "Daniel H. Weiss Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of The Met". Architect Magazine.
  30. "Daniel H. Weiss Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Met. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  31. "Austria's Max Hollein named Met museum chief". AFP International Text Wire in English. April 11, 2018.
  32. Halperin, Julia (23 March 2016). "Leading German museum director, Max Hollein, heads to San Francisco New director of Fine Arts Museums brought experience of running three Frankfurt institutions". theartnewspaper.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-23. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
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