Elvira Dyangani Ose appointed Curator of international art with a focus on Africa at Tate Modern

LONDON.- Tate and Guaranty Trust Bank announced that Elvira Dyangani Ose has been appointed Curator International Art at Tate Modern, generously supported by Guaranty Trust Bank. Born in 1974 in Cordoba, Spain, Dyangani Ose, is a well-known curator and scholar in the field of African art. She will take up her post in early November and curate the Guaranty Trust Bank annual project for Tate Modern as well as contribute her expertise to the Collection and Tate programmes. The post is supported [...]

Museo de Arte de Ponce appoints Pablo Pérez d’Ors as Assistant Curator of European Art

PONCE, PR.- Museo de Arte de Ponce announces the appointment of a new member to its curatorial staff, Pablo Pérez d’Ors, whose title is Assistant Curator of European Art. Pérez d’Ors, an art historian, was born in Pamplona, Spain. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Navarra and his Ph.D. at Oxford University in England, where he specialized in Spanish Baroque painting. His doctoral thesis was titled “Devotional Painting and Preaching in 17th-Century Spain.” In 2003, Pérez d’Ors joined the [...]

Larry Wright appointed Managing Director of Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington

BELLEVUE, WA.- Following an extensive national search, the Board of Trustees of Bellevue Arts Museum announced the appointment Larry Wright as Managing Director. An Eastside native, Wright joins BAM with more than 15 years of non-profit leadership experience. He is relocating to the Pacific Northwest for this important post and will start transitioning into his new role on October 3, 2011. Most recently Wright was the CEO of the National Mentoring Partnership in Washington, DC. There, he was responsible for the strategic oversight [...]

Chiara Parisi appointed new Director of the cultural programs at the Monnaie de Paris

PARIS.- After seven years directing the Centre international d’art et du paysage de l’île de Vassivière, Chiara Parisi will resign her commission. During those years, Chiara Parisi worked on the development and commitment of this exceptional location: a free and eclectic tool for creation in the heart of France, on the Millevaches plateau. For seven years, from 2004 to 2011, 69 artists came on the island of Vassivière at her invitation to conceive and produce 22 exhibitions, mainly monographic, inside Aldo [...]

Philadelphia Museum of Art appoints Hiromi Kinoshita associate curator of Chinese Art

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, today announced the appointment of Hiromi Kinoshita as Associate Curator of Chinese Art in the Department of East Asian Art. Currently Assistant Curator of Chinese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dr. Kinoshita will join the staff on April 1, 2012. She will be responsible for the care and utilization of the Museum’s extensive holdings of Chinese art. “Hiromi Kinoshita brings [...]

Witte de With in Rotterdam announces Istanbul native Defne Ayas as new Director

ROTTERDAM.- The board of Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, announces the appointment of Defne Ayas as its new director, effective from 1st January 2012. Defne Ayas will succeed Nicolaus Schafhausen, who has been director since early 2006. At the end of this year, he will leave his post, having led the institute very successfully for six years, the maximum number of years a director can stay at Witte de With according to the institution’s policy. Istanbul native Defne [...]

Hot Los Angeles painter of the moment Alex Schaefer’s bank on fire work heats up art world

LOS ANGELES, CA. (AP).- Alex Schaefer is the hot Los Angeles artist of the moment, thanks to a couple of oil-on-canvas works showing banks burning down. Although his work has been displayed at several galleries over the years, Schaefer was mostly an obscure figure in the art world whose pieces rarely fetched more than $1,000. That was until he painted a picture of a nondescript bank on a run-of-the-mill San Fernando Valley street. With flames leaping through the bank’s roof, the [...]

Stephanie Wiles named new Director of Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum

ITHACA, N.Y.- Stephanie Wiles of Oberlin College has been named the next director of Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell Provost Kent Fuchs has announced. Wiles has been the John G.W. Cowles Director of the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin since July 2004. A specialist in Old Master drawings and prints and British and American art, she has organized numerous exhibitions, been responsible for acquisitions of works by artists ranging from Rembrandt van Rijn to Sol LeWitt and [...]

New Orleans Museum of Art names Russell Lord new Curator of Photographs

NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Susan Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), announces the appointment of Russell Lord as the Freeman Family Curator of Photographs. Lord, a historian, curator, and educator who recently completed a Jane and Morgan Whitney fellowship in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will assume his new position on October 17, 2011. NOMA’s photography collection was first established in the 1970s at a time when many art museums were [...]

Gagosian Gallery announces the death of The Father of Pop Art: Richard Hamilton

NEW YORK, N.Y.- It is with tremendous sadness that Gagosian Gallery announces the death of Richard Hamilton, which occurred early this morning. Considered the Father of Pop, the art world has lost one of its leading figures – a hugely innovative talent and a great intellect, whose work crossed many fields: from painting to print making, sculpture to typography and collage. He was a pioneering artist of unparalleled skill, invention and lasting authority. Hamilton’s fascination with the authenticity of the image in contemporary [...]

Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria Director Gerard Vaughan announces retirement

MELBOURNE.- After thirteen years as Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Dr Gerard Vaughan today announced he would retire from his role as Director in July 2012. Dr Vaughan was originally appointed Director of the NGV in 1999. Dr Vaughan said today that he believed the time was right to retire from his role: “In any field of endeavor knowing when to leave a role is crucial. I believe this is the right time to bow out. “I am very proud [...]

Cathelijne Broers takes over as director of De Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM.- Cathelijne Broers will be taking over as director of De Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage Amsterdam on 1 November 2011. She succeeds Ernst W. Veen, who is retiring at the end of the year. Broers has served as deputy director of De Nieuwe Kerk since 2002, and of the Hermitage Amsterdam since 2003. Her career started at the Department for the Conservation of Historic Buildings and Sites, after which she served as secretary of the board of the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation. Cathelijne [...]

University of Virginia Art Museum selects Jennifer Farrell as curator of exhibitions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.- Jennifer Farrell, whose scholarly research, writing, foundation and curatorial work focuses on modern and contemporary art, joined the University of Virginia Art Museum staff Aug. 15 as curator of exhibitions. She will be in charge of developing in-house exhibitions, working with outside curators toformulate future projects and advising on museum purchases, among other duties. Farrell brings a depth of experience working with museums, galleries and foundations to further their exhibition, publication and outreach efforts. Since 2010, she was director of The [...]

Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University appoints Min Jung Kim as deputy director

EAST LANSING, MI.- The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University has appointed Min Jung Kim as its deputy director. Throughout her career, which includes more than a decade’s experience in international programming and planning for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Kim has developed strategic alliances and collaborative initiatives with cultural institutions around the globe. At MSU’s Broad Art Museum , she will be responsible for strategic planning and overseeing daily operations. She joins the new Zaha Hadid-designed museum, which [...]

Scholar and Curator Douglas Druick named new Art Institute of Chicago Director

CHICAGO, IL.- Tom Pritzker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago, announced today that Douglas Druick has been selected as the new President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago . Druick, the chair of two of the museum’s eleven curatorial departments, is an internationally recognized scholar and curator who has been serving as the acting president and director of the museum since the departure of James Cuno in June 2011. Druick has [...]