Weekly Shuffle: New São Paulo Biennial Curator, More Auction House Shake-Ups

Changes are afoot at the Met, the Hirshhorn, and the Serpentine.

Jochen Volz Head of Programs, Serpentine Galleries, London Photo: Courtesy Jochen Volz

Jochen Volz, head of programs at the Serpentine Galleries in London, will curate the 2016 São Paulo Biennial (see “Jochen Volz Will Curate the 2016 São Paulo Biennial“).

A mere week after taking over as Christie’s CEO from the ousted Steven Murphy, Patricia Barbizet has pushed out Doug Woodham, the president of the auction house’s Americas division, who will step down at the end of the month (see “Christie’s Americas President Doug Woodham Leaves“). The company has also promoted auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen from president of the Europe division to global president, and Stephen Brooks from COO to global COO.

Phillips has named Matt Carey-Williams, former director of sales at London’s White Cube, as its deputy chairman for Europe and Asia (see “Phillips Appoints Matt Carey-Williams as Deputy Chairman, Europe and Asia“). In his new position, Carey-Williams will be joined by 16-year Sotheby’s veteran Lauren Gioia, who starts as Phillips’s worldwide head of public relations in May.

Michael Haynes, most recently the chief executive of Collectors Universe, is the new CFO of Heritage Auctions.

Former Christie’s 20th century art expert Guy Bennett has a new gig as the director of collections and acquisitions of the Qatar Museums (see “Christie’s Expert Turned Dealer Tapped for Top Role at Qatar Museums“).

After 21 years with the department, George R. Goldner, chairman of New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s drawings and prints department, is leaving the museum to become a private art adviser. He will be succeeded by Nadine M. Orenstein, a curator in the department, who joined the Met as an assistant curator in 1993.

The Princeton University Art Museum has hired John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as a distinguished curator and lecturer, a newly created position endowed by and named after Allen R. Adler.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., has hired Stéphane Aquin, curator of contemporary art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art since 1998, as its new chief curator (see “Stéphane Aquin Appointed Chief Curator at the Hirshhorn“).

The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, has tapped Hamza Walker, from Chicago’s Renaissance Society, and its own curator, Aram Moshayedi, to curate the upcoming edition of the “Made in LA” biennial, first held in 2012 (see “Hammer Museum Announces Curators for “Made in LA” 2016“).

After four years as head of the Paris and Los Angeles-based art fair Paris Photo, Julien Frydman has resigned, and has accepted a job offer at an as-of-yet undisclosed location (see “Julien Frydman Quits Paris Photo“).

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (ICA) welcomes a new senior curator in Dan Byers, the curator of modern and contemporary art at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art. Meanwhile, the ICA bids farewell to assistant curator Anna Stothart who is headed to the San Antonio Museum of Art where she will serve as the institution’s new curator of contemporary art.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has hired Teresa Samala de Guzman, the senior associate dean for finance and administration at the University of Virginia’s business school, as its new COO. The museum also welcomes four new trustees: Nancy Crown, Eve Rogers, Dia Weil, and David Hartt.

When Houston’s Menil Collection opens its new Drawing Center in 2017, David Breslin, a former associate curator for Contemporary Projects at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, will serve as its director.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is losing European art curator Edgar Peters Bowron, who will retire after 18 years on the job.

The new executive director for the Houston Center For Photography is Sarah Sudhoff, founder of San Antonio-based student art exhibition center Photohive.

The Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts has appointed Elizabeth Athens, a Ph.D. candidate in art history at Yale, as its assistant curator of American art.

Susan Talbott. Photo: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.

Susan Talbott. Photo: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.

Wadsworth Atheneum director Susan L. Talbott has announced her retirement after seven years at the Hartford, Connecticut institution, which is the country’s oldest art museum.

Blue Medium’s Deirdre Maher has signed on as the director of communications for Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation.

When Tom Butler retires after two decades as director of Georgia’s Columbus Museum he will be succeeded by Marianne Richter, who has been the director of the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana since 2011.

Formerly the executive director of the Atwood House Museum in Chatham, Massachusetts, Dennis McFadden will be the next director of Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland.

The Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana has tapped Erika Hanner, director of convergent programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, as executive director.

Till-Holger Borchert and Hubert De Witte will serve as the new directors of the Bruges Museums in Belgium. Borchert, who has been with the Bruges Museums since 2002, will handle the artistic program and content of the museums and their collection, while De Witte, formerly the deputy director of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, will be the managing director.

Auction and appraisal firm Robert C. Eldred Co. has named Leah S. Kingman as its new assistant director of European and decorative arts. Kingman has previously worked in Georgian silver, Victorian theater memorabilia, and Italian grand tour souvenirs.

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix has promoted April Salomon to the position of executive director after six months as the institution’s acting director and seven years with the museum.


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