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A Message from the Minister of Culture

I’ve sometimes thought that the Director of the Metropolitan Museum is New York’s unofficial Minister of Culture. Concerned New Yorkers were at the edge of their seats with anticipation to discover who would be chosen to direct this great museum once it was announced that the legendary Philippe de Montebello was relinquishing the throne. As The New Criterion put it “Few events have been awaited with more trepidation in the world of culture — we were going to say ‘the art world,’ but it embraces much more than that — than the appointment of the next director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

The massive sigh of relief when Thomas Campbell was announced as the successor could probably be heard as far as the Louvre (or even the Hermitage), even though Campbell’s name was on none of the supposed shortlists for the job. Judging by his past as curator of tapestries, Campbell is widely believed to be utterly reliable at continuing the high standard maintained during de Montebello’s reign. May God guide him well in his task!

Above, the new director takes us on a tour of the renovated American Wing of the museum, while below Charlie Rose interviews the then-director Philippe de Montebello, about the 2007 show “The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”.

Published at 5:30 pm on Monday 2 November 2009. Categories: Art New York Tags: , , .
Comments

The Metropolitan Museum of Art couldn’t have picked a better director.

— PLK 3 Nov 2009 7:45 pm
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