September 2008
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announces that Thomas P. Campbell, an accomplished curator with a specialty in European tapestry who has worked at the Museum since 1995, has been elected its next Director and CEO, succeeding Philippe de Montebello. Mr. Campbell, who organized the groundbreaking and widely acclaimed exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007), is currently Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts as well as Supervising Curator of the Museum’s Antonio Ratti Textile Center. He was elected at the meeting of the Board of Trustees and will assume the directorship of the Metropolitan Museum on January 1, 2009.
Philippe de Montebello said of the announcement: “I am delighted at the choice of my successor by the search committee and subsequently by election of the Board. Tom Campbell, in my view, is absolutely the right selection, as an outstanding art historian of proven experience and judgment who fits perfectly into the long tradition of Met leadership that emerges from within the curatorial ranks, which has been the case for all but two of his predecessors in more than a century. I am confident that he will thrive in his new role, and will bring a fresh vision to the joys and challenges of running this preeminent art museum in the 21st century. He will have all of the collective support and experience that this superb Board, President, and curatorial and administrative staff will enthusiastically provide, and all of the encouragement and good wishes I can offer as well.”
In accepting the new position, Thomas P. Campbell commented: “I am deeply honored that the Trustees have selected me as the next Director of this extraordinary and multi-faceted Museum. I look forward to working closely with Philippe de Montebello during the coming transition period, as also with our President, Emily Rafferty. Since joining the museum in 1995, I have developed a profound respect and affection for this unique institution, its encyclopedic collections, and above all its talented staff. I pledge to them that I will do everything in my power to lead the Museum wisely and productively during the coming years. Together we will build on the Met’s traditions of scholarship and openness, to ensure that our diverse audiences continue to be welcomed, challenged, and inspired in ways that are fresh and relevant for the age in which we live.”
Thomas P. Campbell, 46, was born and raised in Cambridge, England. He received his B.A. in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1984, followed by a Diploma from Christie’s Fine and Decorative Arts course, London, in 1985. While studying for his Master’s degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art (1987), he discovered the extent to which mainstream art history had overlooked the major role that the tapestry medium played in European art and propaganda. During the following years, he worked to rectify this by creating the Franses Tapestry Archive in London (1987-94), which, with more than 120,000 images, is the largest and most up-to-date information resource on European tapestries and figurative textiles in the world. His early research culminated in several ground-breaking research articles and a Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute (1999) on the art and culture of King Henry VIII’s court.
Since 1995, he has worked in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, rising steadily through the curatorial ranks as Assistant Curator (1995-97), Associate Curator (1997-2003), and Curator (2003 to the present). this time, he conceived and organized the major exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (New York, 2007; Palacio Real, Madrid, spring 2008), both of which incorporated drawings, paintings, and prints, as well as tapestries, and received widespread acclaim. The 2002 exhibition was named “Exhibition of the Year” by Apollo magazine and its catalogue won the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Award (College Art Association) for distinguished exhibition catalogue in the history of art (2003). He was also responsible for enhancing the holdings of the Museum’s European textiles and selecting and overseeing the rotation of textiles in the galleries of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
Since shortly after his arrival at the Museum, he has also been Supervising Curator of The Antonio Ratti Textile Center, which houses the Museum’s encyclopedic collection of 36,000 textiles and is one of the preeminent centers of textile studies in the world. He has also been responsible for all administrative aspects of the center, including supervision and implementation of the new center and hosting and mentoring international textile scholars within the Museum’s fellowship program.
He has lectured and taught extensively on European court patronage and the relation of tapestries to the other arts, both to scholars and the general public, at institutions and museums in the United States and abroad. He has also published extensively on the subject of historic European textiles and their relationship to other art forms of their periods. His most recent book publication is Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty: Tapestries at the Tudor Court (Yale University Press, 2007), and his articles have appeared in leading scholarly journals such as Burlington Magazine, Apollo, Studies in the Decorative Arts, and Gazette des Beaux-Arts. He has been the recipient of awards and fellowships, including the Iris Foundation Award for a scholar in mid-career deserving of recognition for outstanding contributions to the study of the decorative arts (2003). He has also been actively involved in a wide range of advisory committees relating to the mission and administration of the Museum.
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