Dr Michael Brand appointed director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales has announced that the Australian Dr Michael Brand, consulting director of the Aga Khan Museum currently under construction in Toronto and the former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, has been appointed director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW).
Dr Brand said he was very excited about his new role.
“The Board of Trustees presented me with a highly compelling vision of the Gallery’s future,” he said.
“While they are rightly focused on serving their primary audience and promoting Australian art, they are also resolutely international in their approach to art and culture.
“I have been highly impressed by the seriousness with which the Board of Trustees and the Government have been developing a strategy to guide the Gallery’s future and the Gallery is clearly about to enter an exciting phase of its history. Based in one of the world’s most dynamic cities, the Gallery has a great opportunity to further build on its international partnerships that will bring extraordinary works of art to Australia.”
Dr Brand will be the ninth director of the AGNSW in its 120-year history and will assume his new role mid-year after finalising his consultancy with the Aga Khan Museum, which is currently constructing a $150 million building designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. Dr Brand has led the development of this new institution, which will work closely with other agencies of the Paris-based Aga Khan development network and will become the only museum in North America devoted to the arts of Islamic civilisations.
Dr Brand previously served as director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from 2005 to 2010. During this time his priorities and achievements included resolving claims for the restitution of antiquities made by the governments of Italy and Greece, and bringing contemporary and non-Western art into the Museum’s programs.
More on the AGNSW website http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media-office/michael-brand-appointed-director-art-gallery-nsw/