Carol Vogel reports that Metropolitan Museum of Art heavy Gary Tinterow has been named the next director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Mr. Tinterow is a 28-year veteran of the museum and now serves as chairman of the Met’s department of 19th-century, modern and contemporary art department.
“As sorry as I will be to leave the Met after 28 years, I think I’ve landed the best job in the world,” Mr. Tinterow told The Times. “It’s a matchless combination: a committed board, a passionate audience, a fine collection and an institution with the third-largest endowment in the country.”
The job has been open since the death of the museum’s last director Peter C. Marzio last year, who had been in the job for 28 years before that. The MFA Houston has an endowment of is $1 billion, compared to the Met’s $2.6 billion.
Former Met director Philippe de Montebello once served as the Houston museum’s director. Mr. Tinterow, along with his former Met colleague Ian Wardropper, was in the running to replace Mr. de Montebello, a job that ultimately went to another Met curator Thomas P. Campbell. Mr. Wardropper went on to become the new director of the Frick Collection this year, though Mr. Tinterow was also reportedly in the running for that job as well.
