Museum directors - Report from Europe - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Sept, 2002 by Miriam Kramer

A number of important museums in London have changed or are about to change directors. In August, Neil MacGregor replaced Robert Anderson as the director of the British Museum, moving from the National Gallery which he had directed since 1987. Charles Saumarez Smith, the director of the National Portrait Gallery since 1994, replaced MacGregor as the director of the National Gallery.

The directorship of the National Portrait Gallery will be assumed later this autumn by Sandy Nairne, the director of national programs at the Tate for the past eight years. In January 2003 Vicente Todoli, the Spanish-born director of the Museo Serralves in Oporto, Portugal, becomes the director of the Tate Modem. In August Jack Lohman relinquished the job of chief executive officer of the Iziko museums in South Africa to become the director of the Museum of London. He replaces Simon Thurley, who was recently appointed chief executive of English Heritage.