Succession Obsession: Scuttlebutt at the Met's Press Lunch

Philippe de Montebello, speaking at yesterday's Metropolitan Museum press lunch, will soon follow the dictate on the sign behind him.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Metropolitan Museum's press lunch yesterday. When I entered the elevator, there was just one person occupying it. Philippe de Montebello looked as surprised as I was, then promptly informed me:

You got it wrong in your blog. My involvement in Abu Dhabi is going to be very little.

Glad to hear it. Still, I never indicated, in commenting on the outgoing Met director's upcoming career at New York University, that the Abu Dhabi connection would be substantial; only that it might be problematic. Anyway, I was glad to know that he sometimes gives the lovelorn CultureGrrl a passing glance.

Before introducing the next round of scheduled exhibitions (more on that later), Philippe informed the assembled scribes that this might be his last press lunch, depending on how the director search proceeds. As you'd expect, I chatted with various staffers, trying to get some sense of what they're hearing (which may or may not be authoritative). "Even my dentist is asking me," one curator quipped.

Word has it that the trustees may be working with a list of 12 names. Another insider who may be on the list, in addition to the much mentioned Gary Tinterow, curator of 19th-century, modern and contemporary art, is Ian Wardropper, chairman of European sculpture and decorative arts.

Other names that are thought to be in play are the two Timothys (Potts and Rub). But Steven Litt recently reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Rub, director of the Cleveland Museum, stated unequivocally, "I am not a candidate for the position." (I never know how seriously to take these denials.) Another name that pops up in conversations is John Leighton, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, who was formerly director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. (His bio is here.)

Maybe, as a public service, the Met should send the names of the eventual runners up to the Philadelphia Museum, which sadly lost Anne d'Harnoncourt on Sunday, and the Seattle Art Museum, which just announced the planned July 1, 2009 departure of Mimi Gates.

In other Met top-brass news, we were told that Emily Rafferty, the museum's president, had recently been named to the additional post of unpaid chairwoman of NYC & Company, the municipal tourism and marketing organization. (The press release is here.)

I really do need to give you my latest take on "Who Should Succeed Philippe at the Met." I just can't narrow it to one, but I'm down to three. Then again, I don't know Wardropper or Leighton very well, and there are probably others on The List that I'm not well acquainted with. Maybe headhunting is best left to headhunters.

That probably won't stop me, though, from sharing with you my unsolicited, uninformed and unwanted opinions, some time soon.