Ian Wardropper, chairman of the department of European Art and Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum, has just been named director of the Frick Collection. He succeeds Anne Poulet.
Here’s the link to the press release.
In some ways, this is not unexpected. Wardropper lost the top job at the Met to his underling, Tom Campbell. And so he was eager to leave for his own place.
Of course, his appointment creates the same dynamic at the Frick, where Colin Bailey, associate director and chief curator, has also been seeking a directorship. Rumor has it that Bailey now wants out.
Wardropper, people who know him well say, is not much of a change agent, and so the Frick is likely to continue on the path set by Poulet and her predecessors. If he has plans, he isn’t saying much about them.
He starts in October.