Nicholas Cullinan, who has been appointed as the brand new director of the British Museum, was seen because the favorite for the job as a consequence of his fame within the artwork world as an lively chief.
Because the director of the Nationwide Portrait Gallery (NPG) since 2015, the 46-year-old artwork historian and curator oversaw essentially the most bold redevelopment within the establishment’s historical past, a £41.3m refurbishment and rehang of its assortment.
He was additionally instrumental in making certain that the Portrait of Mai (Omai) by Joshua Reynolds, described as “one of the essential, influential portraits within the historical past of British artwork”, remained on public show.
This expertise impressed the management of the British Museum’s board of trustees, as mirrored by its chair George Osborne’s tribute to Cullinan when his appointment was introduced: “He has proven his capability as director of the Nationwide Portrait Gallery to supervise each a significant bodily renovation and a compelling renewal of function in a manner that doesn’t take sides, however brings individuals collectively – and gained common acclaim.”
In his new position Cullinan might want to draw on his fundraising abilities to supervise its bold masterplan, a 10-year challenge, estimated to value £1bn, to modernise its constructing in Bloomsbury, central London, and redisplay your entire assortment.
When his appointment was introduced, Cullinan stated: “It will embody essentially the most important transformations, each architectural and mental, taking place in any museum globally, to proceed making the British Museum essentially the most engaged and collaborative it may be.”
He will even must navigate the furore over the museum’s continued partnership with the oil firm BP, which has provoked many high-profile protests. On the NPG he ended an identical sponsorship cope with BP however the establishment was subsequently criticised by local weather activists after it introduced an identical cope with Herbert Smith Freehills, a legislation agency with connections to the oil trade.
Cullinan was born in Connecticut however grew up in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. He studied artwork historical past on the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Artwork in London. His first position on the NPG was as a customer providers assistant, directing individuals across the displays, giving talks about portraits and dealing on the knowledge desk.
He went on to work as a curator of worldwide fashionable artwork at Tate Fashionable, the place he co-curated its blockbuster Matisse cut-outs exhibition in 2014 with the gallery’s then director, Nicholas Serota. He then spent two years because the curator of recent and modern artwork on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York, engaged on exhibitions of artists together with Cy Twombly and Edvard Munch.
Cullinan has additionally lectured internationally, written for a lot of artwork journals, and revealed books on Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg.
His shut friendship with the US singer Courtney Love grew to become broadly identified in 2017 when the widow of the Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain known as him her “soulmate” and her “household for all times” on Instagram. They attended the GQ males of the yr awards on the Tate Fashionable collectively that yr.
Cullinan invited her to DJ on the reopening of the NPG and she or he returned to play tracks at its gala in March.
In an interview with Elle Ornament final yr, he shared his eclectic tastes, citing Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Tristes apprêts, from his 1737 opera Castor et Pollux, as his favorite piece of music, whereas additionally revealing his love for Michael Jackson’s debut solo album, Off the Wall, and the American teen comedy Imply Ladies.
