AKIRA SUWA / Staff Photographer
Timothy Rub, new director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, at the Great Stair Hall last night."I think he'll hit the ground running," said H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, who chairs the museum board.
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Art museum names Rub new director
The Philadelphia Museum of Art today will name as its new leader Timothy Rub, chief executive officer of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Rub, 57, will take the post on Sept. 1, succeeding Anne d'Harnoncourt, who died last June after a quarter-century at the museum's helm.
"This, for me, was a remarkable opportunity," Rub said. "This is a decision that I made with my heart as well as my mind. Philadelphia is just one of this country's great museums."
He leaves Cleveland after only three years - a short tenure, but an eventful one.
During that time, the museum undertook a major expansion, acquired important new works, and was embroiled in the controversial question of provenance in an episode that ended with the return of 14 allegedly stolen or looted ancient works (all acquired decades ago, apparently innocently) to Italy in a deal with the government there.
Rub was just starting to see the fruits of his labors in improvements to Cleveland's physical plant. The first of three planned wings opened this month as part of a $350 million expansion and renovation that aims to boost the museum's space by 50 percent by 2013.
He said the decision to leap to Philadelphia in mid-project was difficult.
"But it came down to feeling a great, great sense of passion and fondness for this museum and the collection and what it stands for," he said.
The naming of a new director triggers a number of other changes in the museum's leadership.
H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, whose plan to step down as board chair was deferred when d'Harnoncourt died, said he would continue for a time after Rub's arrival, then resign, probably in the fall.
The museum's temporary heads will resume their previous posts. Alice Beamesderfer, named chief of curatorial affairs after d'Harnoncourt's death, will resume her previous title of associate director for collections. Gail M. Harrity, the museum's chief operating officer, who has been functioning as interim CEO, will report to Rub, but with a more impressive title expected to be announced after the new director arrives.
Keith L. Sachs, who cochaired the search committee with Martha Hamilton Morris, said a large pool of talent from around the world was considered during the last 10 months - 75 names, according to Lenfest - from which 11 candidates were interviewed. Those 11 were narrowed to three finalists.
Rub was chosen, Sachs said, because of his solid art-history background, and his experience in managing building and fund-raising projects. During his three years in Cleveland, the museum raised about $80 million for its $350 million project; it has about $138 million to go.
"He's a very, very seriously and well-regarded director within the art world, and we felt he was the one for us," Sachs said.
"I think he'll hit the ground running with his experience and background, and it's a real coup to get him," Lenfest said.
According to Beamesderfer, when her staff "would all sit around brainstorming about who we would like, his name always came to the top of the list."
"We speak to our colleagues," she said, "and we know by reputation that he's very supportive of excellence in exhibitions, committed to scholarship - all of the things that are important to the curatorial staff and the museum as a whole."
Several Cleveland Museum of Art leaders expressed a great sense of loss.
"I think that this news is going to be very upsetting to a lot of people," said Michael J. Horvitz, board chair of the Cleveland museum. "People felt the museum was in good hands with him, and it was. I think it's going to be a very good thing for Philadelphia."
"We think Philadelphia has hired just an outstanding museum director, and we're sorry to see him leave Cleveland," said Alfred M. Rankin Jr., the board's president. "We wish that he was able to stay longer with us."
