Building a New Team at the Met


By Carol Vogel
Ever since Thomas P. Campbell took over as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Jan. 1, there has been speculation about when he would put together his own senior management team, especially with some crucial positions left vacant after the museum’s recent downsizing.


On Tuesday the museum’s board of trustees met and approved the first of Mr. Campbell’s top appointments. They are:

Carrie Rebora Barratt will become associate director for collections and administration. Previously a curator in the department of American paintings and sculpture and manager of the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art, she will now serve as an intermediary between the director and various departments, including curatorial and conservation. Ms. Barratt is replacing Doralynn Pines, who left this summer. Ms. Barratt’s job will also include the creation of a new-media department that among other things will involve interpreting the collection online.

Keith Christiansen, a longtime curator of European paintings, has been named chairman of the department of European paintings. He replaces Everett Fahy, who retired at the end of June.

Sheila R. Canby, the curator of Islamic art and antiquities at the British Museum in London, will become the curator in charge of the Met’s department of Islamic Art effective Oct. 26. She is succeeding Michael Barry, who left the museum last year.

Peggy Fogelman, director of education and interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., will take over as chairman of the Met’s education department. She succeeds Kent Lydecker, who retired in December.