Thomas P. Campbell
The Antonio Ratti Textile Center at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – Collecting Textiles
LECTURE
20 September 2012
FAR – Villa Sucota
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Since becoming the ninth director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009, Thomas P. Campbell has pursued an agenda that focuses on scholarship and accessibility. These priorities maintained the museum’s excellence in its exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and permanent collections while encouraging new thinking about the visitor experience. Prior to his appointment, Campbell worked in the Metropolitan's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for fourteen years, rising steadily through the curatorial ranks as Assistant Curator (1995-97), Associate Curator (1997-2003), and Curator (2003 to December 2008). During this time, he conceived and organized the major exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance; Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque; Threads of Splendor (New York, 2007; Palacio Real, Madrid, spring 2008) which received widespread acclaim. Shortly after his arrival at the Museum, he also served as Supervising Curator of The Antonio Ratti Textile Center, which houses the Museum's encyclopedic collection of 36,000 textiles and is one of the preeminent centers of textile studies in the world.