Paul Risser to Leave National Museum of Natural History

Courtesy Smithsonian Institution

Paul Risser

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History's acting director Paul G. Risser is leaving after nine months at the institution. Risser took over last spring for Cristian Samper, who left to become acting secretary for the Smithsonian after Lawrence M. Small resigned following a firestorm of criticism and an investigation into his expenditures. Risser, a biologist who said he'd originally planned to spend only six months at  the Museum of Natural History, is returning to his longtime career in Oklahoma's higher education system. His last day will be January 26, the same day Marc Pachter, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, ends his tenure. Carolyn K. Carr, the National Portrait Gallery's deputy director and chief curator, will serve as acting director until Pachter's replacement is found.

DALLAS—African American Museum chief curator Phillip E. Collins is retiring from full-time work, the Dallas Morning News reports. Collins has served at the museum for 12 years, and his colleagues say he left an indelible mark on the institution. "Phillip has been a valuable staff member," said Harry Robinson, president and CEO of the African American Museum. "He has made outstanding contributions to the museum. He has been very creative and very resourceful. We have limited resources. He has been able to work wonders with nothing." During his tenure Collins oversaw a variety of significant and adventurous exhibitions, including "Fresh Beginnings," which showcased the work of then-emerging black artists, many of whom have gone on to illustrious careers. Collins will continue to serve as commissioner-at-large for Dallas's Office of Cultural Affairs. He also recently was appointed chair of the Public Art Committee, where he also will continue to serve.

NEW YORK—The Brooklyn Museum has appointed the Egyptologist Yekaterina Barbash as assistant curator of Egyptian art. Barbash interned in the museum's department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art early in her career. She received her Ph.D. in ancient Egyptian history, art, and philology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she also earned her master's degree. She currently teaches at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Berkeley College. She also has been a member of the Johns Hopkins Hopkins University expedition to the Mut Precinct of Karnak, Egypt, where the Brooklyn Museum maintains an excavation, and she has served as a consultant for H.P. Kraus and a researcher at the Walters Art Museum.

LONDON—British culture secretary James Purnell has left his post for a promotion to the position of work and pensions secretary. He replaces Peter Hain, who resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday. Replacing Purnell is Andy Burnham, according to the Guardian.

Farewells
WASHINGTON, D.C.—National Gallery of Art curator Philip Conisbee died from complications of lung cancer on January 16 at the age of 62, the Washington Post reports. Conisbee specialized in French and European paintings from the 17th to the 19th centuries and is credited with organizing many of the museum's most popular exhibitions, including 1998's "Van Gogh's Van Goghs," which attracted more than 480,000 visitors. Conisbee, who was born in Belfast and grew up in London, served as a college professor of art history for more than a decade before coming to the United States in 1986 and joining the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as an associate curator of French paintings. He was appointed curator of European painting and sculpture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1988. He was hired at the National Gallery of Art in 1993, where he served as curator of French paintings. He became the senior curator of European paintings there in 1998. He became a United States citizen in 1994.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum founding chairman Miles Lerman died January 22 at the age of 88, the New York Sun reports. Lerman, a Holocaust survivor who escaped a labor camp in 1942 and spent the rest of the war sabotaging German troops as a partisan fighter, helped raise $200 million for the museum while serving as a member of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, a post to which he was appointed by President Carter in 1980. He was appointed chairman of the museum's governing council by President Clinton weeks before the museum opened in 1993, and he remained in that position for six years. During his tenure he established the museum's Committee on Conscience, aimed at raising awareness on current genocides such as Darfur.