Alan Shestack to Retire from National Gallery

Deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art, Alan Shestack

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Gallery of Art has announced that Alan Shestack, the institution's deputy director and chief curator, will retire on October 1. Shestack worked previously as the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1987 to 1993, and also as the director of the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts and the Yale University Art Gallery. Franklin Kelly, senior curator of American and British paintings, will replace him. Kelly has been a curator at the National Gallery for 21 years.

MADRID—Lynne Cooke, the curator for the Dia Art Foundation, has been appointed chief curator at the Reina Sofía Art Center in Madrid. Cooke, a 17-year Dia veteran who oversees its permanent collection and directs all of its installations and related programs, will continue her work at the foundation in addition to her new post. She plans to split her time between New York and Madrid.

NEW YORK—L&M Arts gallery has hired Barrett White as senior director. White previously worked for almost nine years at Christie's, where he served variously as senior vice president and senior specialist in postwar and contemporary art, as well as director of Christie's private sales. In 2007, he was appointed the New York director of Haunch of Venison.

NEW YORK—Amy Levin and Oliver Newton have been appointed directors of Alexander and Bonin gallery. Both have worked as staff members of the gallery since 2005, with Levin serving as the registrar since 2006 and Newton serving as a member of the sales staff since 2007. Levin is a 2009 MA candidate at Hunter College, and Newton co-curated the 2006 exhibition "You have to be almost gifted to do what I do." He will also curate "Stay alive til '95," which opens in May.

SAN FRANCISCO—Stephen Beal has been named the new president of the California College of the Arts. The school's provost since 1997, he succeeds Michael S. Roth, who served as president from 2000 to 2007. Beal has implemented a number of academic programs in his 11 years at the college, including the BA in writing and literature and the MFA in design. Before joining the CCA, Beal worked at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as the vice president of academic planning and associate vice president of academic affairs.

BASEL, Switzerland—MCH Messe Schweiz has announced the resignation of Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, the artistic director of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, effective immediately. Annette Schoenholzer, the former director of operations and finance, and Marc Spiegler, the former director of strategy and development, will lead both fairs under the shared title of co-director. Rabinowitz currently serves on the photography faculty of the Parsons New School for Design and formerly worked as the senior U.S. editor of Parkett.

BERKELEY, Calif.—The University of California, Berkeley, has appointed Lawrence Robert Rinder the new director of the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. Rinder, the current dean of the college at California College of the Arts, previously worked at BAM/PFA from 1988 to 1998 in a number of positions, including curator of 20th century art. He also served as a curator of contemporary at the Whitney Museum from 2000 to 2004 as well as the founding director of the Institute for Exhibitions and Public Programs at the California College of Arts and Crafts from 1998 to 2000. Rinder succeeds Jacquelynn Baas, who has served as the interim director on BAM/PFA since October 2007. He takes up his position this summer.

Farewells
NEW YORK—Italian-American artist Enrico Donati died on April 25 at the age of 99. Donati was most famous for his involvement with Surrealism, but was also known for changing with the times and working in Constructivism as well as Abstract Expressionism. His first solo show took place in 1942 at the New School's gallery, and in 1947, he collaborated with Marcel Duchamp on the program for the Exposition Internationale de Surrealisme at the Maeght Gallery in Paris. Donati was also involved in the business world, having bought the French perfume company Houbigant Inc. in 1965 and revived it. The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium are among the institutions that house his work.