De Montebello Moves On

NEW YORK—Drawing on his three decades at the helm of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philippe de Montebello will become the first professor to teach the history and culture of museums at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

De Montebello announced in January that he would step down as director of the Met at the end of the the year, or as soon as a successor could be found. His new appointment at NYU will be announced this evening at a dinner celebrating the 75th anniversary of the institute, from which de Montebello earned a master's degree in art history.

“It’s a wonderful new chapter,” said de Montebello. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

In addition to teaching full-time at the IFA, where he wil cover topics like the history of collecting and the evolution and modernization of museums, de Montebello will advise NYU on its planned overseas campus and curriculum in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to begin enrolling students in 2010. “That’s the icing on the cake; it’s a part of the world I love,” said de Montebello. “I will teach a shortened version of my course there in a couple of years.”

De Montebello is scheduled to start at NYU by January 2009. In addition to the new post, he will continue lecturing elsewhere and serving as a consultant for several museums abroad, which he declined to name, on modernizing their collections.