NEW YORK—The Met held its cards close to its chest at a press conference held this morning to announce its new director, Thomas P. Campbell, taking the reins on January 1, 2009. Perhaps the clearest impression the press came away with is that outgoing director Philippe de Montebello, referred to as “the leader for whom they might have invented the phrase ‘a tough act to follow,’” has developed a more graceful way to say “No Comment” than the incoming Campbell.

The 46-year-old, British-born Met curator and tapestries specialist, widely regarded as a surprise choice for the prestigious job, deflected questions about antiquities restitution, revisions and expansions of the museum’s collection, museum branding and satellite branches, and which single object in the collection he’d most like to take home with him. When a journalist asked who Campbell’s supporters were within the museum, de Montebello jumped in to offer no comment on his successor’s behalf.

This last question hit home the fact that Campbell’s selection is quite a political one. Board chairman James Houghton hinted as much in the press conference’s only prepared remarks, and de Montebello, speaking off the cuff, said that the hiring, beyond its significance at the Met, sends “an important message to the museum world.”

What message is that? Both Houghton and de Montebello stressed the fact that the board had chosen someone from within the museum who is familiar with the culture and the strengths of the staff — and who is a scholar and a curator, as opposed to a rainmaker or, in Campbell’s words, “a wonkish manager.”

De Montebello, who said he “could not be more pleased with this appointment,” talked about the “primacy of art, the primacy of scholarship” and warned against “anything that deflects from art, which is the raison d’etre of the institution.” He praised Campbell as someone he could trust not to “turn the Met into a museum about itself.”

For his part, Campbell seemed sufficiently humble. “I don’t believe in change for the sake of change,” he said. When asked to weigh in on his vision for the future of museum, he assured the room that he has some ideas but said that to offer any of them would be “premature.” “The next three and a half months will be a period for me of intense listening,” he said.

Talking about lessons he had learned from his work with tapestries, which he explained were historically used as propaganda, he stressed that “good leadership depends on good advice.”

“I need to learn from the people I lead,” he added.

Asked about the role of contemporary art within the museum, Campbell said, “We’re an encyclopedic museum, and we should respect that in all aspects. Contemporary art will continue to be part of the museum’s mission. That said, it’s part of the mission.” He went on to praise curator Gary Tinterow for the recent work he has done in this area.

The mention of the high-profile Tinterow may have reminded many attendees of the elephant in the room, which, at the end of the 45 minutes, still remained unaddressed: Why Campbell? Following a nine-month-long search, during which, according to Houghton, the committee fielded 60 proposals and consulted over 100 people, the internal choice of the unassuming curator was far from an obvious one. One reporter went so far as to raise her hand and ask him, “Were you as surprised as we were?”

“I’ve been thinking myself into this role for months,” Campbell said. “I’m going to go on being surprised for the next 31 years.”

If there’s one thing the reticent Campbell did impress upon the gathered journalists, it was his wit. Asked by a reporter to comment on a comparison in the press of his appointment to that of Sarah Palin, he quipped, “Well, I don’t hunt, and as far as I know, I don’t have a 17-year-old who is pregnant.”