January 2009

Celebrating Philippe de Montebello

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Born in Paris in 1936 and educated in French schools through the baccalaureate, Philippe de Montebello graduated magna cum laude, Harvard class of 1958, and after receiving a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, went on to earn an M.A. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

After beginning his Metropolitan Museum career in 1963 in its Department of European Paintings, Mr. de Montebello rose steadily through the curatorial ranks. Except for four-and-a-half years as Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1969-1974), he has spent his entire career at the Met, returning in 1974 to assume the post of Vice Director for Curatorial and Educational Affairs, and then becoming the Museum's Director in 1977. He has not only served longer than any other director in the Metropolitan's history, but has for several years ranked as the longest-serving leader at any major museum in the world. As Chief Executive Officer, he leads a professional staff of more than 300 curators, conservators, educators, and librarians, as well as an administrative staff, reporting through the Museum's President, consisting of more than 2,300 full- and part-time employees in the fields of operations, construction, development, marketing, finance, visitor services, systems and technology, human resources, and merchandising. The museum's volunteers now number 1,100—the largest such corps at any museum in the world.

Attendance at the Metropolitan has increased substantially since Mr. de Montebello first became Director, rising from 3.5 million in 1977 to a peak of more than 5.1 million in 2000. Despite the inevitable decline that followed 9/11, attendance has resumed an upward trend, rising to 4.6 million at the close of the 2007 fiscal year last June 30.