The Cleveland Museum of Art has named William M. Griswold its new director. Currently the director of New York’s Morgan Library & Museum, Griswold, 53, will assume his new position in the fall. His arrival in Cleveland comes just as the institution completes an eight-year, $350-million renovation by architect Rafael Viñoly, which has increased the museum’s gallery space by over 35,000 square feet.
The Morgan’s director since 2008, Griswold oversaw the growth of that museum’s collection, exhibition program and curatorial departments. “Subliming Vessels: The Drawings of Matthew Barney” (2013) and “Dan Flavin: Drawing” (2012) are among the shows organized under his leadership. While he was at the Morgan, the institution expanded its drawings department and added a focus on photography, bringing in former Princeton University Art Museum photography curator Joel Smith to head the department.
Griswold previously served as director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2005-07), acting director and chief curator of Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum from 2004 to ‘05, and the Getty’s associate director for collections beginning in 2001. Prior to his time at the Getty, Griswold was the curator and head of the department of drawings and prints at the Morgan Library since 1995.
His appointment follows the October 2013 resignation of director David Franklin, whose three-year term ended in scandal. Franklin’s affair with former museum employee Christina Gaston came to light following her suicide in April of last year. Museum trustee Fred Bidwell has served as interim director.
Founded in 1916, the Cleveland Museum of Art has an encyclopedic collection encompassing 45,000 objects.
