COURTESY FRICK PITTSBURGH
Robin Nicholson will join the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, as executive director and CEO on March 1, 2019, succeeding the institution’s former director, Lisa Grove. He currently serves as the director of the Frick Pittsburgh.
Ted Kleisner, chairman of the Telfair’s board of trustees, said in a statement, “In many ways the Frick—with its historic property, art museum, and expansive collection—and Telfair Museums bear close similarities in terms of scale, variety of buildings, collections, and audience; [Nicholson’s] experience and skills are perfectly aligned with the needs of Telfair Museums.”
As director of the Frick Pittsburgh, Nicholson manages a $7 million operating budget and a staff of over 120 people. He oversaw a $15 million capital campaign to support the construction of three new buildings, collections storage, and the museum’s endowment. Nicholson also played an integral role in putting on the exhibition “Van Gogh, Monet, Degas,” the most successful show in the Frick Pittsburgh’s history.
From 2006 to 2014, Nicholson previously worked as head of exhibitions and deputy director for art and education at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. In that position, he was responsible for the institution’s curatorial, exhibitions, education, statewide partnerships, publications, and library departments. He helped organize shows including “Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris” (2011) and “Forbidden City: Imperial Treasures from the Palace Museum, Beijing” (2014).
Nicholson said in a release, “I am thrilled to be coming to Savannah, a city that I love, and to Telfair Museums, three unique museums with world-class architecture, great collections, and extraordinary potential and opportunity.”