Met Picks New Director, Thomas P. Campbell, from Within

After an eight month-long search, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that one of its own curators will succeed outgoing director Philippe de Montebello. Thomas P. Campbell, 46, is Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (and Supervising Curator of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center) and mounted the successful Tapestry in the Renaissance and Tapestry in the Baroque shows. Met Board of Trustees chairman James R. Houghton said of Campbell, "He is a distinguished art historian and outstanding curator, who is an ardent advocate for scholarship, connoisseurship, and the highest museum standards, as well as a solid manager and diplomat accustomed to preparing all facets of major exhibitions." And de Montebello, who will step down at the end of the year, said, "Tom Campbell, in my view, is absolutely the right selection."