The Huntington Names Christina Nielsen as new Director of the Art Collection

The curator of the collection and exhibition program at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has also worked in curatorial and leadership roles at the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

PHOTO: The Huntington | SouthPasadenan.com | Christina Nielson

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens has appointed Christina Nielsen as the Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Collections, Karen R. Lawrence, The Huntington’s incoming president announced today.

Nielsen, currently William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection and Exhibition Program at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, assumes her new position on Oct. 15.

Nielsen has worked for 20 years in curatorial and leadership roles in museums across the United States, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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She received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Chicago, and recently completed a fellowship at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York.

At The Huntington, Nielsen will be responsible for the development, care, and interpretation of some 36,000 museum objects in the European and American art collections, as well as their display in two buildings—the Huntington Art Gallery and the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.

She also will lead the art collections’ professional staff and provide vision for the institution’s temporary exhibitions program, which includes large-scale shows presented in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery.

She replaces Catherine Hess, The Huntington’s chief curator of European art, who has served as interim director since March of 2017.