Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art names Matthew Hargraves new director with wealth of impressive experience
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art has named Matthew Hargraves, who has been the historic museum’s interim chief curator for the past year, as its new director.
Hargraves has already started in the new position, after Wadsworth board of trustees approved a search committee’s recommendation. The announcement was made Thursday morning.
His expertise is in 18th century British art, but as interim director he has demonstrated a deep interest in a wide range of Wadsworth activities, including its designated modern art exhibition space MATRIX.
The position has been vacant since April of 2021, which Tom Loughman resigned, but the search for a new director really began in November of last year, after the Wadsworth announced a major change in its leadership structure. Instead of a single CEO/Director, the museum decided to shift to two separate roles.
Jeffrey Brown was given the CEO position in November. At that time, he described the new arrangement to the Courant as him being responsible for “the overall leadership, vision, and strategic direction of the organization and its staff” while the director would oversee “the artistic direction of the museum, steering the collection management, exhibitions, and educational programming activities.”
Hargraves is the first director under the new leadership model. He and Brown have already been working together as a team during Hargrave’s interim leadership.
Since June 2021, Hargraves has served as Interim Robert H. Schutz Jr. Chief Curator, in charge of the Curatorial, Conservation, Exhibition and Design departments.
In a statement, Brown says “We were fortunate to have a robust field of well-qualified candidates. As the review process proceeded and multiple candidates were considered and extensively interviewed, it became increasingly apparent that Matthew Hargraves is precisely the right person to serve as Director of the Wadsworth. He brings a depth and breadth of knowledge, commitment, innovation, passion, and scholarship that will contribute to advancing public access to the Wadsworth’s remarkable collections and heighten our connections to communities near and far.”
Before joining the Wadsworth for the interim position, Hargraves was chief curator of art collections at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, where he had held several different roles since 2005. Among his achievements there was overseeing the digitization and online availability of the YCBA’s collections.
He has lived in the Hartford area for the past 15 years.
Hargraves is British, and holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London and a bachelors degree from the University of Warwick. He is an expert in 18th century British art.
Both Brown and Hargraves will serve as ex-officio members of the Wadsworth board.
Gerard Lupacchino, president of the Wadsworth board and chair of the search committee, said in a statement that “Matthew’s impressive track-record and extensive experience will be tremendous assets as we embrace future possibilities and engage a growing array of audiences.”
The museum has expressed a need to appeal to a wider section of the community. In 2016, it began offering free admission for all Hartford residents.
The Wadsworth Atheneum and Museum was founded in 1842 and extends to five connected buildings, housing a collection of nearly 50,000 artworks.
Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.
