Talk about yr leadership transitions...

The announcement of Phillipe de Montebello's upcoming retirement from the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn't shocking to anyone, apparently--certainly not to the NYT, which had thousands of words at the ready to drop into the paper today. It's time. But now, the interesting part. Mr. de Montebello has been held up as the quintessence of the American museum director -- for good reason -- for many years. A scholar, a curator, a "patron saint" of the museum with just enough energy, charisma, and business acumen to build the country's greatest arts board, expand the museum and its audience and its endowment dramatically while maintaining the highest programmatic standards. We're also reading every day about how the present generation of arts leaders, especially museum directors--who are especially scarce these days--will be replaced. I'll be interested to see how the search is conducted and how this transition is managed in this flagship institution--the Met has had plenty of time and plenty of resources to prepare for this moment--we'll see how it goes!