New Senior Staff Appointments at the Met

Max Hollein, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced three senior staff appointments recently:

Sarah E. Lawrence as Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts;
Inka Drögemüller as Deputy Director for Digital, Education, Publications, Imaging, and Libraries; and
Sean Hemingway as John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge, Greek and Roman Art.

“It is with great pleasure that I announce these appointments, each of which involved intensive searches,” said Mr. Hollein. “These accomplished individuals bring unique strengths and experience to their respective roles, while sharing in their commitment to the Museum’s mission. The Met’s greatest strength is its staff, and I look forward to working together in our collective effort to serve our audiences, care for the collection, produce innovative displays, programs, and publications, and advance the understanding and appreciation of art around the world.”

Sarah E. Lawrence will join as the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, this April. Dr. Lawrence earned her Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University, and she currently serves as Dean of Art and Design History and Theory, and Associate Professor of Design History, at Parsons School of Design in New York. In 2018, she received the Public Discovery Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on “Toward a Complete History of Art,” with Dr. Laura Auricchio and Dr. Anne Luther. She was Director of the graduate program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design, a program offered jointly by Parsons and the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow of Judaica at the Jewish Museum. Among many other projects, Sarah co-curated the 2007–8 exhibition “Piranesi as Designer,” a collaboration between Cooper Hewitt and the Rijksmuseum.

Inka Drögemüller will start in the newly created role of Deputy Director for Digital, Education, Publications, Imaging, and Libraries in April. Inka joins The Met from the Städel Museum and Liebieghaus Sculptural Collection and Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in Germany, where she has served as a leader in many capacities over the past 18 years. Most recently, Inka has been Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Städel Museum and Liebieghaus Sculptural Collection and Deputy Director of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Chief among her accomplishments are innovative digital and educational projects that have expanded institutions’ outreach, introducing diverse audiences to collections, programming, and more.

Sean Hemingway, now the John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge, Greek and Roman Art, has been at The Met since 1998, when he joined as an Assistant Curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Art. He was appointed Associate Curator in 2002, Curator in 2010, and then in 2017 was asked to serve as the John A. and Carole O. Moran Acting Curator in Charge. In leading the department, Dr. Hemingway has been overseeing its collection, staff, exhibitions, and many other activities with grace and expertise. He has contributed greatly to the study of Greek and Roman art, through archaeological fieldwork, publications (including the forthcoming symposium proceedings Art of the Hellenistic Kingdoms: From Pergamon to Rome), exhibitions, and more. Dr. Hemingway studied at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens as a Fulbright Scholar and has been the Metropolitan Museum of Art Visiting Curator at the American Academy in Rome. He received his Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from Bryn Mawr.

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