Alice Walton announced Monday that Don Bacigalupi, director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio will replace Bob Workman as the Executive Director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Bacigalupi (pronounced baa-chee-ga-loop-ee) graduated from the University of Texas and taught Art History there before beginning a career in museum management. He was curator of contemporary art at the San Antonio Museum of Art from 1993 to 1995, director and chief curator of the University of Houston’s Blaffer Gallery from 1995-1999. He directed the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park before directing the Toledo Museum of Art from 2003-present.
A specialist in post-WWII American art and popular culture, Bacigalupi will oversee an impressive collection amassed by Walton, representing American work from the colonial period through modern times. Much of the work acquired for the new museum is currently on loan to other institutions.
Bacigalupi replaces Workman, who resigned back in January of this year. Crystal Bridges was slated to open in 2009, but is still without an opening date due to the “significance and complexity” of the building. According to the museum’s website, museum officials “expect to have a much clearer picture of a projected opening in the coming months.”
- Official Release from Crystal Bridges – August 17th, 2009
- Culture Monster – LA Times Blog – August 17th, 2009
