Art Institute names new curator of Asian and textile arts - Chicago Tribune
On the heels of the opening of the Alsdorf Galleries of Indian, Southeast Asian and Islamic art, and in tandem with the autumn reopening of renovated galleries for textiles and Japanese art, the Art Institute of Chicago has a new curator to head related departments.
Today, the museum made public the appointment of Daniel Walker as its Pritzker Chair and Curator of Asian Art, as well as the Chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles. Walker's dual duties go into effect Oct. 18.
"It's one of the top positions at one of the top institutions," Walker said of his appointment via telephone today, "and it's very difficult to imagine what might be better than that."
Walker joins the Art Institute's curatorial staff following a brief stint as an independent consultant, after heading Washington, D.C.'s Textile Museum from 2005 to 2009, preceded by seven years as head of the Islamic Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1988 to 2005). His curatorial career began at the Cincinnati Art Museum; he left in 1988 as curator of Ancient, Near Eastern and Far Eastern Art.
Today, the museum made public the appointment of Daniel Walker as its Pritzker Chair and Curator of Asian Art, as well as the Chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles. Walker's dual duties go into effect Oct. 18.
"It's one of the top positions at one of the top institutions," Walker said of his appointment via telephone today, "and it's very difficult to imagine what might be better than that."
Walker joins the Art Institute's curatorial staff following a brief stint as an independent consultant, after heading Washington, D.C.'s Textile Museum from 2005 to 2009, preceded by seven years as head of the Islamic Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1988 to 2005). His curatorial career began at the Cincinnati Art Museum; he left in 1988 as curator of Ancient, Near Eastern and Far Eastern Art.
