The British Museum has appointed Nicholas Cullinan as its new director. Currently director of London’s National Portrait Gallery, Cullinan now faces the daunting task of helping to run the institution as he continues to deal with the revelation last year that 2,000 items from the museum’s collection were stolen, damaged or otherwise disappeared.
Cullinan has been the director of the National Portrait Gallery since 2015. He oversaw a three-year, $53 million redevelopment of the institution that increased the museum’s public spaces by approximately 20 percent. He has also worked as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and London’s Tate Modern, where in 2014 an exhibition of Henri Matisse’s cutouts broke attendance records.
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Under Cullinan’s leadership, the National Portrait Gallery has also been criticized by climate activists for its sponsorship deal with Herbert Smith Freehills, a major law firm that has represented fossil fuel-related corporations. In 2022, the museum ended its controversial 30-year partnership with oil giant BP, which previously sponsored the annual portrait award.
Last April, the National Portrait Gallery also completed a landmark £50m purchase of Joshua Reynolds. Portrait of Omai (Mai) ca. 1776 through a partnership with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Cullinan called the deal “the biggest acquisition the UK has ever made”.
Cullinan comes to the British Museum at a particularly difficult time. The museum is trying to recover a significant number of lost items. Meanwhile, it is also tightening security and inventory records, and is facing renewed and fervent calls for the repatriation of objects that many believe were looted. Among these objects are the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes, both of which have long been the main attractions of the British Museum collection.
When the institution listed the permanent top post, it acknowledged the “significant challenges” it entails. It was a stinging reference to last year’s theft scandal that led to the resignation of director Hartwig Fischer and deputy director Jonathan Williams. Mark Jones, former director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, was chosen as interim director.
The announcement of Cullinan’s appointment also came just days after the British Museum filed a lawsuit against former curator Peter Higgs, alleging the museum stole more than 1,800 items from its collection. A judge has ordered Higgs to list or return the museum items still in his possession within four weeks, and to disclose records of transactions made through eBay and PayPal.
Higgs was released in July 2023. The museum’s initial announcement in August about the roughly 2,000 missing, stolen and damaged items did not name Higgs, but news reports did. London times and Daily Telegraph he quickly identified the veteran curator of Greek and Roman art. He has continued to deny the allegations.
A press release from the British Museum said Cullinan’s appointment had received “unanimous approval from the Board of Trustees and agreement from the Prime Minister”. Cullinan will officially take over from Jones in the summer.
