The Museum of Modern Art will combine its Department of Prints and Illustrated Books with the Department of Drawings, effective July 1. The Department of Prints and Drawings will be headed by Christophe Cherix, who has served as the Museum's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books since 2010, having joined the Museum as curator in 2007.
Connie Butler, who joined the Museum as The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings in 2006, will continue to serve as the co-curator, with Luis Perez-Oramas, of MoMA's 2014 retrospective of Lygia Clark, and will be the coordinating curator of a retrospective of Mike Kelley at MoMA PS1 this fall. Relocating to Los Angeles, she will co-organize the biennial of Los Angeles art at the Hammer Museum, and will be a visiting professor in the Art and Curatorial Practices Program at the University of Southern California's Roski School of Fine Arts.
"Both the prints and drawings collections are extraordinary in and of themselves. Christophe Cherix has the unique ability and talent to bring these two departments together, helping the Museum focus on new priorities while maintaining their importance within their respective fields," commented Mr. Lowry. "Connie Butler has been an outstanding chief curator and an essential member of the Museum's curatorial staff. While she will continue to work on a number of exhibitions, her day to day presence will be missed enormously."