NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Brett Abbott named Director/CEO
Abbott currently serves as Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX, where he leads the Amon Carter’s Curatorial, Conservation, Publications, Archives, and Registration departments, as well as Exhibition Design, Photo Services and Preparations. During his appointment there in 2016, Abbott had set the vision for the curatorial team, developed and overseen the implementation of a long-range guide for acquisitions and collections growth, and had established the museum’s collection care and stewardship plan. He spearheaded a major renovation and re-imagining of the Museum’s internal galleries, completed in 2019, to improve visitor experience and was instrumental in a reinstallation of the permanent collection that moved towards an entirely new thematic presentation, connecting artists and work through time. Abbott had also helped to significantly expand the Museum's collections and endowment, with notable acquisitions of works including a hanging sculpture by Ruth Asawa, a painting by George Bellows, and a photograph by Dawoud Bey.
Abbott earned his Bachelor of Arts in Art History with distinction from Stanford University, his Master of Arts in Art History from Williams College and completed the Executive Education Program for Museum Leaders at the Museum Leadership Institute. Over the past two decades, he organized more than 30 exhibitions and contributed to more than a dozen publications. A specialist in twentieth and twenty-first-century American photography, Abbott previously spent five years at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, where he served as Keough Family Curator of Photography and Head of Collections, and nine years at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Among his many awards are the Ansel Adams Fellowship for work on Wynn Bullock at the Center for Creative Photography in 2012, and two Lucie Awards for Curator/Exhibition of the Year.
“We are delighted to welcome Brett Abbott as the next Director of the New Britain Museum of American Art,” said Interim Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees Dona V. Cassella. “Brett will bring to the NBMAA his deep expertise in the interpretation of American Art and the broadening definition of what is American Art.
Abbott commented, “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the NBMAA. I look forward to working with the Museum’s esteemed collection and its talented staff, and to collaborating closely with its dedicated board and community on charting a bright path forward for the institution.”