Colin B. Bailey

{{Short description|Art historian and museum director (born 1955)}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Colin B. Bailey

| birth_name = Colin Barry Bailey

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|10|20}}

| birth_place = London, England, United Kingdom

| occupation = Art historian
Museum director

| spouse = Alan Wintermute (m. 2013)

| alma_mater = University of Oxford

| thesis_title = Aspects of the Patronage and the Collecting of French Painting in France at the End of the Ancien Régime

| thesis_url = https://library.frick.org/permalink/01NYA_INST/1qqhid8/alma991007880389707141

| thesis_year = 1985

| doctoral_advisor = Francis Haskell

| influences = Henri Loyrette{{Cite web | url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/participants/ccl-program/colin-bailey/ | title=Colin Bailey - CCL Class of 2008 }}

| discipline = Art history

| sub_discipline = Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art

| workplaces = Philadelphia Museum of Art
Kimbell Art Museum
National Gallery of Canada
Frick Collection
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Morgan Library & Museum

}}

Colin Barry Bailey {{post-nominals|list=OAL}} is a British art historian and museum director. Bailey is currently the Director of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/arts/design/colin-bailey-is-named-the-new-director-of-morgan-library.html?_r=0 | title=Colin Bailey is Named the New Director of Morgan Library | newspaper=The New York Times | date=16 April 2015 | last1=Kennedy | first1=Randy }} He is a scholar of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art, specifically on the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Early life

Born in London to Max and Hilda Bailey, Bailey received his Bachelor of Arts from Brasenose College (1978), Master of Arts (1982), and Doctor of Philosophy (1985), all in Art History from the University of Oxford. His doctoral dissertation was completed under the supervision of Francis Haskell and concerned patronage and collecting of French paintings during the end of the Ancien Régime.{{Cite web |title=Aspects of the patronage and collecting of French painting in France at the end of the Ancien Régime |url=https://library.frick.org/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=L&vid=01NYA_INST:Frick&search_scope=Frick&tab=SearchScopes&docid=alma991007880389707141 |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=library.frick.org |language=en}} Shortly thereafter, Bailey was awarded a fellowship in the Department of Paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.{{Cite web | url=http://www.artnews.com/2013/06/13/bringing-up-bailey/ | title=Bringing up Bailey: New Chief at FAMSF | date=13 June 2013 }}

Career

Bailey moved to the United States to begin his curatorial career as Assistant Curator for European Painting and Sculpture before 1900 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he worked from 1985 to 1989.{{Cite web | url=https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/1990/annenberg.html | url-status=bot: unknown | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202224939/https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/1990/annenberg.html | archive-date=2 December 2020 | title=Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism | access-date=29 January 2021 }} In that final year, he was appointed Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Kimbell Art Museum, and was promoted to Senior Curator in 1990. Five years later, Bailey was hired as Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, and was appointed Deputy Director and Chief Curator in 1998.

In 2000, Bailey became the Chief Curator of the Frick Collection,{{Cite news |date=June 9, 2000 |title=Chief curator of National Gallery leaves for small but important Frick museum in New York |work=National Post |page=B7 |id={{ProQuest|329660518}}}} and in 2008, he gained his first directorial position after being promoted to Associate Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator. Bailey also became an inaugural fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.{{Cite web | url=http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2007/10/attention_museum_headhunters_t.html | title=Attention Museum Headhunters: Tinterow and Bailey Have Directorial Aspirations | date=4 October 2007 }} While at the Center, Bailey held at a residency at the Louvre, closely observing its director, Henri Loyrette.

In 2013, Bailey became the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,{{cite web |last=Finkel |first=Jori |date=October 23, 2014 |title=Colin Bailey Revamps San Francisco Art Museums |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/arts/artsspecial/colin-bailey-revamps-san-francisco-art-museums.html |access-date=February 8, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 }} overseeing both the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor.{{Cite web | url=https://www.famsf.org/about/director/press-room | title=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Appoint Colin B. Bailey as Director | date=26 March 2013 }} Two years later, Bailey moved back to New York to become the sixth director of the Morgan Library & Museum, succeeding William Griswold.{{cite web |last=Pobric |first=Pac |date=April 16, 2015 |title=Colin Bailey named head of the Morgan Library and Museum |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2015/04/17/colin-bailey-named-head-of-the-morgan-library-and-museum |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper – International art news and events }}{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=April 16, 2015 |title=Colin Bailey Is Named the New Director of Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/arts/design/colin-bailey-is-named-the-new-director-of-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 }}

Alongside curatorial posts, Bailey has taught art history at a number of institutions, including: the University of Pennsylvania (1988), Bryn Mawr College (1989), Columbia University (2005-2007), and the Graduate Center, CUNY (2009).

Personal life

In 2013, Bailey married Alan Wintermute in New York City.{{Cite web | url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Colin-Bailey-ready-to-lead-Fine-Arts-Museums-4617699.php | title=Colin Bailey ready to lead Fine Arts Museums | date=24 June 2013 }}

Awards and honors

Chevalier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1994){{Cite web |title=France Honors Colin B. Bailey with the Medal of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters |url=https://www.frick.org/press/france_honors_colin_b_bailey_medal_officer_order_arts_and_letters}}
Officier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2010)
Mitchell Prize for the History of Art for Patriotic Taste: Collecting Modern Art in Pre-Revolutionary Paris (2002-2003).{{Cite web|url=http://www.frick.org/sites/default/files/pdf/press/Bailey_Mitchell.pdf|title=Colin B. Bailey, Chief Curator, Awarded Prestigious Mitchell Prize|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=The Frick Collection|access-date=8 August 2016}}
Foundation for Italian Art and Culture Excellency Award (2013){{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=FIAC Foundation|url=https://www.fiacfoundation.org/awards.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129013133/http://www.fiacfoundation.org:80/awards.html |archive-date=2015-01-29 |access-date=2020-11-20|website=www.fiacfoundation.org/awards.html}}
Fondation Broquette-Gonin Prix du Rayonnement de la Langue et de la Littérature Françaises (2020){{Cite web|title=Les lauréats {{!}} Académie française|url=http://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-prix-et-fondations-prix-litteraires/les-laureats|access-date=2020-11-20|website=www.academie-francaise.fr}}

Select works

{{cite book |title=The Loves of the Gods: Mythological Painting from Watteau to David |location=New York |publisher=Rizzoli |year=1992}} {{ISBN|9780847815210}}
{{cite book |title=Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997}} {{ISBN|9780300071344}}
{{cite book |title=Patriotic Taste: Collecting Modern Art in Pre-Revolutionary Paris |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2002|isbn=|location=New Haven}} {{ISBN|9780300089868}}
{{cite book |title=Building the Frick Collection: An Introduction to the House and Its Collections |publisher=Frick Collection in association with Scala |year=2006|isbn=|location=New York}} {{ISBN|9781857593815}}
{{cite book |title=Watteau to Degas: French Drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection |location=New York |publisher=Frick Collection |year=2009}} {{ISBN|9780912114453}} (co-author with Susan Grace Galassi)
{{cite book |title=Fragonard's Progress of Love at The Frick Collection

|publisher=Frick Collection |year=2011|isbn=|location=New York}} {{ISBN|9781904832607}}

{{cite book |title=Renoir, Impressionism and Full-Length Painting

|publisher=Frick Collection |year=2012|isbn=|location=New York}} {{ISBN|9780300181081}}

{{cite book |title=The Age of Watteau, Chardin and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting |location=Ottawa |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |year=2003}} {{ISBN|9780300099461}}
{{cite book |title=Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1724-1780 |location=New York|publisher=Frick Collection |year=2007}} {{ISBN|9780300099461}}