12th director of the National Portrait Gallery, London
Robert Nicholas Cullinan (born 29 December 1977) is an art historian and curator. On 6 January 2015, he was appointed the 12th director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, a post he began several months later. It was announced on 28 March 2024 that he had been appointed Director of the British Museum.
Early life and education.
Cullinan was born in December 1977 in Connecticut, United States, to British parents. He moved to Britain aged 4 or 5 years, and grew up in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England. He was home-schooled. He received his BA, MA, and PhD in art history from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Between 2001 and 2003, while a student, he worked as a visitor services assistant at the National Portrait Gallery, where he was later appointed director in 2015.
Personal life.
Cullinan's partner is the Belgian art dealer and founder in 2023 of London's Vendelmans gallery, Mattias Vendelmans. He lives in Oval, London, and Margate in Kent. 
Career.
From 2006 to 2007, he held the Hilla Rebay International Fellowship at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Peggy Guggenheim Collection. From 2007 to 2013 he was curator of international modern art at Tate Modern. He then joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as its curator of modern and contemporary art. In 2014, he co-curated an exhibition of Henri Matisse's cut-outs at Tate Modern with Sir Nicholas Serota. The exhibition attracted more than 500,000 visitors.
Cullinan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to art. He is a director of the Chatsworth House Trust.
References.
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