Displaying items by tag: neil macgregor

A highly respected but determinedly low-profile German museum director in charge of the Dresden state art collections is to succeed Neil MacGregor as director of the British Museum.

The surprise appointment of Hartwig Fischer, 53, has yet to be rubberstamped by Downing Street but sources at the British Museum suggested that would be little more than a formality. It means there should be a smooth transition between MacGregor’s official departure just before Christmas and Fischer’s appointment.

Neil MacGregor has announced he is to step down as director of the British Museum.

MacGregor told colleagues he had made the "very difficult decision" to leave in December this year, stating he wanted to stop working full-time.

Since joining in 2002, MacGregor has been credited with reforming its one-time "stuffy" image to make it one of the world's most visited attractions.

He said the role had been the "greatest privilege of my professional life."

London’s National Gallery has quietly transformed its display policy to show far fewer of its paintings. Contrary to the widespread belief that it is among the few very large museums anywhere in the world that shows nearly all its collection, in fact nearly half of its works are off view.

Neil MacGregor, while serving as director of the gallery, wrote in his introduction to the 1995 “Complete Illustrated Catalogue” that “every one of its 2,000 or so paintings is on public view”. The majority were installed in the main galleries, along with a dense display in a lower level gallery, known as Room A. By 2012, there were just over 1,000 paintings in the main galleries and 700 in Room A, representing 72% of the collection.