Art Gallery of NSW name first female director in 154 years

The Art Gallery of NSW’s Maud Page has been named the institution’s first female leader in its 154-year history.

The landmark appointment follows an international search for a successor to outgoing director Dr Michael Brand, whose departure has been unexpectedly brought forward from June to next Friday.

All NSW’s major galleries and museums are now headed by women.

Page joined the gallery as deputy director and director of collections in 2017 and has cultivated deep connections with Pacific communities.

The French-born Page impressed French President Emmanuel Macron on his first official diplomatic visit to Australia when he came to see the world-famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries which Page had secured on loan from the Musee de Cluny in Paris.

She has since been a vocal champion inside the gallery of First Nations art and community outreach programs to Western Sydney and regional NSW.

Responsible, with Brand, for international blockbusters such as Magritte, she has also engaged children in art, with the opening of the Children’s Art Library, and popular Hive Children’s Festival.

Under her leadership, it’s expected the gallery will lean more into Indigenous art and away from traditional expensive European blockbusters.

Art Gallery of NSW Trust president Michael Rose welcomed Page.