Nicholas Cullinan

Robert Nicholas Cullinan OBE (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,^[1] a post he began several months later.^[2] It was announced on 28 March 2024 that he had been appointed Director of the British Museum.^[3]

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.^{[4] [5]} 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.^[6]

Personal life

Cullinan's partner is Mattias Vendelmans, a Belgian art dealer and founder in 2023 of the Vendelmans gallery in London. He lives in Oval, London, and Margate in Kent.^[7][8]

Career

From 2006 to 2007, he held the Hilla Rebay International Fellowship at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Peggy Guggenheim Collection.^[2] From 2007 to 2013 he was curator of international modern art at Tate Modern.^[1] He then joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as its curator of modern and contemporary art.^[1] In 2014, he co-curated an exhibition of Henri Matisse's cut-outs at Tate Modern with Sir Nicholas Serota.^[4] The exhibition attracted more than 500,000 visitors.^[9]

Cullinan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to art.^[10] He is a trustee of Chatsworth House Trust.^[11]