JUDITH KELLER NAMED SENIOR CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE GETTY MUSEUM

David Bomford, acting director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, announced today the appointment of Judith Keller to the position of senior curator of photographs. Keller, who joined the museum in 1986, has been acting head of the department since January 2009, following the retirement of the department’s founding curator, Weston Naef. She will assume her new position effective immediately.

Keller was promoted to curator of photographs in 2008. In that capacity, she has led the department’s efforts to expand the collection to include photographs from East Asia. Over the course of the past year, the department’s holdings have grown to include work by artists from China, Japan, and Korea. Additionally, under her leadership as acting senior curator, the department has had one of its most successful years with regards to donations, adding more than nine hundred donated works to the collection.

“I am honored to take on the responsibility of leading one of the best departments of photography in the world,” said Keller. “The outstanding collection and staff of the Getty’s department of photographs make the potential for future exhibitions and publications nearly boundless. I look forward to exploiting this bounty through the roster of seven diverse shows that we will open in 2010 and the development of original exhibitions in the future.”