Pierre Terjanian to Lead Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
117April 12, 2025
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has namedPierre Terjanianas its next director and chief executive. Terjanian, who is currently the chief of curatorial affairs and conservation at the museum, will assume his new post in July. He succeeds Matthew Teitelbaum, who has occupied the role since 2015.
“The predominant feeling is the excitement,” Terjanian told theNew York Times, which first reported his ascent to the position. “This is a great institution, and it has a big part to play in Boston, in New England and beyond.”
A native of Strasbourg, France, Terjanian arrived to the MFA Boston in 2024 as conservation head, in which capacity he was charged with overseeing the museum’s more than 500,000 objects. Previously, he spent a decade as Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Curator in Charge of Arms and Armor at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. While there, he curated the pathbreaking exhibition “The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I,” for which he secured the loan of 180 items from collections in Europe, the Middle East, and the US. Terjanian chaired the Met’s reopening task force during the Covid-19 pandemic and raised $100 million for the museum in gifts, promised gifts, bequests, and pledged works of art. Before coming to the Met, he was J. J. Medveckis Associate Curator of Arms and Armor and acting head of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts before 1700 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Related The Art Newspaper Announces New Editorial Leadership Christophe Cherix Tapped as MoMA’s Next Director
“Pierre’s brilliant curatorial vision, deep understanding of the MFA and our renowned collections, and inspirational leadership style have led the board of trustees to unanimously choose him to lead the museum confidently and boldly into the future,” said Marc S. Plonskier, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, in a statement.