Michael Brand to Step Down as Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

TheArt Gallery of New South Wales(AGNSW) has announced that director Michael Brand, who has led the Sydney institution since 2012, will vacate his role in July 2025. Brand during his tenure was instrumental in the recent expansion of AGNSW. Dubbed Sydney Modern, the project included the construction of a new, contemporary building, Naala Badu, and the renovation of the museum’s original neoclassical building, Naala Nura. The project was completed in 2023.

“Record visitation to the expanded art museum surpassed two million in the first year of operation, placing the art gallery among the world’s top thirty most-visited art museums,” said AGNSW in a statement. “Total visitation since the completion of the project now exceeds four million.”

AGNSW board president David Gonski in a separate statement praised Brand for having the “ambition and vision to create a globally significant art museum in Sydney.”

An expert in Indian and Islamic art, architecture, and landscape design, Brand arrived to the AGNSW in June 2012 as its ninth director, succeeding Edmund Capon. While there, he oversaw surveys of artists including Louise Bourgeois, Henri Matisse, and Rembrandt; launched the Contemporary Project series for emerging and midcareer Australian artists; commissioned major works; and helped the museum make diverse acquisitions. Brand previously helmed Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum during its construction, and earlier, from 2005 to 2010, served as director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2005, he led the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. He began his career in 1988 as curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra.

Brand has not publicly revealed his plans after exiting the institution: An international search for his successor is under way. His departure postdates by only a few months that of Gonski, whose term expires in December 2024; a new board president has yet to be named.