THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240532
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 56 lines
The Chrysler Museum of Art concluded a 14-month search for a director Thursday with the selection of Dr. William J. Hennessey, currently director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor.
Hennessey, 48, will be the museum's sixth director since the late Walter P. Chrysler brought his highly regarded collection to Norfolk in 1971.
Working with the help of a national search firm, the museum's selection committee examined the credentials of about 100 candidates and interviewed nearly a dozen before deciding on Hennessey.
``People have been asking for a long time when we would be getting a new director,'' said Harry T. Lester, president of the Chrysler's board of trustees, ``and I always told them, `When we find the right one.' We now have the right one.''
Hennessey was unanimously approved by the search committee and unanimously approved by the board of trustees.
He replaces Robert H. Frankel, who ran the museum from 1989 to October 1995. Catherine Jordan has served as the Chrysler's interim director. Hennessey will begin work March 17.
``There are a lot of directors who know about art but know nothing about minding the store,'' said Lester. ``The latter is very important for museum directors, and we have that in Bill Hennessey. He has the experience. He's been in the business of museums for about a quarter of a century.''
Hennessey has been the museum director at Michigan since 1990. Prior to that he served as director at the University of Kentucky Art Museum in Lexington (1982-89) and director of the Vassar College Art Gallery at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (1979-82). Previously he had done staff work at the Worcester (Mass.) Art Museum, the Guggenheim in New York and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.
``The Chrysler is an extraordinary institution with an outstanding collection,'' Hennessey said in a news release, ``and I look forward with great enthusiasm to working with the trustees and staff to make it an even more exciting and dynamic place. My family and I can't wait to join this wonderful community.''
Hennessey is a 1970 graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., with honors in art history. He received both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in art history from Columbia University. In addition, he has attended advanced business management seminar programs at Columbia and the University of Michigan.
As a widely published author and lecturer, he has taught art history at the university level and, along with teaching assignments in Italy and Britain, has regularly conducted study tours in Europe and Asia.
``I like to think that everything I do grows out of a passionate love of works of art and a belief that great art has a unique power to change people's lives,'' Hennessey said in the release.
Relating that to the Chrysler, he added, ``I believe that museums should be a comfortable home for all the arts: visual, literary and performing. More than almost anything else, I think museums should be fun.''