DALLAS, TX.- Maxwell L. Anderson, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, announced the creation of three new positions to enhance and expand the Museum’s leadership team. The positions include:

• Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, which will be held by Olivier Meslay, who earlier served as Interim Director and has led the Museum’s European and American art departments since 2009;

• Associate Director of Collections and Exhibitions, which will be held by Tamara Wootton-Bonner, who has been with the DMA since 2000, most recently serving as Chair of Collections and Exhibitions;

• Associate Director of External Affairs, for which a search will be conducted.

The announcement follows the appointment of Robert Stein to the reinstituted and expanded position of Deputy Director. The new leadership structure and team reflects a realignment of responsibilities and departments within the DMA.

“Olivier and Tamara have made incredible contributions to the DMA and are among its most important assets,” stated Anderson. “So I am extremely pleased that they will be working closely with me as part of the team that will lead the Museum into the next phase of its service to the Dallas community and to enhance our role globally.”

Olivier Meslay
Olivier Meslay is the DMA’s Senior Curator of European and American Art and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Art. Meslay manages the Museum’s extensive collections of European and American art, composed of nearly 4,000 works including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Prior to his appointment in Dallas, Meslay served as a noted and longtime curator from the Musée du Louvre. During his sixteen-year tenure at the Louvre, Meslay held a number of senior positions, including Chief Curator of Louvre Lens from 2006 through 2009, a satellite of the Louvre being developed in northern France. From 1993 through 2006, Meslay served as the Louvre’s curator in charge of British, American, and Spanish paintings. Meslay is a graduate of the Institut National du Patrimoine (1992–1993), the French State School for Curators. He received an M.A. from the Ecole du Louvre in 1983, having previously received an M.A. from the Sorbonne in 1982, where he also earned his B.A. in 1981.

Tamara Wootton-Bonner
Tamara Wootton-Bonner, who has served as Chair of Collections and Exhibitions, has been with the Dallas Museum of Art for more than eleven years. During her tenure at the DMA, she has overseen the realization of numerous exhibition, publication, and building projects including the DMA’s centennial project; the exhibitions Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, J. M. W. Turner, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, and From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier; the recently published guide to the Museum’s collection and other publications such as Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement, the Museum’s African collection catalogue, and Ignite the Power of Art; and the refurbishment of the Fleischner Courtyard and inner courts and the building of the Center for Creative Connections. Tamara received her M.A. in Art History from George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., and her B.F.A. in Art History from the University of North Texas. Before arriving at the DMA she worked at the Amon Carter Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.