COLUMBUS, OH.- The Columbus Museum of Art has announced the appointment of David Stark as the Museum’s new Chief Curator. Stark will join the Museum March 1. As Chief Curator, he will be responsible for developing a strategic exhibition and publications program and managing the continued development of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Drew Sawyer joins the Museum as the William J. and Sarah Ross Soter Associate Curator of Photography. Sawyer will be responsible for the growth of CMA’s photography program, including acquisitions, exhibitions, publications, and programs.

Ann Dumas, previously CMA’s Curator at Large, has accepted a position as the Museum’s Adjunct Curator of European Art. In addition to her previous duties curating exhibitions, Dumas will also be charged with developing, shaping and overseeing the European exhibition program and helping to shape the collection.

“We’re delighted to welcome David and Drew to CMA and happy to announce that Ann has expanded her role with the Museum,” said Nannette V. Maciejunes, CMA Executive Director. “This year, as we open our new wing and celebrate the final phase of our expansion, is one of the most exciting moments in our history. David, Ann, and Drew will be instrumental as we continue to present exhibitions and programs that provide new insights into our collection and bring the best of the art world to Columbus.”

David Stark received his Bachelor of Arts in French from Oberlin College and his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in History of Art from The Ohio State University. Most recently he has been the Director of Administration for Museum Education at the Art Institute of Chicago and served as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College Chicago. He has taught art history at the University of Minnesota Morris, and has held the position of Curator of Education at both the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica and the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Stark’s scholarly focus is 19th-century European art. His publications include European Painting in the Tweed Museum of Art and “Three Works in the Musée d'Orsay by Charles De Groux, Realist Master of Belgium" in La Revue du Louvre.

Drew Sawyer received his Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy from the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, where he will receive his Ph.D. in May 2015. He currently serves as the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and as the Arts Editor at Document Journal. He has taught art history at Columbia University and held positions in the curatorial departments at both the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Chazen Museum of Art. His exhibitions include: Robert Heinecken: Object Matter, Walker Evans American Photographs, and forthcoming exhibitions on Zoe Leonard, Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola, and LaToya Ruby Frazier and James VanDerZee.

Ann Dumas is an internationally acclaimed independent art historian and curator affiliated to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Her field of interest is nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French painting. She has been a curator of major exhibitions for the Royal Academy, including The Real van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. Ms. Dumas is best known in Columbus as the Museum’s Curator at Large who organized our memorable exhibitions, Renoir’s Women and Edgar Degas: The Last Landscapes.