WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.- Richard Rand, the Robert and Martha Berman Lipp Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Clark Art Institute, today announced his plans to become the Associate Director for Collections at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Rand, who has led the Clark’s curatorial team since 1997, will join the Getty’s staff in September 2015, succeeding Thomas Kren who recently announced his retirement.

Rand has played a prominent role in enhancing every aspect of the Clark’s curatorial projects, including the three-year international tour of its French paintings collection, the growth of its special exhibition program, and the recent reinstallation of the Institute’s permanent collection following an award-winning renovation of the original 1955-era Museum Building.

“Richard Rand is a distinguished scholar, a brilliant curator, an innovative leader, and a dear colleague,” said Michael Conforti, director of the Clark. “His contributions to the Clark have greatly enriched our museum program and will leave a lasting impact. Our staff and Trustees share a profound sense of pride in Richard’s success and will look forward to seeing the ways in which he will bring his talents to bear at the Getty. He is a valued member of our staff and we will miss his creativity, energy, and wisdom.”

In a statement issued today, Getty Director Timothy Potts said “Richard has been at the Clark for more than seventeen years where he has distinguished himself by the quality of his acquisitions—especially in Italian, French, and British paintings—and in his program of highly important and innovative exhibitions. I know that Richard will contribute greatly to the senior management of the Museum and continue to distinguish himself in his new role at the Getty.”

Rand will remain at the Clark until early July and will work with his colleagues to launch the Clark’s much anticipated summer exhibition program, including the opening of Van Gogh and Nature, a major exhibition examining the Dutch master’s interest in the natural world. The Clark will begin an immediate search for Rand’s successor. He will begin his work at the Getty in September 2015.

Of his new appointment, Rand said, “While I am delighted to be joining the wonderful team at the Getty Museum, I do so with the knowledge that I have had an exceptional tenure at the Clark and am deeply indebted to Michael Conforti and the Clark’s Board of Trustees for the wonderful opportunities they have afforded me. The Clark’s commitment to curatorial independence has allowed us to explore fascinating themes and experiment with new concepts—a real joy for any curator. I have been privileged to work with a fantastic team and will always treasure those relationships, my experiences at the Clark, and the pleasure of life in the Berkshires.

Richard Rand is the Robert and Martha Berman Lipp Senior Curator at the Clark Art Institute, where he has been Curator of Paintings and Sculpture since 1997.

He is also a lecturer in art history in the Williams College/Clark Graduate Program in the History of Art. Prior to his years at the Clark, Rand was Curator of European Art from 1992–1997 at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. From 1989 to 1992, he was an Assistant Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Rand has lectured and published widely in his field of research, seventeenth- to nineteenth-century French art. He is a regular contributor to The Burlington Magazine, writing exhibition and book reviews. At the Clark, Rand has been responsible for the acquisition of numerous paintings and sculptures, including works by Quentin Massys, Abraham Bloemaert, François Boucher, Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, John Constable, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and George Inness, among others. He has organized and co-organized numerous exhibitions, including Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in 18th-Century France, at the Hood Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Toledo Museum of Art, in 1997–98; Jean-François Millet: Drawn into the Light, at the Clark, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and Frick Museum, Pittsburgh, in 1999–2000; Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile, at the Clark and the Getty Museum in 2005; Claude Lorrain: the Painter as Draftsman, at the Clark, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington in 2006–07; Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence, 2009, and many more.

Most recently, Rand organized the exhibition Monet | Kelly, the first exhibition to consider the influence of Impressionist painter Claude Monet on the works of leading contemporary American artist Ellsworth Kelly. He is also the curator of an upcoming exhibition of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century paintings from the Museo del Prado, Madrid, scheduled for the Clark in 2016.

Rand received his B.A. from Bowdoin College and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, writing a dissertation on the landscapes of Fragonard. He is a 2008 graduate of the Center for Curatorial Leadership, New York, and in April 2011 he was made Chevalier dans l’ordre des arts et des lettres, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, France.