CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.- James Cuno, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, has been selected as the new director of the Art Institute of Chicago. He succeeds James N. Wood, who last fall announced his plans to retire after 24 years on the job. Cuno, 52, took the job in London last year, moving there after being director of the Harvard University Art Museums for 12 years, a complex that under his leadership doubled the size of its staff and budget and emerged as one of the best smaller museums in the United States. At Harvard in the 1990’s he directed a $37 million capital campaign that ended up raising $55 million. Mr. Cuno, who taught at Vassar, U.C.L.A. and Dartmouth, is known as an active and outspoken leader who calls for museums to be open and accessible rather than intimidating.

The Art Institute, founded in 1879 as the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, has been in its present imposing building on South Michigan Avenue since 1893. It holds an encyclopedic collection, employs more than 600 people and has a $69 million annual budget. The AIC is in the midst of a $280-million fundraising campaign for a planned renovation and expansion of its facility with a new building to be designed by Renzo Piano. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Chicago job paid more than $438,000 in salary and benefits. "This is one of the four or five outstanding art museums in the country," said an official at the Art Institute who spoke on condition of anonymity.