National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) has appointed a woman as director-general for the first time in its history.
Anne Lyden will take up the role on January 1 2024 after current director-general Sir John Leighton steps down on December 31 following a 17-year tenure.
She joined NGS in 2013, having previously held various curatorial positions at the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where she worked for 18 years.
At NGS she was international photography curator and then chief curator of photography. In 2022, she became interim co-director of collection and research.
She has written widely on the subject of photography and art and has authored numerous publications.
Ms Lyden said: “I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity to lead the National Galleries of Scotland in the next chapter of its impressive history.
“It is my great privilege to continue the excellent work led by Sir John and colleagues over the years, most recently the success of the new Scottish galleries at the National.
“I am eager to continue my work with Trustees, colleagues, community partners, audiences, artists, and supporters in realising our plans for the future including The Art Works, our new collections facility in North Edinburgh.
“Having worked with the national collection and a wide range of colleagues over the last 10 years, I am delighted to continue this experience of making art accessible to everyone.”
We are thrilled to introduce Anne Lyden as our new Director-General. Bringing a wealth of experience, Lyden is our first female Director-General.
Sir John Leighton will step down on 31 December 2023 following a 17-year tenure and Lyden will take up the role on 1 January 2024. pic.twitter.com/2CKiQhs0Cu
— National Galleries of Scotland (@NatGalleriesSco) October 23, 2023
NGS comprises the National, Portrait, Modern One and Modern Two galleries in Edinburgh where visitors can see art ranging across the centuries.
As director-general, Ms Lyden will work with the NGS board of trustees, leadership team, colleagues across the organisation, and a great many donors and stakeholders to “make art work for everyone.”
Born in West Dunbartonshire, she grew up in Clydebank and studied History of Art at the University of Glasgow, and Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.
Benny Higgins, chair of the NGS board of trustees, said: “I am thrilled that we have appointed Anne Lyden as our new director-general. Anne brings a strong understanding of the national collection and our talented people, together with extensive international experience.
“Over the past few months, we embarked on a rigorous search to find our next director-general, resulting in us speaking to many people across the UK and internationally.
“Following a thorough recruitment process, we know we have the right person to lead the National Galleries of Scotland into the future.
“Anne’s strong personal values and leadership style, coupled with her knowledge of art, will see us deliver on our strategic commitments and I am looking forward to working with her.”
Sir John Leighton described Ms Lyden as a “highly talented curator and leader with a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity”.
He said: “She has a compelling vision of the benefits that access to great art can achieve in these volatile times and is the right person to drive forward the National Galleries’ commitment to bringing world-class art to the widest possible audience.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here