The Tamesis
The Clark Art Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has promoted Esther Bell, associate director and chief curator, to serve as the museum’s sixth director. She begins her term on July 1.
Bell is the first woman to hold this position in Clark’s 70-year history. She will succeed Olivier Meslay, who has been director since 2016 and announced last year that he would move back to France in 2026.
She joined Clark in 2017 and was one of Meslay’s early employees. She will be promoted to deputy director in 2022. But her relationship with Clark dates back to 2001, when she was a graduate student in art history at Williams College, which she co-managed with Clark. (She now teaches courses in the department.)
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“I first met Esther Bell in 2003 when she was pursuing a Fulbright scholarship at the Louvre,” Meslay said in a statement. “I knew then that she was an outstanding art historian, and I watched her forge a brilliant career. I am excited to know that the Clark Museum’s next chapter will be entrusted to Esther’s extremely capable hands. She is a respected museum leader, an impressive scholar, and a passionate advocate for the arts.”
Bell’s appointment is the third time this week that a new museum director has been announced in the United States, with several positions open. Previously announced directorships include Alison Weaver of the NYU Gray Museum of Art and Lisa Funderburke of the Newark Museum of Art.
Since joining Clark, Bell has participated in a number of high-profile exhibitions, including the first monographic exhibition of neoclassical artist Guillaume Lethière, in conjunction with the Louvre in Paris. She also organized “Renoir: Body, Senses” (2019) and the first iteration of “Ground/Work” in 2020.
Bell developed the Clark Museum’s education and public programs and in 2025 launched the museum’s Learning and Engagement Division. In 2020, she participated in a fellowship at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York.
Prior to joining Clark, she served as curator of European paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco and curator of European paintings, drawings and sculpture at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio. She has also held appointments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.
“With the support of my esteemed colleagues, I look forward to being part of the Clark Institute’s exciting future as we work to ensure that the Institute remains a great place of contemplation, inspiration, and education for all,” Bell said in a statement. “As we continue to grow our campus and our collections, we recognize the importance of ensuring that we steward Clark’s exceptional resources with care, consideration, and commitment to fulfill our mission of expanding the public’s appreciation of art.”
