Timothy Potts was educated at theUniversity of Sydney (BA Hons) and holds a DPhil inNear Eastern art and archaeology from theUniversity of Oxford, where he was a research lecturer and British Academy Research Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology and Art atChrist Church, Oxford (1985–90).[2] His research interests are Ancient Near Eastern art history, archaeology and history; museology; the classical tradition in western art.
Potts acted as co-director of the University of Sydney excavations atPella,Jordan from 1982 to 1989. He worked atLehman Brothers inNew York from 1990 to 1994, after which he became director of theNational Gallery of Victoria (1994–1998). In conjunction with his directorship at the National Gallery of Victoria, Timothy was an adjunct professor atLa Trobe University, and a professorial fellow at theUniversity of Melbourne. He was the director of theKimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas from 1998 to 2007 and the director of theFitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England from 2007 to 2012.[3]
Potts is a specialist in the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean on which he has written widely. His works in the field include:
From Renoir to Picasso : Masterpices from the Musee de L'Orangerie[6]
Mesopotamia & the East: An Archaeological & Historical Study of Foreign Relations 3400-2000 Bc. (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph Ser No. 37.)[7]
In 2007,Duncan Robinson (now CBE) retired, Potts took over as theFitzwilliam Museum's 12th Director.[9] During his time at the Fitzwilliam (2007–12), Potts served as Chairman of the Art Committee, with Mr Donald Hearn asBursar, atClare College, Cambridge[10] Potts also directed studies in the History of Art forClare College.Between his academic and museum positions, Potts had a corporate career withLehman Brothers where he was Senior Vice President of the Media and Communications Group, Investment Banking Department, (New York andLondon) from 1990 to 1994.[citation needed]
During Potts' tenure as director of theKimbell Art Museum he added many pieces of art to the Kimbell's permanent collection: in sculpture, St John the Baptist byMichelozzo, Virgin and Child byDonatello, Relief Head of Christ attributed to Tullio Lombardo, Isabella d’Este byGian Cristoforo Romano, Late Gothic Silver-Gilt Virgin and Child (anonymous), and Modello for the Fountain of the Moor byBernini; in paintings, The Judgment of Paris byLucas Cranach the Elder, and A Dentist by Candlelight byGerrit Dou; in antiquities, Head of an Athlete (Apoxyomenos) afterLysippos, and The Death of Pentheus byDouris; in Precolumbian art, 5th-centuryMaya Jade Belt Ornament, and Codex-Style Cup showing Scribal Training by the "Princeton Painter"; and in Asian art, Bamboo and Rocks by Tan Zhirui.[11]
Exhibitions at TheKimbell Art Museum under Potts’s directorship included:
Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art (18 November 2007 – 20 March 2008)[12]
Drama and Desire Japanese Paintings from the Floating World, 1690–1850 (11 February – 29 April 2007)[13]
The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso (17 June – 16 September 2007)[14]
Masterpiece: A New Look at the Kimbell Collection (30 April – 23 July 2006)[15]
Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh (27 August – 31 December 2006)[16]
Gauguin and Impressionism (18 December 2005 – 26 March 2006)[17]
Palace & Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (3 April – 4 September 2005)[18]
Genius of the French Rococo: The Drawings of François Boucher (1703–1770) and Boucher's Mythological Paintings:The Last Great Series Reunited (18 January – 18 April 2004)[20]
Caravaggio to Dalí: 100 Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (27 June – 26 September 2004)[21]
Stubbs & The Horse (14 November – 6 February 2005)[22]
Modigliani & The Artists of Montparnasse (9 February – 25 May 2003)[23]
The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt (4 May – 14 September 2003)[24]
Painted Prayers: Medieval and Renaissance Books of Hours from the Morgan Library (12 October 2003 – 18 January 2004)[25]
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617–1682 (10 March – 16 June 2002)[26]
Mondrian: The Path to Abstraction 1892–1914 (18 August – 8 December 2002)[27]
The Design and Construction of the Kimbell Art Museum: A 30th-Anniversary Exhibition (21 September – 3 November 2002)[28]
The Floral Art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (17 November 2002 – 2 March 2003)[29]
European Masterpieces: Six Centuries of Paintings from the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (18 March – 27 May 2001)[30]
Treasures From A Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art from Sichuan (30 September 2001 – 13 January 2002)[31]
Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion (16 January – 26 March)[32]
Giovanni Battista Moroni: Renaissance Portraitist (26 February – 28 May 2001)[33]
Straganoff: The Palace and Collections of a Russian Noble Family (2 July – 1 October 2000)[34]
From Renoir to Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée de l'Orangerie (12 November 2000 – 25 February 2001)[35]
Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Faience (24 January – 25 April 1999)[36]
Matisse & Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry (31 January – 2 May 1999)[37]
^Potts, Timothy F. (November 2000).From Renoir to Picasso : Masterpices from the Musee de L'Orangerie. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.ISBN0-912804-36-X.
^Potts, Timothy F. (April 1995).Mesopotamia & the East: An Archaeological & Historical Study of Foreign Relations 3400-2000 Bc. (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph Ser No. 37.).Oxford University Press.ISBN0947816372.
