LIVERPOOL, UK.- Reyahn King has been appointed as Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool. Taking up the reins this month, she will have responsibility for the Walker Art Gallery, Sudley House and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. With significant curatorial experience gained in the UK and America, Reyahn’s most recent post was Head of Interpretation and Exhibitions at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery where she was responsible for gallery displays and exhibitions. There, a successful exhibitions programme and the creation of new permanent art galleries contributed to a considerable rise in visitors.

Reyahn’s specialism is British 18th and early 19th century fine art, a particularly strong area of Liverpool’s world famous collections. She has previously held the position of Curator of Prints and Drawings at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and was a guest curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London in addition to holding positions at The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry and Boston University Art Gallery.

On starting the new role Reyahn said: “Liverpool’s art collections are cultural gems and it is exciting to be here at a time of celebration and opportunity with Liverpool’s 800th birthday this year and European Capital of Culture in 2008. I look forward to building on the success of projects like Big Art for Little Artists at the Walker Art Gallery and working with colleagues and people throughout the city so that more local people and visitors enjoy the art collections at National Museums Liverpool. ”

Curator of the hugely successful exhibition Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780): An African Man of Letters at the National Portrait Gallery in 1997, Reyahn also has a particular interest in the portrayal of black people in European art and edited Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters (1728-1780), is author of the essay Ignatius Sancho and Portraits of the Black Elite and has lectured widely on the subject.

Other key exhibitions include Time and Motion at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in 2003, Varvara Shavrova: Inscriptions: Painting the Line which toured the UK and Ireland in 2001-2002, Watercolour Artists in Italy at Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan in 1999, and William Blake and his Circle and Anwar Shemza, both at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in 1998 and 1997.