CHAPEL, HILL, NC.- Peter Nisbet, formerly the Daimler-Benz Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum at the Harvard Art Museum, has been appointed Chief Curator of the Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective October 1, 2009.

Nisbet holds a BA and MA from Cambridge University and a PhD in the History of Art from Yale University. Before joining the Harvard Art Museum in 1983, Nisbet held assistantships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Yale University Art Gallery. At the Busch-Reisinger Museum he was responsible for a collection of 39,000 works of art ranging from the Middle Ages to the present and played a leading role in the reconceptualization and revitalization of the museum, leading to its relocation in 1991.

As Chief Curator at the Ackland, Nisbet will hold primary responsibility for the leadership of the curatorial department, including exhibitions planning, donor and collector cultivation, and collaborative projects. He will also oversee the development of one of the largest and most significant art collections in the region.

“Peter has all of the qualifications we have been seeking for this new position,” said Ackland Director Emily Kass. “He has a breadth of knowledge of art history; extensive experience, nationally and internationally, in collection development and exhibitions; a commitment to education and the mission of a university museum; and leadership and experience working with a range of constituencies. We are thrilled to have him join the Ackland.”

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to come to North Carolina and join this distinguished and increasingly ambitious museum,” said Nisbet. “I look forward tremendously to helping to realize the Ackland's full potential as an engine of research, as a catalyst for significant experiences, and as a dynamic partner in the University's mission. The Ackland's impressive and growing collection spans many cultures and traditions, offering a great platform for making connections and starting conversations.”

A leading expert in Russian and German art of the twentieth century, Nisbet has organized several major international traveling exhibitions on European art between the wars and has published catalogues and essays on Russian and Soviet Modernism, El Lissitzky, German Modernism, contemporary art, and on issues of museum history, theory, and practice.