Biographies

Graham W. J. Beal
Director, President and CEO

Graham W.J. Beal has been the director, president and CEO of the Detroit Institute of Arts since 1999. Since joining the DIA's leadership, Beal has overseen two major capital campaigns, guided the reinstallation of the museum's world-renowned collection, and overseen the museum's renovation and expansion, which will display and interpret the collection in exciting new ways.

Beal has continued to build on the museum's outstanding reputation and has strengthened relationships with some of the world's most well-regarded institutions through loans and programming supported by the museum's unparalleled collection. Under Beal's leadership the DIA has co-organized outstanding exhibitions such as Van Gogh: Face to Face in 2000 and Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence in 2003. Also in 2003, Beal curated the popular exhibition On the Edge: Contemporary Art from the DaimlerChrysler Collection. Among the other exhibitions presented during Beal's tenure are Degas and the Dance, 2002; American Attitude: Whistler and His Followers, 2003, and Camille Claudel and Rodin: Fateful Encounter, 2006.

Prior to his tenure at the DIA, Beal served as director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1996 to 1999. He held the position of director of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1989 to 1996 and served as chief curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 1984 to 1989. Beal has published many exhibition catalogs, books, and articles including an exhibition catalogue on the DIA's American paintings. He has served on numerous art panels, was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions from 1991 to 1995, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Directors and Chair of its Art Issues Committee from 2002 to 2005. He served on the Board of Trustees of the American Association of Museums from 2004 to 2007.

Beal is a native of Great Britain, born in Stratford-on-Avon. He has degrees in English and Art History from the University of Manchester and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Contact Information

Pamela Marcil 313.833.7899 pmarcil@dia.org