Ann Philbin to Retire as Director of the Hammer Museum in 2024

Kirsten Chuba
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Ann Philbin, who has led Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum for 25 years, will be retiring from the museum on Nov. 1, 2024.

Marcy Carsey, chair of the UCLA Hammer Museum’s board of directors, made the announcement on Wednesday, saying in a statement, “When the history of the Hammer Museum is written, there will be a clear line drawn— before Annie Philbin, and after Annie Philbin. Thanks to her vision, the Hammer is known today as a world-class museum, internationally renowned yet uniquely and indisputably at the heart of Los Angeles. She has guided a complete transformation of the museum — its facilities, its collection and its exhibitions and programs, which she has elevated in every way — while redefining the relationship of art museums to their communities and their society. We are profoundly grateful for her leadership and the values she has imbued into every level of this institution.”

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Philbin will continue to lead the museum for the next year, culminating with the fall 2024 exhibition Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice. A search for her successor will begin early in 2024.

Philbin became director in January 1999 and has since built an international reputation for the Westwood museum; under her leadership, the Hammer’s annual attendance has more than quadrupled, its number of cutting-edge programs doubled, and its wide-ranging collections expanded to more than 50,000 objects, including the 4,500 artworks that have been acquired since 2005 to form the Hammer Contemporary Collection. Philbin has also overseen substantial renovations to the museum’s building, adding 40,000 square feet of new galleries, administration, and public spaces which opened in spring 2023.

“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead the Hammer Museum for more than two decades, working closely with our supremely dedicated boards and brilliant staff to make this institution everything that Los Angeles and our wider community deserves,” Philbin said in a statement. “We have always said that the artists of Los Angeles are our core audience — and I think that in the way we have innovated in our programs and transformed our facilities, we have created a true ‘artists’ museum’ for them. I offer my profound gratitude to every member of our boards and staff, past and present, to the hundreds of artists we have worked with, to Michael Maltzan Architecture, our indispensable collaborators over the past decades, and the visitors we have been honored to serve over the years.”

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