Former director of Barnes Foundation heads to Christie’s Impressionist and Modern art department

Derek Gillman’s appointment comes in the midst of a management shake-up at the auction house

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The former director of the Barnes Foundation is crossing over to the commercial side of the art world. Derek Gillman, who led the Barnes’s controversial move from its original home in Merion, Pennsylvania to downtown Philadelphia, joined Christie’s on 5 January as chairman and senior vice president of Impressionist and Modern art, the Americas.

Gillman joins the auction house in the midst of a management shake-up. Last month, Christie’s chief executive officer Steven Murphy was replaced by Patricia Barbizet. Soon afterward, the president of its Americas division Doug Woodham stepped down, while Stephen Brooks and the auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen were promoted. 

Gillman’s new post will capitalise on his “unbelievably strong global network of art collectors”, says Marc Porter, the chairman of Christie’s Americas, in a statement. The former museum director is expected to “nurture client relationships and support business strategy around the world for the department”, according to a spokeswoman. 

During his time at the Barnes from 2006 to 2013, Gillman oversaw the fund-raising campaign for the museum’s $150m new building and defended it from numerous lawsuits related to the move. Since then, he has served as a visiting professor at the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University in Philadelphia. 

Gillman has not worked in the commercial sector since his first job out of university: he served as a Chinese art specialist at Christie’s from 1977 to 1981.