Colin B. Bailey

In 2013, Bailey became the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, overseeing both the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. Two years later, Bailey moved back to New York to become the sixth director of the Morgan Library & Museum, succeeding William Griswold.

In 2013, Bailey married Alan Wintermute in New York City.

In 2000, Bailey became the Chief Curator of the Frick Collection, and in 2008, he gained his first directorial position after being promoted to Associate Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator. Bailey also became an inaugural fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. While at the Center, Bailey held at a residency at the Louvre, closely observing its director, Henri Loyrette.

Alongside curatorial posts, Bailey has taught art history at a number of institutions, including: the University of Pennsylvania (1988), Bryn Mawr College (1989), Columbia University (2005-2007), and the Graduate Center, CUNY (2009).

Born in London to Max and Hilda Bailey, Bailey received his Bachelor of Arts from Brasenose College (1978), Master of Arts (1982), and Doctor of Philosophy (1985), all in Art History from the University of Oxford. His doctoral dissertation was completed under the supervision of Francis Haskell and concerned patronage and collecting of French paintings during the end of the Ancien Régime. Shortly thereafter, Bailey was awarded a fellowship in the Department of Paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Bailey moved to the United States to begin his curatorial career as Assistant Curator for European Painting and Sculpture before 1900 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he worked from 1985 to 1989. In that final year, he was appointed Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Kimbell Art Museum, and was promoted to Senior Curator in 1990. Five years later, Bailey was hired as Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, and was appointed Deputy Director and Chief Curator in 1998.