Yale President Maurie McInnis has announced that Martina Droth, an art historian and curator who has served in a series of prominent roles at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) over 16 years, will be the museum’s next Paul Mellon Director.
Now the museum’s deputy director and chief curator, Droth has been an integral part of the YCBA team and an active member of the university community, the president wrote in a message to the Yale community, building “an impressive record of achievement through roles of increasing responsibility, from leading the research division and serving as curator of sculpture to her current post.”
Droth began her new role on January 15. Her tenure begins as YCBA prepares to reopen to the public on March 29, following a two-year renovation that will help safeguard the museum’s collections for future generations. The museum houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom.
Droth succeeds Courtney J. Martin, now executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Richard Brodhead, a former dean of Yale College and former president of Duke University, has served as YCBA’s interim director since July 1, 2024.
Since coming to Yale in 2009, Droth has been instrumental in shaping the museum’s long-range research, collections, and exhibitions strategy. Under Droth’s leadership, McInnis said, the YCBA will continue to advance its mission of promoting the understanding and appreciation of British art “through its exceptional collections, groundbreaking exhibitions, field-defining research, and innovative public programs.”
As director, Droth, in partnership with staff, faculty, and students, will further enhance educational initiatives, expand community engagement, and foster an intellectual environment that welcomes a breadth of perspectives to be part of the discourse in art and art history, McInnis said. Droth also will build on the museum’s partnerships with Yale’s academic departments to augment its national and international collaborations and outreach.
Droth has curated numerous high-profile YCBA exhibitions, including Bill Brandt | Henry Moore, Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837–1901, and two upcoming exhibitions, Tracey Emin: I Loved You Until the Morning and Hew Locke: Passages, which will mark YCBA’s reopening.
McInnis noted that Droth has also secured resources that support the museum’s scholarly initiatives, including the multi-year Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grants with which she developed the research strategy at the YCBA. Her efforts to advance the museum’s mission have often involved collaborating with renowned external institutions such as Tate Britain, the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University, and the Getty Museum.
Beyond her YCBA work, Droth has served on university committees, including the Committee for Art in Public Spaces; co-taught courses with faculty members from the Department of the History of Art in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and brought graduate students into curatorial research.
She oversaw the YCBA’s first joint exhibition with the Yale School of Architecture and facilitated projects integrating visiting artists with students at the Yale School of Art. She has also mentored numerous curators, students, and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to careers in the academy and museum fields. Her academic work includes many service roles, including co-editing the British Art Studies journal with the Paul Mellon Centre.
Before coming to Yale, Droth taught at universities, coordinated research, and curated exhibitions for significant art institutes in the UK. A former chair of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History, she has a deep commitment to the field, characterized by collaborative leadership and excellence in curatorial practice, research, and education, McInnis said.
At YCBA, Droth initiated The View from Here: Accessing Art Through Photography, a program for New Haven high school students, in collaboration with the Lens Media Lab at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. She has introduced students from New Haven Promise to the Curatorial Division of the YCBA and created internship opportunities for undergraduates through, for example, the Association of Research Institutes in Art History. (New Haven Promise is a college scholarship and career development program that supports New Haven Public School students.)
Paul Messier, the founder and Pritzker Director of the Lens Media Lab at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, said Droth’s appointment reinforces the YCBA’s dedication to innovative scholarship, teaching, and community engagement.
In closing, said McInnis: “I look forward to working with her as she steers the museum toward new heights in realizing its mission and makes it an ever more welcoming space that offers inspiring experiences with art and deepens our engagement with students, scholars, New Haven residents, and visitors from around the world.”
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) houses the most extensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom, encompassing works from the fifteenth century to the present in various media. The museum offers a vibrant, year-round program of events and exhibitions in person and online. Presented to the university by collector and philanthropist Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class of 1929), the museum opened in 1977.
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