Marianne Richter has been appointed director of the Columbus Museum in Georgia and will assume the post on February 18. Since 2011, she has served as director of the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana. She’ll be replacing Tom Butler, who is retiring after 20 years in the position.
Board president Fray McCormick says Richter “is well equipped to integrate art and history in new ways at our museum,” and that “she also has successful experience with outreach, fundraising and expanding her museum’s young-professionals group.”
Richter says that the museum’s strategic plan “calls for increased outreach and collaboration with partner organizations here, which I fully endorse.”
She continued, “The Museum runs vital programs for school children and families, and I value and want to build on the relationship with the Muscogee County School District. I also am delighted to move closer to family members living in Georgia and to explore my new city, including the RiverWalk and the many new Uptown activities.”
Prior to the Swope, which is known for its collections of Edward Hopper paintings and American Regionalism, Richter was operations manager and curator at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, which opened to the public in 2013. From 1995 to 2008, she was curator of the art collection at the Union League Club of Chicago, where she organized shows like “Out of Line: Drawings by Illinois Arts” and a solo by Tony Fitzpatrick. Richter pursued her PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in 20th-century American art. She received her MA in art history from the University of Delaware and a BA in art history with a history minor from Oberlin College.
