James Cuno of Art Institute of Chicago signs on as new Getty Trust president and CEO

The J. Paul Getty Trust has just announced that James Cuno will become its president and chief executive starting Aug. 1. A respected museum leader and scholar, Cuno has been the director of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2004, where he oversaw the completion of the museum’s $280-million Modern wing, designed by Renzo Piano.

Before that, he had served as director of the Courtauld Institute of Art and the director of the Harvard Art Museums. Cuno, an expert in 19th century French printmaking, was also director of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at UCLA in the mid-1980s.

In his new position, Cuno will be responsible for overseeing four branches of the Getty, including its museum and research institute. This top spot has been open since the death in July 2010 of James M. Wood. Previous to Cuno, Wood had been the director of the Art Institute of Chicago for 25 years.

The two were close friends and colleagues who in the 1990s co-founded the Harvard Program for Art Museum Directors together, reflecting both of their roles as leaders among museum leaders. Upon Wood’s death last year, Cuno was one of the first museum directors to speak out about the loss.

According to a Getty representative, the position of Getty Museum director remains open. David Bomford is currently the museum’s acting director.