New York’s Frick Collection Names New Chief Curator

The Frick Collection in New York has named Aimee Ng as its next chief curator.

She will begin in her post in November, when Xavier F. Salomon, the Frick’s chief curator since 2014, departs. In June, Salomon, who also held the role of deputy director since 2020, was named as the next director of Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, which he will start next year, when its current leader retires.

Ng’s promotion is the second senior leadership choice under Axel Rüger, who became the institution’s director this past March, a month ahead of the institution’s long-awaited reopening.

“Aimee is a remarkable colleague and scholar,” Rüger said in a statement. “Her curatorial work is informed by her depth of knowledge, rigor, and exceptional ability to engage a wide range of audiences. It has been a joy working with her throughout our reopening and first year back at the Frick’s renovated home.”

Ng has been a curator at the Frick since 2015 and during her tenure she has organized several exhibitions focused on the Italian Renaissance, including for artists like Andrea del Sarto, Giovanni Battista Moroni, and Bertoldo di Giovanni.

She also cocurated the museum’s installation at the Breuer Building (or the Frick Madison as it was known during its residency there), which included the landmark 2023 exhibition “Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick,” which she organized with Antwaun Sargent.

At the reopened Frick, she also worked on the reinstallation of the Frick’s galleries, as well as cocurating “Vermeer’s Love Letters” with guest curator Robert Fucci. She is also the lead author on the 2025 publication The Frick Collection: Essential Guide. Her upcoming exhibition, “Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture,” will open next February.

Prior to the Frick, she held a fellowship at the Morgan Library and received her Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University. Ahead of her hiring, she guest-curated “The Poetry of Parmigianino’s Schiava Turca” at the Frick in 2014.

“It has been a privilege to work with the Frick’s extraordinary collection, staff, and community these past ten years,” Ng said in a statement. “I’m proud to have contributed to the museum’s long tradition of curatorial excellence, all the while searching for novel ways to make our centuries-old masterpieces speak to contemporary audiences.”

She continued, “Since its renovation and reopening this year, the museum has transformed from a hidden gem to a top arts destination in New York City. I am thrilled to take up leadership of the Curatorial Department, and I look forward to serving our ever-broadening audiences while preserving the Frick’s unique identity and character.”