Thomas Hoving, Best-selling Author and Former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Joins artnet as Contributor to artnet Magazine

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New York and Berlin (PRWEB) July 1, 2008 -- artnet is pleased to announce that Thomas Hoving, best-selling author and former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has joined artnet as a contributor to artnet Magazine.

A renowned museum executive, Hoving was first a curator (1959-65) and then director (1967-77) of the Met, where he presided over a dramatic expansion of both the museum and its audience. He specialized in high-profile acquisitions of masterworks -- an abiding interest, and the subject of his first artnet Magazine column -- as well as opening the museum to a broader and more youthful public via blockbuster exhibitions like ?King Tut.? Under his leadership, the museum embarked on its great expansion plan, which added 125 galleries to the museum and doubled its space. The extensive acquisitions that took place during his tenure include the Lehman Collection, the Packard Collection and the Temple of Dendur.

After a decade as director, Hoving left the museum and became the on-air correspondent and entertainment editor for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20. He then went on to form Hoving Associates, a museum consulting firm, and later became the Editor-in-Chief of Connoisseur magazine.

Hoving is a best-selling author whose numerous titles include Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1993), Art for Dummies (1999), American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece (2005), and The Medici Conspiracy (2007).

His recent appointment to artnet?s editorial staff marks a return to the company, where he previously held the position of Editorial Director.

?We are thrilled to welcome Tom back to artnet,? said Bill Fine, President of artnet. ?He brings to the magazine a wealth of experience and an irreverent point of view that our readers will surely appreciate.?

Visit artnet.com (http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/frontpage.asp) to view this week?s article, ?Buried Treasures? by Tom Hoving.

About artnet

artnet has been online since 1995 and is host to over 2,000,000 visitors each month. Through its Price Database of over 3.5 million auction sales results and its Gallery Network of over 2,000 galleries worldwide, artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market. With the new Online Auctions, artnet is adding a transaction platform to its successful information services.

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