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\t\t\tAndrew Eshelbacher, the Portland Museum of Art\u2019s new deputy director and head of art and exhibitions, on Thursday, March 5. (Brianna Soukup\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Eshelbacher, the Portland Museum of Art\u2019s new deputy director and head of art and exhibitions, on Thursday, March 5. (Brianna Soukup\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Andrew Eschelbacher sits at a large oval table in the McLellan House in the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) as a photographer circles the room snapping his picture. He\u2019s a bit embarrassed by the attention. \u201cIs my pocket square showing?\u201d he frets as he worries aloud about whether the photographer\u2019s angles will make him look, well, like a nerdy curator with his nose forever in a book. For the record, Eschelbacher is an affable, good-looking 46-year-old with penetrating blue-gray eyes that change aspect frequently, at times feeling inviting, at other times a bit otherworldly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eschelbacher is here to talk about his new position at the PMA: deputy director and head of art and exhibitions. According to the museum\u2019s announcement, he \u201cwill provide strategic leadership, management, and vision for the museum\u2019s collection and loaned works of art, overseeing care, development, interpretation, and programming across the PMA\u2019s holdings. He will also help advance the PMA\u2019s mission of Art for All through innovative and inclusive curatorial practices and philanthropic strategies aligned with the museum\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a mouthful. But still, Eschelbacher insists, \u201cIt\u2019s not about me. The art should be the focus. The curators should be the focus. Not the curators\u2019 boss.\u201d Despite the apparent modesty, however, it\u2019s clear Eschelbacher is a polished and savvy speaker, aware of projecting the right image. He often turns to the museum\u2019s communications representative, also in the room, asking if he\u2019s getting himself into trouble.<\/p>\n
AN INSTITUTION IN TRANSITION<\/p>\n
Though Eschelbacher is not really new to the PMA, he keeps pointing out that it is only his fourth day on the job, a little early to talk about what he intends to do. He concedes that his influence might be felt \u201cin small ways in the short term,\u201d but insists, \u201cMy stamp will never be evident because it\u2019s about the art.\u201d He also comes at a time that is an inflection point for the institution, which is planning a substantial expansion and unification<\/a> of the museum\u2019s campus after an influx of acquisitions and bequests in the early 2020s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eschelbacher began as an assistant curator at the PMA in 2014 and became associate curator in 2017. He moved on to a fellowship at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum the following year, then was appointed director of curatorial affairs at the American Federation of the Arts (2020-22). His last stint was director of collections and exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. Now he returns to a very different institution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe collection has really evolved,\u201d he observes. \u201cThere have been extraordinary acquisitions, whether through donations or actual acquisition. That demonstrates people\u2019s faith in the way it will activate the collection and the community.\u201d <\/p>\n He cites, among other things, a Rodin sculpture that \u201clooks like it\u2019s been there for 50 years,\u201d the single-channel digital animation video by Chitra Ganesh that entered the collection last year, \u201cthe depth of the photo collection, which allows us to tell a longer story, which is so important,\u201d and the Alex Katz collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that there\u2019s just strength, not just breadth,\u201d he said, \u201cbut there\u2019s strength in that breadth.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE THAN ARTWORK<\/p>\n Eschelbacher is excited about the coming expansion<\/a>. When asked about criticism that the proposed 60,000-square-foot Lever Architects design does little for increasing exhibition space, he said, \u201cMuseums function on the strength of two things: their collection and their community \u2014 and creating transformational experiences at the meeting of those two things. Museums are part of the life blood of cities. The more opportunities we have where people and art come together in meaningful ways, the more it activates ideas, connection, curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n There is copious research to back up Eschelbacher\u2019s claim that the modern museum must be far more than just a repository of art and artifacts. Of the many findings in the Art Museum Director Survey 2025<\/a> conducted by ITHAKA S+R \u2014 which \u201cprovides strategic advice, conducts rigorous research and evaluations, and develops and incubates nonprofit tools and services\u201d for colleges and learning institutions \u2014 is the fact that 96 percent of museum directors \u201crate providing educational programming\u201d a high priority and 94 percent think the same of \u201cserving as a trusted source of information.\u201d Also high on the list was the need for museums \u201cto provide physical space for social and community engagement\u201d (88 percent) and \u201ca place for the public to encounter art during a time of crisis\u201d (84 percent). Finally, nine in 10 directors agreed that \u201ccommunity-centered programming will be a priority for their institutions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Movie screenings, art labs for young people to make art, educational programming, lecture series and so on have all become central elements for museums today. \u201cChildren who come in and experiment in an art lab are not oppositional to gallery space,\u201d Eschelbacher said. \u201cThey go hand in hand. The community museums serve has also expanded exponentially in recent years as institutions have begun putting more emphasis on the art of marginalized cultures. The Museum Director Survey points to the murder of George Floyd as a pivotal point for this turn in focus.<\/p>\n Eschelbacher sees this as building upon what the PMA has already been doing with programs such as Art for All and exhibitions such as Jeremy Frey\u2019s<\/a> Indigenous basket retrospective and the current show about Black photographer Ming Smith<\/a>, \u201cJazz Requiem \u2014 Notations in Blue.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll continue developing projects and thinking about the collection in ways that bring new attention to historically underrepresented artists and histories,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s central to what we do and, given our longstanding commitment to Art for All, it is important to our community and to our field that we embrace a leadership role in this regard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n However, he adds, \u201cWe will also look at stories we know and find something new about how to tell those stories. People will come to see \u2018Winslow Homer: Painter, Etcher\u2019 (opening July 3) out of their interest in Homer, but walk away with a whole new understanding of Homer.\u201d<\/p>\n We are also in an age so suffused in technology, augmented and virtual reality that Eschelbacher says people are seeking authentic analog experiences of the sort museums can provide. Yet it has been ever thus, he notes. <\/p>\n \u201cThink about the technological revolutions happening at the end of the 19th century, where people were concerned for their jobs and where they would live,\u201d he said, citing Monet\u2019s paintings of the French riverine commune of Vitheiul as an analogy for what we think of as a contemporary phenomenon. \u201cEven Monet looked for the analog version of what he was painting by removing humans from the shore.\u201d <\/p>\n FORGING A NEW IDENTITY<\/p>\n Eschelbacher said he will be looking closely at the museum\u2019s European collection (his specialty is 18th and 19th century European art) with an eye to finding novel ways of telling stories that make that work relevant for today. He envisions something like the traveling exhibition he originated at the Amon Carter called \u201cFarm to Table: Food and Identity in the Age of Impressionism.\u201d <\/p>\n His selection of paintings unearthed discussions about French identity, gender and class norms, imperialism and colonialism \u2014 all through the lens of food. By looking through \u201csomething that brings classes together,\u201d he said, \u201cand asking questions like who is growing and making the food, who is bringing it to market, who enjoys it at a restaurant,\u201d the exhibit also trained a critical eye on \u201csocial cohesion and ruptures in that cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n It is also important, Eschelbacher says, to forge a unique museum identity. \u201cThere is a way we engage with contemporary art that is different from the way the CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) does,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are committed to working with Indigenous artists in the state, but it\u2019s different from how the Abbe Museum does it. There\u2019s enough for all of us without having to compete for visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n For this Massachusetts native, returning to Maine was about coming closer to home with his wife, Suzy, and their 4-year-old son \u2014 who just had his first sled ride in the snow and was thrilled when Red\u2019s Dairy Freeze opened for the season. But it was also about the vibrancy of Maine\u2019s art community.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s important is that there\u2019s a strong art culture,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can come to the PMA for what the PMA can do. You can go to the Farnsworth for what the Farnsworth can do. And we can come to Maine for what we can all do together.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43474920_20260305_PMADirector_08.jpg\")
<\/a>Andrew Eshelbacher at the museum on March 5. (Brianna Soukup\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n