Sotheby’s Institute of Art is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Woolfson as Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art — London, effective October 14th. Woolfson takes the helm of the prestigious school in its 50th anniversary year, following outgoing director and CEO Jos Hackforth-Jones who led the Institute through a decade of growth as the global pioneer provider of art business education.
Jonathan Woolfson joined the London campus of Sotheby’s Institute in 2010 as Director of Semester and Summer Programs. Under his leadership, these programs flourished and innovated, including the introduction of new educational offerings built around art finance, art crime, art museums and the art and luxury dyad. Woolfson was instrumental in establishing partnerships with prestigious U.S. universities including Cornell, the University of California, and the University of Southern California and oversaw the validation of Summer Study courses with the University of Manchester in 2011. Since being promoted to Deputy Director in 2014, he has led many of the London campus’s initiatives and helmed the Institute’s relationships with University of Manchester as well as with the Quality Assurance Agency.
Jos Hackforth-Jones, the outgoing London director states, “I am so delighted to pass the leadership of Sotheby’s Institute of Art - London to Dr Jonathan Woolfson. Over the last decade it has been a pleasure to work closely with Jonathan to ensure the finest educational experience for our students and to continue to enhance the reputation of Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Jonathan brings an intelligence, imagination and understanding to this role and his commitment to our students, alumni, staff and to the mission of Sotheby’s Institute of Art will ensure that the Institute will go from strength to strength.”
Woolfson is a world-class scholar, teacher, and higher education administrator. He received a PhD from the Warburg Institute, University of London, where he specialized in the Renaissance. He has taught at a variety of institutions including the University of Kent, the Victoria and Albert Museum, New York University, and the University of Oxford, where he was Stipendiary Lecturer in History at Hertford College.
“I am so delighted to pass the leadership of Sotheby’s Institute of Art - London to Dr Jonathan Woolfson. Over the last decade it has been a pleasure to work closely with Jonathan to ensure the finest educational experience for our students and to continue to enhance the reputation of Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Jonathan brings an intelligence, imagination and understanding to this role and his commitment to our students, alumni, staff and to the mission of Sotheby’s Institute of Art will ensure that the Institute will go from strength to strength.”
In his new role, Jonathan Woolfson’s vision is “to develop an environment which empowers students to have a tangible impact in their careers. Art is such a potent and enriching dimension of human experience - it is a privilege to lead an institution which inspires individuals to flourish in today’s vast and fascinating world of art. We will enable this through original, cutting edge and experiential teaching and learning; and by activating the arc of acumen and talent which links our staff, faculty and students.”
Prior to joining Sotheby’s Institute in London, Woolfson was Academic Director of the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute in Florence, Italy. A former British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, his publications include Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485-1603 (1998), Reassessing Tudor Humanism (2002), and Palgrave Advances in Renaissance Historiography (2004). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Founder and Board Member of TIAMSA, The International Art Market Studies Association.
His multifaceted expertise and longstanding commitment to Sotheby’s Institute make Jonathan Woolfson a stellar addition to his illustrious precursors at the helm of our London campus.