Matthew H. Robb Named de Young Museum's Curator of Art of the Americas

Matthew H. Robb has been appointed curator of the art of the Americas at San Francisco's de Young Museum. He is the first curator devoted solely to the museum's holdings of ancient American and Native American art. He will take up his new post Jan. 1, 2013.

According to the museum's website, the de Young is home to the largest and most important group outside of Mexico of murals from ancient city of Teotihuacan, thanks to a 1985 gift from architect and civil servant Harald Wagner. Robb specializes in the art of Teotihuacan. Other notable parts of the de Young's collection include Maya and West Mexico artworks, Inuit and Eskimo art and pueblo pottery.

Robb is currently associate curator in charge of the department of the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the Saint Louis Art Museum. He worked previously at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Md., and the Princeton University Art Museum, in N.J. He earned a PhD from Yale University in 2007, where he wrote his dissertation on the apartment compounds of Teotihuacan, and has taught at Washington University in Saint Louis as well as Saint Louis University.