Grynsztejn hired as new director of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art

Madeleine Grynsztejn, a senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will become the new head of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, museum officials said Monday.

The 45-year-old, who succeeds retiring director Robert Fitzpatrick, will assume the post this spring.

"Madeleine brings an exceptional level of global experience and intellectual accomplishment, and an esteemed reputation that offers a dynamic new vision and perspective for the museum," Helen Zell, chairwoman of the MCA's board of trustees, said in a statement.

Grynsztejn will be the MCA's seventh director and the first woman to hold the post.

"I am honored to be chosen to lead the MCA Chicago, a museum known for its passion and commitment to working with living visual and performing artists," Grynsztejn said in a statement.

A graduate of Tulane University who later earned a master's degree in art history from Columbia University, Grynsztejn began working at SFMoMA in 2000.

Before that, she worked at the Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.