Barry Bergdoll is stepping down after six and a half years as chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, he announced in a letter to journalists late Wednesday afternoon.
He will return to Columbia University, where he is going to hold the Meyer Schapiro chair in art history. Mr. Bergdoll has been on an extended leave of absence from the department, where he previously served on the faculty and as chairman.
“The university has now requested that I return to teach full time,†Mr. Bergdoll said in the letter, adding of his new post, “It is for me a great honor that I feel also recognizes the scholarly work that I have continued to pursue most recently in exhibitions and publications here at MoMA.â€
Mr. Bergdoll will continue on at the museum as a part-time curator in his department, where he will have a hand in coming exhibitions on Latin American architecture 1955-85 and on Lina Bo Bardi, a Brazilian modernist architect.
He said he was particularly proud of MoMA’s acquisition of the Frank Lloyd Wright archive, together with the Avery Architectual & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: July 31, 2013
An earlier version of this post referred incorrectly to Barry Bergdoll's new position at Columbia University. He will hold an endowed chair, not be chairman of the art history program.
