Mr Trumble has a distinguished background in the visual arts. Currently, he serves as the Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Centre for British Arts within Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. This centre has the largest collection of British art outside of Tate Britain. He has served in that role since 2008 and prior to that was the Curator of Paintings and Sculpture from 2003. From 1996 to 2003 Mr Trumble served as the Associate Curator and then Curator of European Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Mr Trumble has a strong academic track record in the visual arts and history. He has a double first class honours degree in Fine Arts (History of Art) and History from the University of Melbourne. He also has two Masters of Arts degrees: one from the University of Melbourne; and the second from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.
During the past ten years he has curated or co-curated exhibitions including The Art of James Ward, 2004; The Worlds of Francis Wheatley, 2005; Benjamin West and the Venetian Secret, 2008; The Independent Eye: Modern and Contemporary British Art from the Collection of Samuel and Gabrielle Lurie, 2010 and most recently Edwardian Opulence: British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, 2013.
Angus Trumble is a regular contributor to significant national and international publications and has written two significant books, A Brief History of the Smile and The Finger: A Handbook. He has published widely in the fields of Old Master paintings; nineteenth and twentieth-century British art; Australian colonial art, and international contemporary art, in many cases for exhibition catalogues produced by curatorial colleagues in Australian state art museums.
Until Mr Trumble commences the National Portrait Gallery is in extremely capable hands under the leadership of the Acting Director, Ms Jennifer Bott AO. Ms Bott will step down as Acting Director once Mr Trumble commences on 11 February 2014 but will continue in the role of Senior Consultant to the Gallery, allowing the incoming Director to take advantage of her significant expertise and knowledge.
