As widely speculated, the new director at the helm of San Francisco’s troubled Fine Arts Museums is the deputy director at the Frick Collection in New York. The museums have been without a director since John Buchanan’s death 15 months ago. Colin Bailey is an authority on Renoir and an expert on 18th and 19th century French painting whose resume includes stints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.Immediate upside: the appointment, temporarily at least, changes the subject at the De Young and the Legion of Honor, which for months have suffered bad publicity from labor strife, controversial firings and criticisms aimed at board president Dede Wilsey. Chronicle
