He earned a BA degree in English language and literature at New College, Oxford, in 1984,[4] followed by a Diploma from Christie's Fine and Decorative Arts course, London, in 1985.
[7] "Then after nearly 14 years of widely admired work as a curator and scholar, Campbell was the unexpected choice to succeed Philippe de Montebello.
"[8] During his tenure as director, Campbell was also at the helm for popular and critically acclaimed exhibitions, including: Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art;[9] Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty;[10] The Drawings of Bronzino;[11] The Steins Collect;[12] Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century;[13] John Baldessari: Pure Beauty;[14] Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity;[15] The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984;[16] Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years;[17] The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini;[18] Kongo: Power and Majesty;[19] China: Through the Looking Glass;[20] Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China;[21] Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World;[22] Vigée Le Brun: An Artist in Revolutionary France;[23] Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible;[24] Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven;[25] Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio;[26] Diane Arbus: Revelations,[27] and Kerry James Marshall: Mastry.
"[30] In 2013, Campbell secured one of the most significant gifts in the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the philanthropist and cosmetics tycoon Leonard A. Lauder's collection of 78 Cubist paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
"[31] In 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute reopened to the public following a two-year renovation with the inaugural exhibition Charles James: Beyond Fashion.
Many Worlds, "allows visitors to explore more than 500 highlights from the Museum's encyclopedic collection in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish".
[33] The website presents individual works of art linked to universal themes and concepts and invites visitors to respond by pairing images playfully, poetically, and creatively.
[34] Artists featured included, Huma Bhabha (2017), Adrián Villar Rojas (2016), Cornelia Parker (2016), Pierre Huyghe (2015), and Dan Graham with Günther Vogt (2014).
Needing to arrange something quickly, he was able to land two traveling shows, the Tate Modern's Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power for fall 2019 and a show that had originated at the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico as Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo for spring 2020.
[40] In March 2020, in response to the pandemic, Campbell announced that the de Young Museum would host an open-call exhibition for "all Bay Area artists".
Campbell has focused on five critical areas of improvement: presentation and development of the collections, exhibitions, programs and community, workplace and hiring practices, and the composition and future growth of their board.
[66] Over the course his career, Campbell has served as an interlocutor on culture's relevance in society, speaking at the World Economic Forum,[67] writing in The New York Times about the importance of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),[68] and providing context on museums' evolving use of technology in the 21st century.