Mark Bills, incumbent Director of Gainsborough's House. He is photographed in front of a bookshelf that reads 'Gainsborough's House'. He wears a tweed, dark green/grey suit with a blue tie. He has grey hair, and is smiling at the camera.
Changing Faces

Gainsborough’s House Director to depart

Arts Professional
2 min read

MARK BILLS, incumbent Director of Gainsborough’s House, will step down in August following over a decade in post.

During his time as director, Bills initiated and delivered a capital project which saw the House reopened to critical acclaim and huge public interest in November 2022, with it now attracting record numbers of visitors.

Bills is leaving to pursue research in Victorian art. He has published widely on eighteenth and nineteenth century British art and has toured exhibitions internationally, including the first of artist Thomas Gainsborough in Holland, Germany, and Russia. 

His work prior to Gainsborough’s House included Curator at the Bournemouth-based Russel-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Senior Curator of Paintings, Prints and Drawing at the Museum of London and Curator at Watts Gallery. 

Bills said leading the transformation of Gainsborough’s House has been hugely rewarding.

“It has now reopened and working well, and it is time for me to face a new challenge, and for a new Director to take the museum forward for the next decade,” he added.

“The aim of the project was to better deliver our mission, be more sustainable and to make a positive impact on the town, which it has done and I am grateful to my colleagues and to the huge number of supporters who helped to make this happen.” 

Interim Chairman CHRISTY STEWART-SMITH added that the organisation owes a “huge debt of gratitude to Mark”. 

“As we move forward, we are safe in the knowledge that Gainsborough’s House, with its spacious new gallery and state of the art conditions, will at last be able to provide a world class environment worthy of the work of one of this country’s greatest and most loved artists.”