Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is Senior Vice President for Business Development and Director of Sotheby’s Los Angeles office. Prior to joining Sotheby’s, Paul was the Associate Director at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the fourth largest art museum in the United States. While in Houston, among many other projects, Paul was responsible for the campaign to build a new Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend, the establishment of the Department of the Arts of the Islamic World (the first of its kind in the southern United States), the opening of the first permanent galleries at the museum dedicated to the Arts of Korea, and a major initiative with Rice University involving the study of art conservation science. He was also involved in the acquisition of hundreds of works of art for the permanent collection and the production of dozens of exhibitions. Prior to his time in Houston, Paul was the Deputy Director at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and, prior to that, Director of Development at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Paul spent fifteen years as a fund-raising professional before his work in museums. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Paul holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a Master’s of Music degree from the University of Southern California.