Poste : Curator of moderne european art, Cleveland

Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr Curator of Modern European Art, Cleveland

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) seeks a highly motivated, experienced curator to oversee the display, interpretation, and growth of the museum’s collection of modern European paintings and sculpture. Applicants should be interested in European art of the 19th and early 20th centuries including works by Neoclassical, Academic, Romantic, Realist, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Nabi, Symbolist, Fauve, Cubist, German Expressionist, Dada, Surrealist, and early post-war artists.

The museum is seeking candidates who are eager to lead a distinctive program of exhibitions and public programs in alignment with the museum’s strategic plan and priorities. Key responsibilities will also include interpreting and presenting as well as researching and publishing the collection; making new acquisitions; and working with the museum’s Philanthropy division to cultivate collectors and donors. Candidates should be skilled at building effective relationships across departments and invested in collaboration and teamwork both within and outside of the museum. The ideal candidate will be sensitive to the enhanced public role of museums today, prioritize the strategic goals of the museum, communicate with scholarly and general audiences, develop narratives that are relevant and inclusive to diverse audiences, and prioritize the institution’s goals. Depending upon the candidate’s experience, The Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. Curator of Modern Paintings and Sculpture may also serve as Chair of Art of the Americas and Modern and Contemporary Art, supervising other curators.

The museum’s collection of European paintings and sculpture from 1800 to 1960 is internationally recognized for its masterworks by leading artists of the era. The collection is renowned not for its size—it is comprised of nearly 600 works of art—but for the extremely high quality of the individual works. Highlights of early 19th-century painting include major works by Jacques-Louis David, Francisco Goya, Camille Corot, and Gustave Courbet. Paintings by academic artists such as William Adolphe Bouguereau and Franz Xaver Winterhalter are juxtaposed with works by Symbolist Arnold Böcklin and Orientalist paintings by Friedrich Amerling and Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism are well represented through five paintings by Claude Monet, three paintings and one sculpture by Edgar Degas, and three paintings each by Camille Pissarro, Gustave Caillebotte, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. J.M.W. Turner’s The Burning of the Houses of Parliament is among the most celebrated works by the artist in an American museum. A gallery with glass walls overlooking Cleveland’s University Circle displays French sculpture from the French Revolution to the First World War. The CMA’s collection of sculpture includes 19th-century works by Antonio Canova, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, Jules Dalou, Edgar Degas, George Minne, and Medardo Rosso. The CMA owns more than thirty works by Auguste Rodin—some given by the artist himself—including a life plaster of the artist’s Heroic Head of Pierre de Weissant and life-time bronze casts of The Age of Bronze and The Large Thinker.

The collection features an equally broad range of works by avant-garde artists of the 20th century. Pablo Picasso is represented by a remarkable group of paintings, among them the artist’s blue-period masterpiece La Vie. Other highlights of the collection include paintings by artists associated with the Nabis (Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, and Maurice Denis); the depth in the museum’s collection of work by the Nabis was greatly enriched by the historic gift of Nancy and Joseph Keithley in 2020. The Fauves are represented with strong examples by Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, and André Derain; works by Henri Rousseau, Amadeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine represent the School of Paris. Cubism and related movements are represented through paintings by Picasso, Braque, Fernand Léger, František Kupka, Alexsandra Exter, and Piet Mondrian, as well as sculptures by Constantin Brâncuşi, Jacques Lipchitz, and Henry Moore.

Major examples of German Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit art are found in works by Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Gabrielle Münter, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Otto Dix, and Ernst Barlach. Among the highlights from the Dada and Surrealist collection are paintings, sculptures, and assemblage objects by Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí.

A Master’s Degree in Art History or a related field is required; a Ph.D. is preferred. Candidates should have at least eight years of relevant museum work, including experience organizing exhibitions and publishing scholarly research. A full range of benefits accompanies the position.

Applications, including a cover letter that addresses the candidate’s interest in the position and the relevance of their experience to the museum’s collection, a curriculum vita, two writing samples, and the names and contact information for three references should be submitted by February 1, 2024.

Interested applicants can direct questions to hr@clevelandart.org

For further information visit our website via the following URL. There you will also finde the link for submitting applications:
https://recruiting.ultipro.com/CLE1004CMA/JobBoard/14a13635-e1f1-6802-5aba-82b151e8c57b/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=f9b8de1f-ded9-4e9c-8152-b186c16906d1