About:

Cantor Arts Center boasts a proud and venerable history. Conceived with the founding of Stanford University in 1891, the museum opened in 1894, serving the University and the broader community. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the museum, necessitating its closure to the public. In 1995 groundbreaking for a major new wing and restoration of the historic building began in earnest with the revitalized museum opening in 1999 as the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts. The Cantor offers approximately 50,000 square feet exhibition space, as well as classrooms and other study spaces for students and faculty.Collections include art from Europe and America, both historical and contemporary; Asia, primarily Japan and China; Africa; Oceania; historical works from Mexico, Central America, and South America; and the Stanford Family Collection.

Job Purpose:

The Cantor Arts Center seeks a post-doctoral curatorial fellow to work with a recent gift from the Capital Group Foundation of roughly 1100 works by Ansel Adams, Edward S. Curtis, Edward Weston, Gordon Parks, John Gutmann, Wright Morris, and Helen Levitt, which will be the focus of several upcoming exhibitions and the focus of the fellow’s research. The fellow will be the Inaugural Curatorial Fellow in this position.

Core Duties:

During the period of tenure, the fellow will be expected to participate in scholarly museum production, including cataloguing, research, exhibition planning and implementation, related program development, and collection care and conservation of the collection. The goal of the fellowship is to produce new and innovative scholarship on the seven artists represented in the Capital Group Foundation collection and their photographic work. Thus, the curatorial fellow also will be tasked with conceiving of a major scholarly exhibition from the Capital Group Foundation Collection.

With its long tradition of excellence as a center for the study or American art and photography, the Cantor is seeking a candidate who has the interest and skills to use the Capital Group Foundation Collection as the basis for the production of scholarship that narrates new stories of photography, American art, and an expanded view of the American experience. The fellow should be committed to fostering dialogue around historical and contemporary issues of interpretation, representation, and other relevant concerns.

This position is a 36-month term position. The successful appointee will become an active member of the Cantor’s collaborative curatorial department and benefit from engagement with the Cantor director and curators as well as members of Stanford academic community. Additional duties may be assigned.