Deadline:  August 7, 2017

The National Portrait Gallery houses a unique collection of portraits of the men and women who have helped shape British history and culture. Now numbering over 12,000 portraits the primary collection embraces every medium – oil paintings, drawings, miniatures, photographs, mixed/new media and sculpture. Besides this the Gallery has a photographs collection of 250,000 images and a reference collection of 80,000 prints. The Gallery has had an increasingly high public profile and now attracts over 2 million visitors to its galleries and regional partnerships.

Assistant Curator, 20th Century to Contemporary
Fixed term until July 2018
Part time, 24 hours (3 days) gross per week
Pro rata £22,245 per annum

An opportunity has arisen for a fixed-term Assistant Curator, 20th Century to Contemporary to cover an existing position whilst the current post holder pursues additional projects. The post will offer the exciting chance to work within the curatorial team with a focus on contemporary commissions and acquisitions.

The post holder will be expected to help generate ideas for the interpretation and presentation of the collection and research secondary and primary documentation for the purposes of acquisition, develop drafts of interpretive text for displays and website information, and occasionally curate temporary displays within the galleries.

The post holder will also have the opportunity to work on a funded commissioning project, liaising with multiple sitters and the artist.
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate solid and relevant work experience within a museum or gallery environment in addition to experience of curating displays or exhibitions and writing up art historical or historical research for public audiences, along with a postgraduate qualification in Art History/History or Museum Studies, or equivalent experience.