Curator of 20th Century Art and Contemporary Art

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh North Carolina

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) seeks an innovative curator with a broad understanding of twentieth and twenty-first century art and experience developing and delivering exhibitions, commissions, public programs, and publications. The curator of 20th century and contemporary art will embrace a cross-disciplinary approach that celebrates and engages voices across cultures, lived experiences, and narratives and will collaborate with internal and external colleagues to make the NCMA in Raleigh, NC, and its affiliate in Winston-Salem, NC, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), national leaders in creating a welcoming experience of belonging and joy through its 20th century and contemporary art collections, exhibitions, and programs. The NCMA’s 164-acre campus and SECCA’s 32-acre campus include natural and architectural sites for presenting temporary and permanent artworks; experience working with outdoor and large-scale artworks and installations is highly desirable for this role.

The NCMA is one of the premier cultural institutions in the Southeast with an internationally renowned art collection with core strengths in European and American painting and sculpture, modern and contemporary art, and African art as well as smaller collections of ancient Egyptian, classical Mediterranean, ancient American, and Judaic ceremonial art. The modern art collection is distinguished by its German Expressionist and 20th-century American and European holdings, including works by Ernst Kirchner, Lyonel Feininger, Georg Baselitz, Romare Bearden, Ronald Bladen, Louise Bourgeois, Alberto Giacometti, Sam Gilliam, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Anselm Kiefer, Guillermo Kuitca, Jacob Lawrence, Henry Moore, Elizabeth Murray, Jaume Plensa, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, Sean Scully, and Bill Viola. The NCMA’s holdings in mid-20th century American painting, are particularly strong, including works by Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, and Kenneth Noland.

The museum’s growing contemporary collection includes works by national and international artists such as El Anatsui, Yoan Capote, Leonardo Drew, Jeppe Hein, William Kentridge, Yayoi Kusama, Simone Leigh, Hung Liu, Hugo McCloud, Roxy Paine, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Yinka Shonibare, Elias Sime, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Marie Watt, and Kehinde Wiley. The collection and program also have a dedicated focus on North Carolina-based and born artists. See: https://ncartmuseum.org/collection/museum-collection/. The NCMA regularly presents modern and contemporary art exhibitions, with recent shows featuring Wim Botha, Leonardo Drew, Heather Hart, Stephen Hayes, Candida Höfer, Frida Kahlo, Moataz Nasr, Georgia O’Keeffe, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, and Lina Iris Viktor.

SECCA opened in 1956 as a non-profit visual arts organization in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in response to a community and regional need for exhibition space devoted to work by local artists. A non-collecting institution and since 2007 an affiliate of the NCMA, SECCA has a distinguished history of originating and presenting exhibitions and projects featuring local, regional, national, and international contemporary artists, most recently including Elizabeth Alexander, Lonnie Holley, Jillian Mayer, Babette Shaw, and Freeman Vines. An ongoing series Southern Idiom highlights the work of local artists. SECCA offers a full calendar of public and educational programs and additionally presents films, concerts, and performances. See: https://secca.org/

Responsibilities

The curator of 20th century and contemporary art will be part of a curatorial team of 10 responsible for building, researching, presenting, and publishing on the NCMA collection; organizing and coordinating exhibitions; participating in a wide range of educational and community-focused programs; and cultivating donors and fundraising opportunities. The NCMA curatorial team is in the process of reimagining the presentation of the Museum’s 4,000+ work collection to be completed by the fall of 2022. The aim of the reinstallation is to provide a more dynamic, multicultural, interdisciplinary, and accessible experience of the collection. Targeted efforts on diversity, inclusion, and accessibility will be realized through acquisitions, loans, cross-collection installations, wall texts, interpretive materials, digital content, and publications. The curator of 20th century and contemporary art will work closely with the chief curator and senior curator of contemporary art to share responsibility for the museum’s contemporary art program, including the collection, exhibitions and museum park projects. In addition to responsibilities related to the 20th century and contemporary collection at the NCMA, this position will oversee the exhibition program for SECCA, working closely with the assistant curator of contemporary art.

This position requires a global knowledge of twentieth and twenty-first century art and expertise or strong interest in one or more of the following areas: African American, Asian American, Native American, Latinx, Central and South American, African, and Asian contemporary art. The position reports to and will work closely with the chief curator and will supervise an assistant curator of contemporary art. Based in Raleigh, the position will require travel to SECCA in Winston-Salem on a regular basis.

Qualifications

• A broad-based knowledge of 20th and 21st-century art and cultural history and experience working with living artists.
• M.A. in art history or comparable experience required.
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible curatorial experience in an accredited museum preferred.
• Proven ability to conceptualize, research, organize, and direct complex projects such as exhibitions, collection installations, and publications.
• Demonstrated commitment to furthering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in Museum collections, exhibitions, and spaces.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with colleagues and museum staff.
• Ability to communicate and deal effectively with a wide spectrum of constituencies, including artists, scholars, students, collectors, patrons, board members, and the public.
• Experience supervising curatorial staff.
• A strategic and entrepreneurial approach to fundraising for exhibitions and other curatorial projects, as well as to cultivating donations of works of art.
• A record of scholarly research and publication; excellent writing skills.
• Working knowledge of the legal and ethical aspects of collecting and exhibiting art, including issues of provenance.
• Familiarity with the art market for 20th and 21st century art.
• Familiarity with conservation techniques and practices desirable.
• Reading proficiency in at least one modern foreign language preferred.
• Ability to work some weekends and evenings as needed and to travel on behalf of the Museum as necessary, including between Raleigh and Winston- Salem on an ongoing basis.

Compensation: $75,000.

The position has a flexible start date, preferably June 2022. Select candidates will be asked to supply writing samples and references. All inquiries regarding the position should be addressed to Linda Dougherty, Chief Curator, NCMA, at: linda.dougherty@ncdcr.gov. Please note that due to the high volume of applicants, we are only able to contact those candidates whose skills and background best fit our needs.

To apply:
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume by 5:00 pm on the closing date of March 31, 2022 to Jenny Crow, Business & Personnel Officer, NCMA, at: jennifer.crow@ncdcr.gov