Curator - Painting and Sculpture of Europe

About The Art Institute Of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago shares its singular collections with our city and the world. We collect, care for, and interpret works of art across time, cultures, geographies, and identities. We are a place of gathering and learning, committed to fostering an inclusive understanding of human creativity.

About The Department
The Department of Painting and Sculpture of Europe stewards a collection that comprises nearly 3,000 works of art dating from the 12th through the early 20th century, with a particular strength in Impressionism, which comprises some 600 paintings. The department strives to produce original scholarship and engage diverse audiences by contextualizing its collection within an expansive and evolving history of art.

The Art Institute of Chicago is seeking an outstanding candidate to join the Department of Painting and Sculpture of Europe. We welcome candidates with a range of experience and expertise, and are accepting applications at both the Associate Curator and Curator levels. We encourage interested candidates to apply for the role that best reflects their background. Please note that only one position will be filled as part of this search.

A key contributor to the long-term growth, assessment, and refinement of the department, the curator supports the chair in caring for, researching, producing content on, and presenting the permanent collection of the department. The curator develops, manages, and oversees a strategic vision for areas of specialty within the departmental collection, ensuring alignment with the museum’s mission and strategic goals. Assuming primary responsibility and connoisseurship for areas of specialty, the curator keeps abreast of the art market, recommends acquisitions and deaccessions to the chair and President and Director in consultation with other curators, and proposes exhibitions for the museum.

The curator supports the chair’s strategic vision of the department and occasionally assists with aspects of the management of the department; helps to enhance the visibility and reputation of the museum and develop community interest and support for the departmental collection; and supports the museum in its commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable institution.

The curator communicates clearly and consistently with the chair and departmental colleagues about priorities, strategies, goals, projects, and timelines; provides training, supervision, and support to departmental colleagues; and mentors curatorial colleagues, fellows, and interns in fostering professional growth and developing expertise through research, scholarship, and exhibitions. The curator engages in a collaborative role with Conservation and Science and Collections and Loans to review treatments and foster best practices for maintaining the departmental collection.

All of these efforts are supported by the curator’s collaboration with the philanthropy team to cultivate relationships with donors, collectors, and committee members.

• Collection growth and care:
  Conducts collection reviews and assessments; evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of areas of specialty within the collection; keeps abreast of the market, current scholarship, and legal and ethical issues in the field; works with dealers; recommends acquisitions and deaccessions; cultivates relationships with donors; supports the maintenance and cataloguing of records, documentation, and research; ensures the safety and stability of the collection and temporary loans;
  
  consults with Conservation and Science and Collections and Loans on the general physical condition, treatment, storage, and display of the collection; and considers loans and responds to related external and internal inquiries; guides collection management through cataloguing, database upkeep, website publication, and object care and movement; supports loan management; and collaborates with departmental interns, fellows, and volunteers.
• Research and scholarship:
  Carries out original research that results in significant art historical scholarship and exhibitions;…