Assistant Curator of Photography

Post closes on Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 11:55 PM EST.

All applicants must submit an online application on Jobs.

Virginia.gov. Emailed applications, resumes, or cover letters will not be accepted.

Location
:
Richmond, Virginia, United States

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA’s growing encyclopedic collection houses more than 50,000 works of art spanning 6,000 years of world history.

Our holdings include the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, the finest collection of Art Nouveau outside of Paris and one of the nation’s finest collections of American art. VMFA is also home to important collections of Chinese art, English silver, French Impressionism, Post impressionism, British sporting art, and modern and contemporary art, as well as renowned South Asian, Himalayan, and African art.

Recently named the 11th-best art museum in the United States by The Washington Post, VMFA is the only US art museum open 365 days a year with free general admission.

VMFA is a state-supported, privately endowed educational institution created for the benefit of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret art, to encourage the study of the arts, and thus to enrich the lives of all.

The VMFA’s Photography Collection encompasses 10,000 works and spans the history of the medium. It is especially strong in 20th-century and contemporary American photography and holds rich collections of documentary and civil rights photographs. In recent years, the museum has built strong holdings of work by artists working in Virginia and the American South, including Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann, Mark Steinmetz, and others.

In 2019, the museum acquired the holdings of the Aaron Siskind Foundation and additionally works closely with VMFA’s Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library to maintain the artist archives of Louis Draper and Willie Anne Wright.

Recent and upcoming exhibition projects have helped build the museum’s holdings of work by Hungarian-born artists, including André Kertész, as well as strong collections of work by Ansel Adams, Dawoud Bey, and May Ray, among others. The collection continues to grow at a rapid pace, thanks to generous donors, a substantial acquisitions budget, and a strategic plan that includes targeted acquisitions of artist archives.

A new suite of dedicated galleries slated to open in late 2027 will further expand the exhibition and acquisition program.

Reporting to the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center, this position serves as Assistant Curator of Photography. This role entails developing, researching, exhibiting, teaching about and cultivating community interest in VMFA’s photography collection and programs. This position supports the Aaron Siskind Curator on all activities related to the Photography Department, including acquisition administration, donor and artist correspondence, updating cataloguing records, researching, proposing, and organizing exhibitions of photography, and developing and expanding the collection through proposed acquisitions.

This is a dynamic opportunity for an innovative, detail-oriented, and collaborative professional interested in advancing their curatorial career in photography. This new position comes at an exciting time for the Photography Department, which was established in 2021. VMFA is currently preparing for a major expansion project that includes a 5,500-square-foot suite of photography galleries, slated to open in late 2027, and the 12,500-square-foot Raysor Center for Works on Paper, a state-of-the-art facility for conservation, research, public accessibility, and storage of photographs and works on paper.

This position requires national and international travel in order to represent VMFA’s Photography Department across a variety of national and international settings.

This position may be eligible for occasional telework; availability, hours, and duration will be in accordance with the…