The Baltimore Museum of Art seeks a visionary curator to lead its Department of European Painting and Sculpture using a globally oriented and socio-historically grounded curatorial approach. The successful candidate will be a scholar who is committed to interrogating the formation of European artistic practice within the contexts of colonial expansion, global trade, and sustained exchange with Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. In centering these interconnected histories, the curator will work collaboratively with curatorial staff across departments to reconceive the Museum’s presentations of European art and challenge inherited disciplinary boundaries. Through exhibitions, collection reinstallations, research, and extensive in-gallery interpretation, the curator will articulate how European artistic traditions emerged in dialogue with—and were materially, formally, and conceptually shaped by—global systems of exchange, colonization, and diaspora.

The successful candidate will be a specialist in European art from the 15th to the 19th centuries with a demonstrated commitment to education and public engagement. While the Department of European Painting and Sculpture encompasses European art from the 13th century through 1960, the Associate Curator/Curator and Department Head is not expected to be a specialist across this full chronological span. Rather, they should be comfortable providing intellectual leadership and making informed curatorial and interpretive decisions across the breadth of the collection. As such, the successful candidate will approach curatorial practice as a collaborative endeavor that requires deep engagement with internal and external stakeholders and will be committed to polyvocal and inclusive modes of storytelling.

The Associate Curator/Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture manages a collection of approximately 1,600 works of European painting and sculpture spanning the 13th century through 1960 and reports to The Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator. The Associate Curator/Curator and Department Head also works directly with The Anne and Ben Cone Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and Senior Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, who oversees the Cone Wing, as well as a Curatorial Research Associate. Other key curatorial collaborators include the Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs and the Anne Stone Associate Curator of Decorative Art.

Recently ranked by the Washington Post as one of the top 20 museums in the United States, the Baltimore Museum of Art is an internationally renowned museum with the world’s largest public collection of works by Henri Matisse. The BMA embodies a commitment to artistic excellence and social equity in every decision from art presentation, interpretation, and collecting to the composition of the Board of Trustees, staff, and volunteers—creating a museum welcoming to all. Serving nearly 250,000 visitors annually, the BMA is the largest art museum in Maryland and is a vibrant institution embraced as an indispensable element of community life, a vital educational resource for a broad and diverse audience, and a leader in the revitalization of the city that surrounds it. In the upcoming years, the work of the BMA will be guided and shaped by four strategic priorities: (1) Interweaving global and local histories; (2) Building a more artist-centered institution; (3) Deepening our commitment to education in all its forms; and (4) Developing greater community partnerships

This full-time, exempt position reports to the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Propose, research, and organize exhibitions and collection rotations that situate European art within broader global, colonial, and transnational contexts, foregrounding exchange, circulation, and cross-cultural interaction.
• As part of a comprehensive reinstallation of the permanent collection, conceptualize, develop, and oversee a new installation of the Jacobs Wing galleries as well as other European-focused galleries, advancing a rearticulation of European art history that challenges geographic boundaries and relies on expanded multimedia interpretation.
• Serve as the Museum’s primary subject-matter expert for its collection of fifteenth- through nineteenth-century European painting and sculpture, bringing critical and global perspectives to collection research, interpretation, and display.
• Conduct sustained scholarly research on the collection of European painting and sculpture, including cataloguing, provenance research, and interpretive revision, and contribute original scholarship to the Museum’s database, object files, and publications.
• Supervise departmental staff, interns, fellows and volunteers, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and intellectually rigorous working environment; assess and advocate for departmental staffing needs as appropriate.
• Serve as liaison to the Pre-1960 Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts Accessions Committee, contributing curatorial expertise informed by ethical collecting practices and global art-historical frameworks.
• Research, evaluate, and present acquisition proposals (gifts, promised gifts, bequests, and purchases) that strategically expand the collection’s ability to address global exchange, colonial histories, and artistic mobility; maintain active engagement with the art market and professional networks.
• Produce original scholarly writing for exhibition catalogues, collection publications, and digital platforms, advancing new interpretations of European art in global context.
• Develop and participate in public programs and on-line initiatives to generate interest in and educate visitors about the BMA’s collection of European painting and sculpture, including giving public talks, tours, and lectures.
• Oversee various collection management projects, including the augmentation of on-line records for the BMA’s collection of European painting and sculpture.
• Cultivate and steward relationships with collectors, donors, and patrons, collaborating with development staff to support acquisitions, exhibitions, and collection initiatives through gifts, fundraising, and strategic donor engagement.
• Expand the department’s academic engagement by developing and sustaining partnerships with Johns Hopkins University, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, and other regional institutions through collaborative research, teaching, student mentorship, and public-facing scholarly initiative.
• Manage department budget and other administrative duties

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in Art History required; PhD in Art History preferred
• Minimum of three to five years of curatorial experience in a museum department focused on European art
• Demonstrated expertise in European painting and sculpture of the 15th through 19th centuries, evidenced by exhibitions, publications, conference papers, and/or major cataloguing projects.
• Proven track record of managing department including budget, and project timelines
• Strong ability to work collaboratively within and beyond the institution, with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Working proficiency with collection management systems, particularly The Museum System (TMS)
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• Excellent organizational, writing, and communication skills, with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Supervisory experience preferred but not required