Assistant Curator of Drawings at The Getty
Job Title: Assistant Curator of Drawings
Job Status: Full-time
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Salary: $66,156.00 – $105,874.00
Our Mission
The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance and is one of four programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The Museum operates two sites, the Getty Villa in Malibu, which exhibits its collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Getty Center in Brentwood, which displays its collections of European art: Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, drawings to 1900, and photography to the present day (including non-European works). The Museum mounts approximately 25 temporary exhibitions a year across its two sites; maintains an annual permanent gallery improvement program and offers wide-ranging and ambitious programming for its visitors.
The Opportunity
The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks an Assistant Curator of Drawings to become a vital member of a team working with one of the foremost collections of European drawings in the United States. The Assistant Curator will play an instrumental role in supporting the collection and its many publics through acquisitions, exhibitions, original research, and innovative interpretation. The department continues to develop programming that is engaging and meaningful to diverse, contemporary audiences. The successful candidate will bring creative ideas and fresh perspectives, key attributes for our ongoing work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, both through our internal work and our public-facing programs. Many of the duties of the Assistant Curator will revolve around the Drawings Department’s schedule of 6-8 annual exhibitions/displays of varying sizes, the primary means by which the collection is presented to the public. The Assistant Curator will have the opportunity to conceive and develop these exhibitions and to work with other curators on larger exhibition projects that seek to advance the field through new research, engaging interpretation, and international collaboration.
The Assistant Curator will contribute to the ongoing work of cataloguing the collection for the museum website, including doing research, updating information, and writing descriptions of individual objects. The Assistant Curator will support the department’s administrative functions, including processing loans, overseeing the study room, and supervising photography of the collection. The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated professional with exceptional organizational skills and experience managing projects in an iterative, fast-paced environment. A natural consensus-builder, the candidate understands how to collaborate successfully in a team with other curators in the department, as well as with colleagues across the campus, including Conservation, Design, Exhibition, Education, Interpretive Content, Imaging Services, Preparators, and Registrars.
Responsibilities
- Applies advanced knowledge of art history and art education to curatorial assignments of moderate complexity
- Performs scholarly research
- Conceives and executes smaller exhibitions
- Verifies value and authenticity of potential acquisitions and participates in the preparation of acquisition proposals
- Travels and networks domestically and internationally to develop/maintain relationships with other colleagues and institutions
- Publishes and lectures in area of specialization
- Gives presentations and exhibitions tours to visiting groups
- Administers incoming and outgoing loans
- Updates information in collection management system and writes collection entries for the website
- Assists with activities and maintenance of the Disegno Group, the Drawings Department council
- Safely handles and considers framing and conservation needs of the collection
- Participates in photography of the collection
- Monitors the study room
- Contributes to the on-line presence of the drawings collection
- Supports general and scholarly visits and requests
Qualifications
- Master’s degree in art history, art or art education OR 2-4 yrs of curatorial experience OR Ph.D.
- Fluency in at least one foreign language (modern or ancient) required
- Competent to work in most curatorial functions