The Department of Prints and Drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston invites applicants for the position of Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Curator of Prints and Drawings.
About The Department And Vision
With works from Europe and the Americas that range from the 15th century to today, the MFA’s collection tells the story of creative printmaking and draftsmanship in many forms and is one of the most extensive and renowned in the United States. Consisting of more than 200,000 works on paper — prints, drawings, watercolors, posters, illustrated books, postcards, and ephemera — highlights include deep holdings of works by figures such as Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, Mary Cassatt, and John Wilson, as well as unexpected areas of depth including the Provincetown Printmakers, self-taught and folk artists, printmaking processes, and social activism. The collection is also quickly evolving to better reflect the diversity of artistic practice today and to foreground our commitment to acquire works and present narratives in currently underrepresented areas to ensure a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive collection.
Prints and Drawings collaborates and engages closely with colleagues across the Museum and supports in critical ways the initiatives of the Center for Netherlandish Art, an innovative research center at the MFA for the study and appreciation of Dutch and Flemish Art. The department is committed to ensure visitor and student access to the collection through the Morse Study Room for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. We also embrace our responsibility as a place of training and engagement with works on paper through our internship and fellowship programs.
Position Summary
The Shapiro Curator will be part of a close-knit curatorial team and will also work closely with conservators and collections care specialists in the MFA’s Virginia Herrick Deknatel Paper Conservation Laboratory. In liaison with colleagues from across the Museum, the Shapiro Curator will have the opportunity to advance the Museum’s strategic plan by developing and contributing significantly to exhibitions, installations, programs, collections research, and acquisitions. The Shapiro Curator will support critical administrative tasks including responding to scholarly and public inquiries related to the collection and undertaking paperwork for acquisitions as well as the department’s outgoing loan program. As with all team members in Prints and Drawings, the Shapiro Curator will actively engage in the vital responsibility of deeper cataloguing and documentation of the current collection and support public-facing activities in the Morse Study Room. The Shapiro Curator will also help manage donor relationships and assist with programming for the department’s Curators Circle, its friends and support group. The ideal candidate will champion collaboration and help galvanize excitement around prints and drawings by building connections across the whole range of its collection, engaging directly with its historical depth, and envisioning new ways to make this material accessible, relevant and important to the lives of our visitors today.
Candidate Profile
Minimum Qualifications And Experience
- Advanced degree in Art History or closely related field
- Minimum of five years of experience in a museum or comparable institution
- Demonstrated curatorial ability through exhibitions, gallery displays, programs or other activities
Ideal Candidate Profile
- A breadth of knowledge and experience of the field of prints and drawings, including collections care and provenance research, as well as a willingness to gain expertise in new areas
- Demonstrated experience contributing to/leading exhibitions, programs, and projects including those developed in collaboration with other institutions, scholars, artists, and community leaders
- Committed to researching, caring for and interpreting prints and drawings for diverse audiences, and to thinking about this material in new ways
- Clear commitment to IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, access), through current and past projects and collaborations
- Curiosity with the desire and ability to think expansively and reimagine access to the Museum’s collections for local and global audiences
- Strong presentation and interpretation skills with ability to attract and engage audiences of all demographics
- A commitment to engage in the issues, ideas, debates, and practices related to the changing nature of art museums and their relationship to the public
- A national perspective but willing to become personally and professionally committed to the city of Boston, its people and artistic community
- Experience working in collaboration and in building relationships with colleagues in a museum setting to achieve the best outcome
- Experience working in partnership and engaging with donors, collectors, scholars, external communities, and other partners
- Experience and knowledge of “The Museum System” (TMS)
- Strong planning and project management skills with the ability to manage various projects simultaneously
- Strong sense of accountability for achieving stated objectives and flexibility for when plans change
- A track record of being team-oriented and collaborative in spirit
Personal Qualities and Attributes
- Intellectually rigorous
- Curious, passionate, inspirational
- Generous of spirit, a team player
- Superior judgment, tact and diplomacy, with good organizational and prioritization skills
Salary Range
Full-time Salary, 35 hours per week
Starting Salary: $89,787
This position is affiliated with the UAW union
The MFA is an equal opportunity employer. The community and audience we serve is diverse, and we wish to foster that diversity in our workplace. Toward that end, the MFA does not discriminate against individuals in hiring, employment or promotion on the basis of race, religion, color, sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, handicap or disability, veteran or military status, political belief, pregnancy, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.
