Pierre Daura Curator of European Art: Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia

[Full-time (12 months), academic professional position]

[Include evidence of scholarly writing along with letter of application, CV and list of references]

Salary negotiable depending on experience and qualifications.

The Pierre Daura Curator of European Art oversees a broad collection of European art from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. This position comes with generous travel funds for conducting research and participating in conferences/symposia. The Pierre Daura Curator of European Art reports to the director of the museum. He/she works closely with other curators, the curator of education, the director of communications, the registrars, the preparators, and occasionally with outside curators on exhibition- and collection-related matters.

Qualifications:  The position requires substantial and proven knowledge of European art with a focus on modern art, curatorial experience (preferably five years in a museum setting), scholarly writing, connoisseurship, and knowledge of issues regarding conservation. A doctorate in the history of art or a closely related field is required; publications and a demonstrated interest in academics are expected. Fluency in French or Spanish required. Reading knowledge of both languages required. Catalan may be substituted for Spanish.

Primary duties: The Pierre Daura Curator of European Art has day-to-day and long-range planning responsibilities for the department in regard to budgets, organizing exhibitions, writing for publications, and making acquisitions. He/she is responsible for identifying, securing, and performing as in-house curator for significant exhibitions on loan from other institutions. He/she works with the curator of education to make exhibitions more accessible to the general public, with docents in training for tours, and with the faculty, staff, and students of the university in viewing and/or working with the collection. The Pierre Daura Curator of European Art also trains and oversees student interns.

The curator develops the collection by recommending and soliciting acquisitions, conducting research, writing publications, and maintaining donor relations. Donor relations are an important aspect of the curator’s job, and he/she is expected to assist the director in identifying and cultivating prospects for future gifts of works of art to the museum’s permanent collection, as well as working with the museum’s Board of Advisors. In conjunction with the director and the development officer, the curator will assist with the solicitation of funds for the purchase of art.

A wide range of professional activities is expected, including lecturing, teaching, participation in scholarly symposia, and contributing to scholarly publications. Serving on museum committees is also expected, as is active participation in professional organizations and committees.

The collection:  The collection of European art at the Georgia Museum of Art consists of the Samuel H. Kress Study Collection of Italian Renaissance Paintings; a major collection of prints, drawings, and watercolors by artists ranging from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, such as Albrecht Dürer, Hendrick Goltzius, Francesco Parmigianino, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, and Max Beckmann and includes Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes’s Disasters of War and one of only three complete sets of L’Estampe originale; and a select group of sculpture by such artists as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, and Henri Matisse, as well as animalier bronzes. The museum’s galleries display both European and American decorative arts from the permanent collection. Eleven galleries display temporary exhibitions, which may or may not include works from the collection.

The Pierre Daura Center:  Established at the Georgia Museum of Art in 2002 as a gift from Martha Randolph Daura in honor of her father, the Pierre Daura Center contains a collection of paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures by the Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura (1896–1976), who co-founded the important artists’ group Cercle et Carré. The gift included the artist’s archive, with important material relevant to modern art from the 1920s through the 1960s, including the artist’s correspondence with such luminaries as André Breton.  The donation also included an endowment to support both the center and a Pierre Daura Curator of European Art. This gift facilitates and broadens the presentation and study of European art at the museum.

The Pierre Daura Center initiates and promotes the exhibition and study of the works of Pierre Daura and the contextualization of his oeuvre and career. The Pierre Daura Curator of European Art directs the center as well as the museum’s programming in European art: research, exhibitions, publications and acquisitions. Primary among the curator’s responsibilities is the study of the life and work of Pierre Daura.

Pierre Daura’s works can be found in numerous museums throughout the United States and Europe, including the San Diego Museum of Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou. In addition, Daura’s former house and studio in the picturesque French village of Saint-Cirq Lapopie is now a lively artists’ residence, the Maisons Daura.

The museum: Opened in 1948, the Georgia Museum of Art is accredited by AAM and is a member of AAMD. It is both a university museum and the official state museum of art. The museum offers programming for patrons of all ages, from children to senior citizens, as well as free admission to the public for all exhibitions. It carries out an ambitious exhibition and acquisition program, organizing its own exhibitions in-house, creating traveling exhibitions for other museums and galleries, and hosting traveling exhibitions from around the country and the world. It welcomes approximately 80,000 visitors a year. Visit www.georgiamuseum.org for more details.

The university: The museum is located on the campus of the University of Georgia, the birthplace of public higher education in the United States. A land- and sea-grant institution that is the flagship institution of the state university system, it enrolls approximately 36,500 students in its 17 schools and colleges. The university’s libraries are ranked among the nation’s best for research, and it is a leader among public universities in the numbers of major scholarships earned by its students. U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 “Best Colleges” edition ranks UGA 18th among public universities. Its NCAA Division I sports teams have won 41 national championships, including 28 since 1999.

The town: Athens, Georgia is located 70 miles northeast of Atlanta, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, approximately 300 miles from the coast. With a population of more than 100,000, Athens serves the region as an educational, medical, business, industrial, and retail center. The city benefits from strong historic preservationist activity and nurtures artists, writers, musicians, and poets. Cultural, sporting, and outdoor opportunities abound, for both adults and children. The public school system is recognized statewide for excellence, and several outstanding independent and parochial schools are in the area. Both the city and the university have a public transit system. Urban, suburban, and rural housing is available either for purchase or rent. For more information about Athens, please visit the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau website at http://www.visitathensga.com.

The Georgia Museum of Art shares the mission of the University of Georgia to support and promote teaching, research, and service. Specifically, the museum exists to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret significant works of art. Applications will be reviewed until position is filled. Provide letter of application, CV with names and contact address/phone numbers of three references, evidence of scholarly writing, and any relevant materials by submitting application to Posting Number 2017_00498F at the University of Georgia Faculty Jobs website: https://facultyjobs.uga.edu/.  Open until filled.  Anticipated start date is July 1, 2018 or as negotiated.

Representatives of the Georgia Museum of Art will be at the College Art Association (CAA) Conference in Los Angeles, California February 21-24, 2018 to conduct some preliminary interviews and answer questions.  Search is open until filled; however for consideration for an interview at CAA, please have materials submitted to Faculty Jobs at

https://facultyjobs.uga.edu/ (Posting Number 2017_00498F) by January 15, 2018.

The University of Georgia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status.

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