AMHERST, MASS.- The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College announced today that it has appointed Dr. Galina Mardilovich to the position of curator of Russian and European art, effective July 1, 2019. Mardilovich, who has served as the acting curator at the Mead since August 2018, will oversee the museum’s program for Russian and European art, including researching the collection, developing exhibitions, and proposing new acquisitions.

In addition, Mardilovich will collaborate with the Amherst Center for Russian Culture on the use of the Thomas P. Whitney ’37 Collection of Russian Art, a unique art and rare book collection that includes more than 600 paintings, drawings, and sculptures produced by artists both in Russia and in exile beginning in the late 19th century.

During her time at the Mead Art Museum, Mardilovich has already curated two exhibitions that showcase her acumen for connecting the two collections under her purview: Constructing Collage and Fleeting Nature: Selections from the Collection (co-curated). She has also curated two exhibitions drawn specifically from the Mead’s Russian collection: Views from the Eastern Front: Russian Modernism and the Great War and Paste, Stick, Glue: Constructing Collage in Russia. The latter exhibition—an historical overview of the many ways in which Russian and Soviet artists employed collage, and the related techniques of film montage and photomontage—highlights the Mead’s tremendous collection resources in this area, including artworks by Liubov’ Popova, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, El Lissitzky, Oscar Rabin, Oleg Kudryashov, and Alexander Kosolapov, among others.

“Galina is an outstanding scholar, teacher, and curator who in her short time here has already presented rich intellectual content in her exhibitions and has built strong relationships with the Mead staff, faculty, and the broader Amherst College community,” said David E. Little, director and chief curator of the Mead Art Museum. “As a scholar who specializes in both prints and Russian art, she is uniquely positioned to create innovative exhibitions and programs, while extending our history of published scholarship in this field. I am excited that she has accepted this position and will be able to continue contributing to our community.”

Mardilovich received her PhD from the University of Cambridge (2013) and is currently working on a book project that focuses on printmaking in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her work has been supported by research fellowships and grants from the Gates Cambridge Trust, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Philosophical Society, Getty Research Institute, and Francis Haskell Memorial Fund among others. In 2014, she was the recipient of the Mary Zirin Prize for independent scholarship, awarded by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies. Mardilovich has published widely, contributing articles and reviews to outlets such as The Burlington Magazine, Print Quarterly, and Art History.

“I am excited about the opportunity to invigorate the wonderful exhibition program and work of the Mead, and to find new ways of engaging with the rich collections here, for both the students and our broader community. It has been inspiring to work with colleagues across the Amherst College faculty, and I am looking forward to continuing to build those relationships,” said Mardilovich.