HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, today announced that Brittany Webb will join the MFAH as a curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. Dr. Webb, currently the Evelyn and Will Kaplan Curator of 20th- Century Art and the John Rhoden Collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia (PAFA), begins her position at the MFAH this summer.


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Commented Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, “After a nationwide search, I am very pleased to announce Brittany Webb’s appointment as curator in the museum’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. From among a host of candidates with impressive range and depth of experience, Dr. Webb stood out for her strong sense of passion and purpose, deep connection to communities and constituents, and history of developing and producing thoughtful, illuminating exhibitions of American contemporary art and African American art within an international context.”

Since 2018 at PAFA, Dr. Webb has curated an extensive roster of exhibitions working with the PAFA collection and contemporary artists. These have included, most recently, Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden (2023); Gift/Deeds: Collectors at PAFA (2022); From the Ground Up: Artists & the Built Environment (2021); and Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists & the Politics of Scale (2021), which she co-curated with PAFA curator of contemporary art, Jodi Throckmorton. In addition, Dr. Webb developed a collecting program for PAFA’s 20th century holdings, adding to the permanent collection more than 200 works of art by more than 50 artists, including Laura Aguilar, Kwame Brathwaite, Lola Flash, Gregory Gillespie, Maren Hassinger, Bill Hutson, Joyce Kozloff, Lee Krasner, Doris Lee, Alfred Leslie, Agnes Martin, Robert Neal, Louise Nevelson, Gordon Parks, John Rhoden, Charles Searles, Didier William and Purvis Young. Prior to PAFA, Dr. Webb was a curatorial and research assistant at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (2014-18), working on a range of special exhibitions.

Dr. Webb’s most recent publications include her contribution for Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, a major catalogue that accompanies the reinstallation of the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s American-art galleries on the occasion of its 200th anniversary; another for the forthcoming Birmingham Museum of Art collection catalogue Roll Call: 200 Years of Black American Art; and Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden (2023).

Her academic appointments include serving as an assistant professor at PAFA and as a thesis-committee member for graduate students there and at the University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Webb received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Temple University, in 2018, and a B.A. in political science from the University of Southern California, in 2005.



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