PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Philadelphia Museum of Art announced the promotion of Louis Marchesano as the Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation. In this role, Marchesano oversees the Curatorial, Collections, Conservation, Publications, and Library and Archives departments, advancing strategic initiatives that support public engagement, scholarship, and collections stewardship.

“Louis’s wide-ranging interests in the history of art, along with his commitment to supporting the next generation of museum professionals, make him the perfect person to help lead the kind of curatorial work that will take the museum into the future,” said Sasha Suda, George D. Widener Director and CEO. “Louis is a key member of my executive leadership team and I’m thrilled to have him in this role.”

With more than two decades of experience as a curator and scholar, Marchesano brings to this role deep expertise in the history of prints and the art market, and an international reputation for innovative exhibitions and publications. He joined the PMA in 2019 to lead the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, where he shaped collections strategy, mentored emerging curatorial talent, and secured major gifts of art and funding.

Before coming to Philadelphia, Marchesano served as Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, where he focused on building collections and organizing exhibitions such as A Kingdom of Images: French Prints in the Age of Louis XIV, for which the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an order of knighthood. His last Getty project, Käthe Kollwitz: Prints, Process, Politics, was praised for its innovative curatorial insight and received the prestigious Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for museum scholarship from the College Art Association.

Marchesano’s appointment is made possible through an endowment established by the Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Foundation to support and sustain curatorial leadership at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Kippy Stroud, an active trustee of the PMA for 38 years who served as the past Chair of the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Committee and member of five other committees, was also the Founding Director of The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.

"The Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Foundation is honored to endow the position of Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation at the PMA,” said Ann Loftus, the chair of the foundation’s board. “Throughout her life, Kippy Stroud was deeply committed to supporting curators, artists and innovative programs in Philadelphia and beyond. This leadership position, at the helm in overseeing the excellence of scholarship, exhibition planning and programming that makes the museum a world-renowned institution, reflects her commitment to creative vision and will carry on her generous philanthropy into the future.”

Marchesano has just opened Brand X Editions: Innovation in Screenprinting, an exhibition celebrating the donation of an archive of more than 450 screenprints from the printmaking studio Brand X Editions, including works by Vija Celmins, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, and many other contemporary artists.