NEW YORK, NY.- The National Academy Museum has appointed Dr. Maura Reilly as Chief Curator. Reilly will lead the curatorial team and shape the vision for exhibitions and public programs.
Reilly brings a wealth of experience and a track record of accomplishment to the Academy, with 25-plus years as a curator, scholar and educator. She has mounted more than 25 exhibitions that have enriched audiences in museums and galleries around the world. She began her curatorial career as the Founding Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, a groundbreaking exhibition and public programming space dedicated to women's artistic production. She has held an executive position at the Linda Pace Foundation and Senior Curator positions at the American Federation of Art and Location One, and most recently served as Adjunct Professor at the Sydney College of the Arts in Australia, during which time she also curated exhibitions on contemporary art. Reilly holds a Masters and PhD from the prestigious Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. Reilly's educational background and experience, therefore, blends art and architecture in a way that is reflective of the Academy's distinguished membership, which is composed of America's premier artists and architects.
"Maura Reilly brings a wonderful combination of wisdom and experience to the National Academy," said Director Carmine Branagan. "Her wide-ranging career is testament to her curatorial and scholarly vision. And as an institution that reveres its rich history while immersed in the dynamic innovation of contemporary art and architecture, the National Academy will look to Maura to guide our strategic approach to exhibitions and public programming for years to come."
Reilly, who will begin her duties at the National Academy Museum on July 15, is also a prolific author, having published several books, including the forthcoming Curatorial Activism and Tony Albert: Invisible is My Favorite Color. She is also the editor of Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader, which appears in bookstore at the end of this month.
On accepting the position, Reilly said: "I am beyond thrilled to be joining the curatorial team at the National Academy-an institution with a stellar record of world-caliber exhibitions and programs, whose academicians rank amongst the most important of today's contemporary American artists and architects. It will be a pleasure and an honor to work with them, and at an institution I've long admired."