DETROIT, MICH.- The Detroit Institute of Arts announced today it has hired Jill Shaw as associate curator of European art (1850–1950). Shaw comes to the DIA from Colgate University, where she was senior curator of collections for the Picker Art Gallery and a research affiliate in the department of Art and Art History. She begins at the DIA January 19, 2016.

This is the first curatorial hire by Salvador Salort-Pons, who became DIA director in October. “We are excited to welcome Jill to our curatorial staff. She brings a wonderful set of scholarly skills and is keen on our visitor-centered approach,” said Salort-Pons. “Among other responsibilities, Jill will conduct much-needed research on our modern European collection, one of the finest in the nation. I am confident she will bring new light into our Modern art holdings, reinforce them with new acquisitions and organize innovative exhibitions in collaboration with our Learning and Interpretation team.”

Shaw previously held positions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), where she researched and published on the museum’s collection of European painting and sculpture dating from 1850 to 1950 and was integral to the development of its first online scholarly collection catalogues dedicated to Claude Monet (as co-author and co-editor) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (as contributing author and co-editor).

While at AIC, Shaw contributed to exhibitions including Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde (2006–7), The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago (2008), and Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity (2012–13). At Colgate, she curated exhibitions of the permanent collection as well as shows featuring the work of Diane Arbus, Mark Dion, and Richard Serra.

Shaw earned her bachelor of arts from Northwestern University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Her dissertation on Jean Dubuffet explored the artist’s approaches to self-definition during his early professional career (1944–51) as he navigated cultural institutions and artistic environments in Paris, Algeria, and Chicago.

Shaw is a native of Nashville, Tennessee.