Working in partnership with, and under the direction of the Curator of African Arts, the BGC/BKM Postdoctoral Fellow will assist in all aspects of the development of the Museum’s installation of its renowned African Arts collection in a new dedicated gallery scheduled to open in 2025, with a particular focus on interpreting historical African art through a contemporary lens. The Fellow will also have the opportunity to curate dossier-style collection installations, at the Brooklyn Museum and/or at BGC, and additionally, will contribute to the planning of a 2023 State of the Field symposium on African art at Bard Graduate Center, to be held on the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Museum’s groundbreaking 1923 display of 1,500 works, which remains one of the largest exhibitions of African art ever mounted. The Fellow will also teach one graduate-level course each year on the Arts of Africa at Bard Graduate Center, on a topic to be determined in consultation with the Chair of the Academic Program.
Appointment to run 1 August 2021–30 June 2024
Responsibilities include:
At the Brooklyn Museum
- Assist in the research and development of Museum’s 2025 installation: collection research and documentation, with a focus on provenance; assist in checklist development, object research and review with Conservation, preliminary layouts, and label text for new permanent gallery;
- Curate dossier-style collection installations from the museum’s collection;
- Assist with planning of a 2023 State of the Field symposium on African art at BGC.
At Bard Graduate Center
- Teach one course per year on Arts of Africa; class meetings often to be held at the Brooklyn Museum;
- Attend once monthly faculty meeting;
- Potentially advise student Qualifying Papers.
Requirements
- PhD in art history or a related discipline such as Africana studies, anthropology, or history, complete by 1 July 2021
- Experience in public humanities desirable
Salary
- $45,000
- Housing is provided at Bard Hall, 410 W 58 Street, New York, NY
- $1,500 travel & research funding (annually)
- Medical insurance is provided
Reports to
- Curator of African Art, Brooklyn Museum
- Dean, Bard Graduate Center
To Apply
Apply here. All materials must be received by December 1, 2020. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Please direct questions to [email protected].
Bard Graduate Center, a division of Bard College located on West 86th Street in New York City, is a graduate research institute devoted to the study of the decorative arts, design history, and material culture, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art history, economic and cultural history, history of technology, material culture studies, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, and public programs explore new ways of thinking about the cultural history of the material world. Bard Graduate Center is committed to exploring and expanding the sources, questions, practices, perspectives, practitioners and audiences of interdisciplinary humanities scholarship.
Founded in 1823 as the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library Association, the Brooklyn Museum contains one of the nation’s most comprehensive and wide-ranging collections, enhanced by a distinguished record of exhibitions, scholarship, and service to the public. The Museum’s vast holdings span 5,000 years of human creativity from cultures in every corner of the globe. Collection highlights include the ancient Egyptian holdings, renowned for objects of the highest quality, and the American collections, which are unrivaled in their diversity, from Native American art and artifacts and Spanish colonial painting, to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American painting, sculpture, and decorative objects. The Museum is also home to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which is dedicated to the study and exhibition of feminist art and is the only curatorial center of its kind. The Brooklyn Museum is both a leading cultural institution and a community museum dedicated to serving a broad audience. Located in the heart of Brooklyn, the Museum welcomes and celebrates the diversity of its home borough and city. Few, if any, museums in the country attract an audience as varied with respect to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational background, and age as the audience of the Brooklyn Museum.
Bard College is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications from those who contribute to our diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, mental, or physical disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, familial status, veteran status, or genetic information.
Bard is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for all individuals in employment practices, services, programs, and activities.
