Keely Orgeman, the Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art (
Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery)
Dr. Keely Orgeman, a long-serving curator at Yale University Art Gallery, has been promoted to the position of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. She assumed the prestigious role on December 2, 2019.
Orgeman completed her doctorate at Boston University, where she curated the exhibition “Atomic Afterimage: Cold War Imagery in Contemporary Art” for the college’s associated art gallery in 2008. In the same year, she joined Yale University Art Gallery as a Curatorial Fellow, and has spent the past 11 years rising through its ranks. During her tenure, she has organized a host of exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed 2017 show “Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light”, which traveled to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, D.C. Orgeman most recently served as the Alice and Allan Kaplan Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture.
The new role will see Orgeman heading up the gallery’s body of Modern and Contemporary works, a particular strength of its collection. Key components include Société Anonyme Collection of avant-garde artworks from 1920 to 1940, and an outstanding group of mid-20th-century American paintings.
“We are thrilled to welcome Keely as the Gallery’s new Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art,” said Stephanie Wiles, the Henry J. Heinz II Director. “In addition to her significant experience and expertise in 20th-century American art and deep knowledge of the Gallery’s modern and contemporary collection, she is committed to supporting the visual arts within the New Haven community and is actively mentoring curatorial fellows at NXTHVN, a New Haven–based arts incubator cofounded by the artist Titus Kaphar.”
Yale University Art Gallery is notable for its 20th and 21st-century works, but these form only part of its 250,000-strong collection. The span of human creativity is represented, from ancient times to the present day. The gallery also constitutes the oldest college art collection in the nation, founded in the early 19th century with a donation of paintings from the patron-artist John Trumbull.
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