Catherine Whitney joined Philbrook as Chief Curator and Curator of American Art on July 12. Whitney will oversee the curatorial department’s ambitious and expanding special exhibition programs, and research, interpret, install and further develop Philbrook’s collection of American Art.
Whitney’s comes to Tulsa via Washington, DC and Santa Fe, NM where she has worked in various museum and gallery positions. A graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine (BA in Studio Art and Art History) and University of Maryland (MA in Art History), Whitney worked at the National Gallery of Art in the conservation, education, and curatorial divisions. While DC, she also led tours at the Sewall-Belmont House (historic headquarters of the National Woman’s Party) and held a graduate internship in education at the Hillwood Museum. In 1995, Whitney moved to Santa Fe to become Curator of American Art and, later, Director of Twentieth-Century American Art at the Gerald Peters Gallery.
While her area of specialization is American Art, 1890-1940–particularly modernism and the regional Taos and Santa Fe painters–she also co-chaired the Contemporary Department at the gallery. She is board Vice President of the Southwest Art History Conference held annually in Taos, NM.
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