Curator Chat

We Ask Leading Museum Curators About What’s Going On In Their World

Art Martin
Director of Collections and Exhibitions
Muskegon Museum of Art
296 W. Webster Avenue, Muskegon, MI 49440 www.muskegonartmuseum.org

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
John Steuart Curry: Weathering the Storm, is the first major Curry exhibition in over two decades and brings new insights into this iconic artist. Organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art with guest art historian Patricia Junker, the show examines the struggles and tragedies that shaped Curry’s masterpiece paintings. We also take a dive into The Tornado (Tornado Over Kansas), examining how our painting became synonymous with the Midwest in popular media and educational texts around the world. The MMA team has combined their talents to create a striking summer 2024 show I’m excited to share.

What are you reading?
It’s soccer season and practices have given me extra reading time, so I just finished Prudence Peiffer’s The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever; and Michael Finkel’s The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. I have just a few chapters left to go of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and then will see what’s next.

Interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently.
For early 20th-century American art, I have to pick the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Edward Hopper’s New York. By combining Hopper’s archival materials with his paintings of New York City, curator Kim Conaty not only offered a fresh take on the artist, but she also brought a delightful accessibility to so many familiar favorites. It was my wife and daughter’s first trip to New York City, so it was great to share the Whitney with them.

What are you researching at the moment?
I’m working on the reinstallation of our collection for the premiere of the MMA’s expansion in 2025, so there’s a deep dive into our early 20th-century American paintings to find new stories for our changing audiences. At the same time, we’re organizing a Françoise Gilot show for late 2025, and I’ll be investigating her relationship with Michigan. I’m also looking forward to exploring a recently promised gift of late 19th-century American art, ideally in connection to a future show of Gilded Age paintings, drawings and decorative arts.

What is your dream exhibit to curate? Or see someone else curate?
Figurative painting inspired me as a kid to pursue the visual arts, so I’d love to see or put together a show that compares and contrasts the technical, narrative and thematic elements of late 19th/early 20th-century American figuration with contemporary trends. With an ever-increasing diversity of voices, new and rediscovered, what endures over time? And what commonalities can we find in the shared depictions of our physical selves?