Curator Chat

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

Erin Monroe

Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture
The Wadsworth atheneum museum of art 600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103 • www.thewadsworth.org

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
I’m excited for Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea, co-organized by the Cape Ann Museum and the Phillips Collection, which opened on the Cape in June. The Wadsworth is a lender to this exhibition, showing its support for a project that reveals how their artistic friendship informed stylistic influence. As the elder among them, Milton Avery mentored the younger artists while absorbing new ideas and techniques from them; he was in essence a perpetual student, which I admire.

What are you reading?
I’m excited to read Victoria Johnson’s Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World, and excited that Johnson’s book is creating a viral Frederic Church moment! Church is near and dear to us in Hartford, his hometown. His early landscapes of Connecticut proclaimed his deep connection to this area. Johnson is also helping create a broader appreciation for the artist, by expanding knowledge of his life in both directions— tracing back his roots and then moving forward into a fascinating global story.

What is an interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently?
I am fresh off seeing the reimagined/reopened Studio Museum in Harlem. I loved the focused celebration of place. My favorite parts included the illustrated timeline of their history, the intermittent sound installations, and the creation of a community-centered Stoop.

What are you researching at the moment?
The Wadsworth is planning a major reinstallation of American galleries from around 1760 to mid-century. My research is “big picture” brainstorming themes and concepts with a small working group of my curatorial colleagues. I’ve also created a vision board with inspo for design, mixing patterns, colors and more from artworks in our collection, along with ideas in the wild, as seen at other institutions. At the same time, I have a running list of highly detailed research, such as researching an appropriate frame style for a new portrait by the folk painter William Matthew Prior.

What is your dream exhibit to curate? Or see someone else curate?
I have long wanted to explore the Wadsworth’s trompe l’oeil paintings in an exhibition. To examine how our works by Harnett, Peto and Haberle reflect the social, political and economic tensions of the late 19th century. We know trompe l’oeils are not neutral. These paintings engage themes ranging from the firearm industry to immigration. They mirror societal transformation. And the show needs to have an element of flair to offset the hyperrealism, such as an immersive experience that invites visitors to become part of the illusion. —