The Denver Art Museum (DAM) seeks an energetic, entrepreneurial individual with both curatorial and management experience.  This is an opportunity for a dynamic, ambitious, experienced curator to direct the Spanish Colonial Department at a major AAMD art museum in the West. The Spanish Colonial permanent collection at the Denver Art Museum is now the largest collection in the United States and one of the best collections of Latin American art in the world. Expertise is required in the major stylistic movements from all geographic areas and cultures of Latin America, combined with a desire to reach, inspire, and educate broad audiences, including families with children.

Christoph Heinrich, Director of the DAM since 2010, has put in place a vision of dynamic programming for visitors and families, including destination exhibitions and rotating permanent-collection installations. The DAM vision includes a commitment to pulling back the curtain on the creative process of artists, not only by featuring frequent on-site installations but also by incorporating interactive educational spaces in the galleries and special exhibitions.  The DAM is committed to implementing ambitious, large-scale special exhibitions and exploring new and dynamic ways of engaging audiences.

In 2006 the Hamilton Building, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind joined the 1971 North Building, designed by architect Gio Ponti.  Today, with 250 staff and an operating budget of $26M, the DAM is one of the 15 largest museums in the AAMD.  The Curator will have the opportunity to organize world-class exhibitions, along with smaller shows and projects.  The Curator will also create innovative rotations of the permanent collection in 20,000 square feet of gallery space.

HOW TO APPLY:

Apply in confidence: Email cover letter, résumé or CV, salary requirement, and names of 3 references with contact information hrcoordinator@denverartmuseum.org by August 31, 2015. Please include Curator of Spanish Colonial Art in the subject line of the email.

About the DAM’s Encyclopedic Collections

Since its founding in 1893, the DAM has amassed more than 70,000 works, one of the most comprehensive collections of world art between Chicago and the West Coast.  Internationally known for its holdings of American Indian art, pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art, it also has significant concentrations in European and American painting and sculpture, architecture, design and graphics, and photography; as well as modern and contemporary, Asian, African, Oceanic, western American, and textile art.  Visit:http://www.denverartmuseum.org/collections.

About the Spanish Colonial Collection

The Denver Art Museum is indeed fortunate in being able to count among its greatest resources a Spanish Colonial collection rich in art from all over Latin America. Initiated in 1936 with a gift from Anne Evans of santos from Colorado and New Mexico, the Spanish Colonial collection at the Denver Art Museum has grown dramatically over the years. It is now the largest collection in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

In 1952, the museum made its first purchase of Pre-Columbian art and in 1968, the New World Department was established, bringing Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial objects from Latin America together. Today the combined collection of the New World Department covers a time span from about 1200 BC to the present. It is the best collection of its type in the United States and, in many areas, it is the most comprehensive collection outside of country of origin.

Within a year of its founding in 1968, the New World Department began receiving the Frank Barrows Freyer Memorial Collection of colonial paintings, sculpture, and furniture from Peru. Assembled by María Engracia Freyer during the 1920s while her husband was chief of a United States naval mission to Peru, the collection received special export status in recognition of the Freyers’ contributions to the government and culture of Peru. In 1990, the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art gifted its extensive collection of colonial art from northern South America acquired between 1895 and 1914 by Daniel C. Stapleton, a donation made possible by the Renchard family of Washington, D.C. In addition, an exemplary collection of Spanish Colonial silver from the Robert Appleman family and major gifts of Mexican Colonial painting and decorative arts from the collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer have greatly enriched the collection.

In 1993, the New World Department collections were reorganized and reinstalled in their present galleries, which at the time made Denver the only major museum in the country to have permanent galleries dedicated to both Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art. More than five thousand objects from these collections are now displayed in the Jan and Frederick Mayer Galleries of Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art. Included are paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver and decorative arts from the Spanish Colonial period, as well as Pre-Columbian masterworks in ceramic, stone, gold, and jade. These two collections are remarkable for both aesthetic quality and cultural significance. Internationally, the Denver Art Museum is unparalleled in its comprehensive representation of the major stylistic movements from all the geographic areas and cultures of Latin America.

The growth of the New World collections and programs received a major boost with the enlightened endowment gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer in 2003. This gift made it possible to establish separate curatorial positions in Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art. As a result of the Mayers’ generosity, the Denver Art Museum has the only curator dedicated exclusively to Spanish Colonial art in the United States. The Mayers also founded the Frederick and Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art at the Denver Art Museum, committed to increasing awareness and promoting scholarship in these fields by sponsoring scholarly activities including annual symposia, fellowships, study trips, and publications (http://mayercenter.denverartmuseum.org).

About Denver

Denver offers major-city sophistication in a location inspiring for its natural beauty.  Enjoy Rocky Mountain ski slopes along with major museums, four major sports teams, and a wide variety of neighborhoods.  The Metropolitan Area has over 2.7 million people, and the Mile High City is now larger than Washington, Boston, or Atlanta — yet it remains a livable, friendly city.

Denver hosts a vital contemporary art scene enlivened by a rich variety of cultural organizations, galleries, collectors, and 5 distinct arts districts with galleries and studio buildings.  See: http://brilliantindenver.com/plan-your-visit/more-things-to-do-in-denver/explore-denvers-arts-world.  Partake of museums, symphony, ballet, opera, and Broadway shows; and enjoy skiing and year-round outdoor sports nearby and near Boulder, or at Aspen or Vail; or visit the National Parks.  Denver’s temperate climate boasts 300 days of sunshine per year, and Colorado’s high-quality lifestyle is attracting young, cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial, creative populations from both Coasts.  Visit: http://www.denver.org/ and http://artsandvenuesdenver.com/events-programs/imagine-2020-creating-a-future-for-denvers-culture and: http://www.colorado.com/.

It is the policy of the Denver Art Museum to prohibit discrimination against any person or organization based on age, race, sex, color, creed, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender identity, gender expression, ancestry, marital status, gender, veteran status, political service, affiliation or disability.

Key Opportunities and Responsibilities

With the DAM team, the Curator of Spanish Colonial Art can:

• Organize ambitious, world-class “Banner” exhibitions every few years in one of 3 spacious special exhibition galleries, which are 10,000, 7,000, and 3,000 square feet.
• Engage living artists through an artist-in-residence program.
• Acquire works for the permanent collection through purchases and through gifts from DAM’s active patrons and collectors.
• Collaborate on public programs.
• Bring exposure to the Spanish Colonial collection to an audience of over a half-million visitors per year, including schoolchildren and underserved audiences who have few such opportunities within 500 miles.
• Enjoy Denver and the lifestyle of the Rocky Mountain West.

Required Job Qualifications

• Seven or more years’ experience as a museum curator, or equivalent professional experience
• Substantial record of exhibitions and publications
• MA degree in related art field (PhD preferred)
• Thorough knowledge of Spanish Colonial art – historically and current status of colleagues in this specialized field.
• Experience at a collecting museum, working with acquisitions and collection rotations
• Team player, collaborative
• Ambitious for the institution and to serve broad audiences
• Management ability to lead a small staff
• Fundraising and public speaking abilities
• International network of professional colleagues, artists, collectors, and dealers
• Willing to travel
• Fluency in Spanish preferred

Position reports to Chief Curator, Nancy Blomberg.

International candidates will be considered.