Welcome to the weekly roundup! We do our best to collect the latest job openings, and please be sure to check last week’s roundup. For more opportunities, we recommend the following databases:

• HireCulture – Jobs in the Humanities in Massachusetts
• HistPres – Unique Historic Preservation Jobs
• Job HQ – American Association of Museums
• American Association of State and Local History Career Center
• New England Museum Association Jobs
• New York Foundation for the Arts

 

NORTHEAST:

• American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY): Bilingual Spanish/English Editor
• Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (New York, NY): Museum Curator/Exhibit Manager
• The Morgan Library (New York, NY): Museum Educator
• Rubin Museum of Art (New York, NY): Senior Manager of Visitor Experience
• New York Public Library (New York, NY): Museum Maintainer
• Hood Museum of Art (Hanover, NH): Associate Curator of Asian Art
• Bronx Museum of the Arts (Bronx, NY): People and Culture Manager
• Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY): Electronics Associate Curator
• Shaker Museum (Chatham, NY): Collections Manager
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY): Research Associate—Ancient Near Eastern
• Cooper Hewitt Design Museum (New York, NY): Digital Project Manager
• Museum of Science (Boston, MA)
  • Community Engagement Educator
  • Education Associate
• Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA)
  • Corporate Relations Manager
  • Studio Programs Educator
• Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA)
  • George Putnam Curator of American Art
  • Donor Relations and Event Coordinator
  • Internships
• Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA)
  • Studio Art Assistant
  • Studio Art Instructor
  • Research Fellow, Center for Netherlandish Art
  • Executive Assistant
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, MA): Marketing Assistant
• The Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia, PA): Public Programs Coordinator

SOUTHEAST & MID-ATLANTIC:

• Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum (Washington, DC): Supervisory Program Manager
• Lone Star Flight Museum (Houston, TX): Curator
• Norton Museum of Art (Palm Beach, FL): Senior Curator of American and European Art
• National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC): Supervisory Museum Curator
• American Quarter Horse Association (Amarillo, TX): Museum Director
• Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art (Tulsa, OK): Director of Collections
• National Geographic Society (Washington, DC): Collection Manager

MIDWEST:

• Taft Museum of Art (Cincinnati, OH): Director of Finance
• David Owsley Museum of Art (Muncie, IN): Registrar and Collection Manger
• Snite Museum of Art (South Bend, IN): Art Handler
• Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN): Curatorial Department Assistant
• Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Community Engagement Coordinator
  • Curatorial Assistant

WEST COAST:

• Aspen Art Museum (Aspen, CO): Director of Programs and Curatorial Affairs
• Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA)
  • Senior Content Creator
  • Senior Exhibition Graphic Designer
  • Senior Exhibition Designer
  • Senior Exhibition Project Manager
• The Getty (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Associate Digital Media Producer
  • Assistant Registrar
  • Public Programs Coordinator
  • Research Assistant
• Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA): Curator of Japanese and Korean Art
• Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History (Pacific Grove, CA): Director of Collections

Horror fans are probably already aware that Guillermo del Toro has released a new series, an anthology of shorts available on Netflix titled Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. As the acclaimed horror director introduces each episode, he draws an object from the eponymous cabinet, representative of the story we are about to be told. Here the show is clearly forging a connection to the cabinets of curiosities, or wunderkammers, that were found in the homes of those wealthy and well-connected enough to assemble collections of strange, foreign, and valuable art and objects. Del Toro’s horror series ties in with a specific aspect of these collections, this being the idea of the monstrous. What better way to show your reach and wealth as a patron than to put on display creatures and objects which are typically outside of our control, or break with our understanding of the natural order?

We have long been fascinated with the inhabitants of the periphery of our understanding: creatures and ideas that lie between the fantastical and the real. Just plausible enough to be imagined, but not necessarily so common or true that they are a part of everyday life. This has been explored at length in art, and many examples reveal just how artists attempted to materialize the monstrous.

The 2016 horror video game Layers of Fear, centered around a painter returning home to complete his final masterpiece, explores this topic. The player must explore the kaleidoscopic rooms and corridors of his house, completing puzzles in order to create an ever more disturbing painting. Art plays a central role in creating an atmosphere of psychological horror, with nearly every wall filled with real art supplementing the works created in-universe by the player-controlled artist. Among these, we can see classic examples of horror in art, such as Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes, and several works from Francisco Goya’s black period. All of these works channel some of our deepest fears and discomforts. Artemisia Gentileschi’s famous painting is a dynamic composition leading the eye towards the sword slicing through Holofernes’s neck, while Fuseli’s embodies the form of a nightmare through an uncanny horse and goblin. Goya instead turns to images of witches and the demonic, as well as disturbing depictions of violence and death.

• 

• 

Among all of these, however, is an unusual painting. It is a half-length portrait, depicting a little girl holding a piece of paper. She is gazing calmly at the viewer, dressed in rich, sixteenth-century clothes. Her mouth is turned slightly upwards in a subtle smile, and her chubby hands and cheeks reveal her tender age. Why, then, is this young girl placed alongside so many disturbing images in a game where art is used to amplify the horror atmosphere of this haunted home?

Her name is Antonietta Gonzales, and, like her father and most of her siblings, she had a condition called hypertrichosis. This condition is ultimately the reason she is included in this collection. Hypertrichosis causes abnormal growth of hair, covering the individual’s body almost entirely. The paper she holds provides identifying information on her and her family:

“Don Pietro, a wild man discovered in the Canary Islands, was conveyed to his most serene highness Henry the king of France, and from there came to his excellency the Duke of Parma. From whom [came] I, Antonietta, and now I can be found nearby at the court of the Lady Isabella Pallavicina, the honorable marchesa of Soragna.”

An illustration from the late 16^th century shows Antonietta’s parents, Pedro Gonzalez and Catherine. Born in Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1537, Pedro was brought to France, where he was educated by the court in an experiment to make a cultured man out of what the naturalist Ulisse Aldovrandi called “the man of the woods.” Pedro and his children, four of which had the same condition as him, were treated as less than human, viewed in a similar manner as the objects and specimens that filled the wunderkammers and menageries that the royals and upper class of Europe retained.

Today, a similar attitude can be seen in the fictional gallery created in Layers of Fear. A smaller version of the portrait can be seen throughout the house, but it is placed front and center in the study. Upon entering, the player sees the portrait hung in a prominent, central position in the wall directly in front of them. Several factors impact the player’s reaction and understanding of this image. First, it is already known that we are playing a horror game, and thus any visuals are considered in such a light. We have already encountered several disturbing works before entering this room, and as such are even further prepared to perceive any further work of art in a similar way.

Most players’ reactions reveal the impact this has. Nearly every single player acknowledges this painting with surprise or disgust, especially when it is highlighted in the study. Markiplier remarks “Oh god, oh god, oh it’s so… oh my god. That is so weird. Oh, what’s wrong with your face?” and Jacksepticeye exclaims “Like what the f*** is this? A beard baby!?” Several others compare Antonietta to a human-animal hybrid, a way of thinking that is strikingly similar to the dehumanizing rhetoric peddled by Antonietta’s contemporaries. During a GTLive stream of Layers of Fear, Matt says “Ugh… I am not a fan of that painting. […] Hey owl man. It’s actually a wolf, right? […] Wolf baby! Beware the wolf baby.” Another live stream, this time from DashieGames, similarly adds “What the hell is that? […] That’s like wolf-man baby.” It’s remarkable to see how the worldviews that shaped Antonietta’s life in the 16th century are repeated in the 21^st.

The depiction of the monstrous—be it through allegories of our deepest fears, violence, or, in Antonietta’s case, people who look different than the established norm—reveal a steady line between the earliest museums (in the form of cabinets of curiosities) and our imaginations today. This brings us to wonder about the role that museums (whether real or through imagined collections, like that of Layers of Fear) play in amplifying these fears and prejudices. Are we cementing the fears and prejudices that dehumanize those with physical or mental illnesses and deformities?

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Sources:

Aldovrandi, Ulisse. Monstrum historia. Bologna: Typic Nicolai Tebaldini, 1632; repr. Paris: Belles lettres, 2002.

Dashiegames. “I WAS TOO SCARED TO PLAY THIS ALONE! HELP ME!! [LAYERS OF FEAR] [#01].” YouTube video, 2:18:06, June 18^th, 2021. (link)

GTLive. “The Portrait of TERROR | Layers of FEAR! (Part 1 of 2).” YouTube video, 1:45:01, November 11, 2016.  (link)

Jacksepticeye. “ALONE AND AFRAID | Layers of Fear – Part 1.” YouTube video, 30:02, October 28, 2016. (link)

Markiplier. “OODLES of SPOOPLES | Layers of Fear #1.” YouTube video, 21:25, October 31, 2015. (link)

Wiesner-Hanks, Merry. The Marvelous Hairy Girls. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

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Article by Francesca Bisi

MA Candidate in Art History and Museum Studies, Tufts University

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s roundup of exciting opportunities in museums! We do our best to collect the latest job openings, and please be sure to check last week’s roundup. For more opportunities, we recommend the following databases:

MuseWeekly
New England Museum Association Jobs
HireCulture – Jobs in the Humanities in Massachusetts
HistPres – Unique Historic Preservation Jobs
Museum Employment Resource Center
Job HQ – American Association of Museums
American Association of State and Local History Career Center

Northeast

• Administrative Assistant and Logistics Coordinator, Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA)
• Director of Human Resources, Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA)
• Senior Vice President for Programs and External Affairs, Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA)
• Program Officer, Arts and Culture, Wagner Foundation (Cambridge, MA)
• Museum Educator, Buttonwoods Museums (Haverhill, MA)
• Robert N. Shapiro Curator of American Decorative Art, Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA)
• Accounting Manager, Strawbery Banke Museum (Portsmouth, NH)
• Director of Development, Mount Washington Observatory (North Conway, NH)
• Summer Camp Art Educator, Southern Vermont Arts Center (Manchester, Vermont)

Mid-Atlantic

• Collection Cataloguer, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD)
• Temporary Art Handler, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD)
• Temporary Conservation Technician, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD)
• Library Director, The Adirondack Experience (Blue Mountain Lake, NY)
• Collections Manager, Shaker Museum (Chatham, NY)
• Conservator of Paintings, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (Cohoes, New York)
• Program and Gallery Educator, Jackie Robinson Museum (New York, NY)
• Research Assistant/Associate, Reclaiming Egypt, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
• Research Associate, Community Engagement and Programming, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
• Exhibition Curator, New Perspectives on George Eastman, George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY)
• Director of Curatorial Programming, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Gifts Officer, Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA)
• Deputy Director of Operations and Project Management, Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA)
• Publicist, The Phillips Collection (Washington, DC)
• Museum Manager, City of Morgantown (Morgantown, WV)

Southeast

• Assistant/Associate Curator, Hunter Museum of American Art (Chattanooga, TN)
• Manager of Exhibitions, High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA)

Midwest

• Chief Development Officer, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites (Indianapolis, IN)
• Program Specialist, Interpretive Programs, Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, MN)
• Education Associate, History Nebraska (Lincoln, NE)
• NAGPRA Project Registrar, Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE)
• Specialist Curator (Women, Communities of Color, Indigenous People, and WWI), The National WWI Museum and Memorial (Kansas City, MO)

Southwest

• Grants Manager, Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco, CA)
• Director, National Archives and Records Administration (Simi Valley, CA)
• Assistant Museum Curator, Sutter County Museum (Yuba City, CA)
• Director of Programs and Curatorial Affairs, Aspen Art Museum (Aspen, CO)
• Project Manager, Learning and Engagement, Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)
• NAGPRA Coordinator (Senior Science Museum Collection Manager), University of New Mexico, Maxwell Museum (Albuquerque, NM)
• Director of Curatorial Affairs, Oklahoma Contemporary (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Associate Registrar for Collections, Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
• Library Director, Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
• Curator, Lone Star Flight Museum (Houston, TX)

Northwest

• Education Coordinator, Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum (Jackson, WY)