ZIMMERLI ART MUSEUM - RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Dr. Maura Reilly named as Director
Reilly has made her reputation as a curator, writer, art consultant and non-profit leader who has led major museum initiatives and organized many important exhibitions across the globe. She is the founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where she developed and launched the first exhibition and public programming space in the United States devoted entirely to feminist art. While there, she organized several landmark exhibitions, including the permanent installation of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party and the blockbuster Global Feminisms (co-curated with Linda Nochlin), among others. Reilly also served as executive director and chief curator of the National Academy of Design and as senior curator at the American Federation of Arts. She will begin her new position February 15, 2022.
Rutgers University-New Brunswick Chancellor-Provost Francine Conway noted Reilly’s leadership at the Brooklyn Museum and expertise on global contemporary art and curatorial practice as just part of what makes her an excellent choice for Zimmerli at this time. Reilly looks forward to developing a new vision for the museum – “one defined by empathy, compassion, mutual respect, and diversity, equity, access and inclusion (DEAI) principles.”
Some of Reilly’s most notable exhibits focus on underrepresented artists including Miriam Schapiro: An American Visionary, Carolee Schneemann: Painting, What It Became, and neo-queer, among others. She has published extensively on global contemporary art and curatorial practice, including most recently Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating, which was widely noticed, including as one of the “Top 10 Best Art Books” of 2018 from The New York Times. Her other recent publications include Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader, which was listed by The New York Times as a “Best of 2020” art book. Her next book, Museums & Social Justice, is forthcoming in 2024.
Reilly received her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She has taught art history and museum studies at institutions in the United States and Australia, including Arizona State University, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Queensland College of Arts and Tufts University.