| Virginia M. Mecklenburg | |
|---|---|
 Mecklenburg in 2015. | |
| Born | Virginia Helen McCord (1946-11-11) November 11, 1946 (age 78) United States |
| Occupation(s) | Art historian Curator |
| Spouse | Marion Mecklenburg |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin University of Maryland |
| Thesis | American Aesthetic Theory, 1908-1917: Issues in Conservative and Avant-Garde Thought (1983) |
| Doctoral advisor | Elizabeth Johns |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Art history |
| Sub-discipline | American art |
Virginia Helen McCord Mecklenburg (born November 11, 1946) is an American art historian and curator. She was a curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for 45 years, from 1979 to 2024.
Early life and education
Mecklenburg received two English degrees from the University of Texas at Austin: a Bachelor of Arts in 1968 and a Master of Arts in 1970. Her master's thesis was titled "An Analysis of Role Playing as a Method of Teaching English to the Disadvantaged Learner." Mecklenburg then continued on to the University of Maryland to earn a Ph.D. in art history in 1983. Her doctoral dissertation "American Aesthetic Theory, 1908-1917: Issues in Conservative and Avant-Garde Thought" was supervised by Professor Elizabeth Johns.
Curatorial career
Mecklenburg became a curator of painting and sculpture at the National Museum of American Art, later the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), in 1979. A scholar of American art, Mecklenburg has written publications on such artists as George Bellows, Richard Estes, William Glackens, Edward Hopper, Robert Indiana, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Sloan, and Robert Vickrey. Exhibitions organized or co-organized by Mecklenburg include "The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930-1945" (1989); "Edward Hopper: The Watercolors" (1999); "Earl Cunningham's America" (2008), "Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell From the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" (2010), "African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond" (2012); "Richard Estes' Realism" (2014); and "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women" (2024).
At SAAM, Mecklenburg rose from associate curator to chief curator. Stephanie Stebich, who became SAAM director in 2017, effectively demoted Mecklenburg to "senior curator" in 2019; Stebich was subsequently removed from the director position by Smithsonian Institution management in mid-2024, after years of declining staff morale and complaints about workplace environment.
Mecklenburg retired from SAAM in April 2024.
See also
References
- McCord, Virginia Helen (1970). An analysis of role playing as a method of teaching English to the disadvantaged learner (Masters thesis). University of Texas at Austin. OCLC 50190354.
- ^ "Virginia M. Mecklenburg, Senior Curator". Smithsonian American Art Museum. September 21, 2021.
- "PDS Sso".
- Jo Ann Lewis, Abstractionists, Ignored No More; Frost Collection at American Art, Washington Post (September 18, 1989).
- Menachem Wecker, Those who say Edward Hopper is the artist of social distancing may be wrong, Washington Post Magazine (April 27, 2020).
- Karen Rosenberg, , New York Times (April 4, 2008).
- Deborah Solomon, America, Illustrated, New York Times (July 1, 2010).
- Michael O'Sullivan, Sam Gilliam, abstract artist who went beyond the frame, dies at 88, Washington Post (June 27, 2022).
- Here Are the Nominees for the 2014 AICA Awards, ARTnews (February 27, 2015).
- New exhibition celebrates women artists who revolutionized fiber as a powerful medium for contemporary art, Art Daily (May 2024).
- Connie Green, Reliving Days Past Through the Elderhostel Program, Washington Post (July 22, 1981).
- Vivien Raynor, A 'Scandalous' Show Returns, Washington Post (April 15, 1984).
- ^ Kriston Capps, Smithsonian removed American Art Museum director after staff complaints, Washington Post (November 18, 2024).