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Virginia Mecklenburg

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Virginia M. Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg in 2015.
Mecklenburg in 2015.
Born
Virginia Helen McCord

(1946-11-11) November 11, 1946 (age 78)
United States
Occupation(s)Art historian
Curator
SpouseMarion Mecklenburg
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
University of Maryland
ThesisAmerican Aesthetic Theory, 1908-1917: Issues in Conservative and Avant-Garde Thought (1983)
Doctoral advisorElizabeth Johns
Academic work
DisciplineArt history
Sub-disciplineAmerican 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

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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."[1] Mecklenburg then continued on to the University of Maryland to earn a Ph.D. in art history in 1983.[2] Her doctoral dissertation "American Aesthetic Theory, 1908-1917: Issues in Conservative and Avant-Garde Thought" was supervised by Professor Elizabeth Johns.[3]

Curatorial career

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Mecklenburg became a curator of painting and sculpture at the National Museum of American Art, later the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), in 1979.[2] 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.[2] Exhibitions organized or co-organized by Mecklenburg include "The Patricia and Phillip Frost Collection: American Abstraction 1930-1945" (1989);[4] "Edward Hopper: The Watercolors" (1999);[5] "Earl Cunningham's America" (2008),[6] "Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell From the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" (2010),[7] "African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond" (2012);[8] "Richard Estes' Realism" (2014);[9] and "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women" (2024).[10]

At SAAM, Mecklenburg rose from associate curator[11][12] to chief curator.[13] 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.[13]

Mecklenburg retired from SAAM in April 2024.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c "Virginia M. Mecklenburg, Senior Curator". Smithsonian American Art Museum. September 21, 2021.
  3. ^ "PDS Sso".
  4. ^ Jo Ann Lewis, Abstractionists, Ignored No More; Frost Collection at American Art, Washington Post (September 18, 1989).
  5. ^ Menachem Wecker, Those who say Edward Hopper is the artist of social distancing may be wrong, Washington Post Magazine (April 27, 2020).
  6. ^ Karen Rosenberg, [1], New York Times (April 4, 2008).
  7. ^ Deborah Solomon, America, Illustrated, New York Times (July 1, 2010).
  8. ^ Michael O'Sullivan, Sam Gilliam, abstract artist who went beyond the frame, dies at 88, Washington Post (June 27, 2022).
  9. ^ Here Are the Nominees for the 2014 AICA Awards, ARTnews (February 27, 2015).
  10. ^ New exhibition celebrates women artists who revolutionized fiber as a powerful medium for contemporary art, Art Daily (May 2024).
  11. ^ Connie Green, Reliving Days Past Through the Elderhostel Program, Washington Post (July 22, 1981).
  12. ^ Vivien Raynor, A 'Scandalous' Show Returns, Washington Post (April 15, 1984).
  13. ^ a b c Kriston Capps, Smithsonian removed American Art Museum director after staff complaints, Washington Post (November 18, 2024).
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