Description

Description

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a leading voice for contemporary art and culture and provides a national platform for the art and artists of our time. We seek to share the transformative power of modern and contemporary art with audiences at all levels of awareness and understanding by creating meaningful, personal experience in which art, artists, audiences and ideas converge. We enhance public understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through acquisition, exhibitions, education and public programs, conservation, and research.

To fulfill its mission, HMSG develops collaborative relationships with institutions and organizations within the Smithsonian, the United States, and abroad. Designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft, the museum’s elevated circular building has 60,000 square feet of exhibition space inside and nearly four acres outside in a multilevel Sculpture Garden and Plaza. The collection consists of approximately 13,000 objects of modern and contemporary art, consisting of paintings, sculptures, variable media, and works on paper.

The Opportunity

The Supervisory Curator serves as the Head Curator with primary responsibilities in these four areas of curation: research, exhibition development, development and management of collections, and public service, with a high degree of independence. Manages and participates in determining the direction and goals of the curatorial program. In addition, the incumbent participates in the administration of the Museum’s curatorial programs and staff relating to paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, and photography, as well as performance, digital media, video, and technology.

Requirements

Requirements

Major duties include:

Supervising Curatorial Department

As a recognized scholar in the field of modern and contemporary art, is expected to supervise by example in performance of personal research, exhibition development and execution, and public service.

Supervises department staff, interns, and fellows, including assigning projects, guiding and counseling staff, completing performance plans and appraisals, and recommending personnel actions.

Directs curatorial staff to ensure successful distribution and oversight of administrative tasks related to exhibition development, working with artists, traveling exhibitions, new media projects, outside exhibitions, grant proposals, label review, art forum and research fellows. Oversees programmatic aspects of the office such as collections development, deaccessioning, loan requests, or exhibition schedules.

Research

Initiates, develops, and coordinates major research projects of considerable scope in collaboration with professionals at HMSG and other museums, with staff at artists’ foundations, and with scholars.

The incumbent conducts scholarly research in the field of Modern and Contemporary art, defining topics of genuine significance in the field, determining feasibility of the topic for publications and exhibitions, considering the appropriate scope of the topic. Research may involve locating and examining material previously unknown and never examined.

Collections

Participates with the Director and other staff members as appropriate in proposing objects for acquisition through purchase or gift and participates in reviewing collection objects for possible deaccession.

Understands and assumes appropriate responsibilities for negotiating with donors and dealers for copyright to objects when considering acquisitions.

Manages permanent collections by providing updated information on objects for curatorial files. Reviews objects under their care periodically for conservation needs and is alert to questions of conservation.

Exhibitions and Public Programs

Works with the Museum Director to develop the museum’s exhibition calendar on a 2-to-3-year lead.

Plans and realizes concepts and topics for large, complex exhibits involving loans from museums and private collections as well as smaller, more focused exhibitions and serves as coordinator for traveling exhibitions.

Translate academic language and concepts into clear and readable language for public display. Develops interpretive materials such as wall texts, labels, and other explanatory materials that accompany each museum exhibit to identify artworks and create informal education experience for HMSG visitors.

Presents gallery talks and lectures related to the museum collections and exhibition program.

Qualification Requirements

- Expert knowledge of the broad field of modern art (ca. 1830-1960) in Europe and the Americas with in-depth knowledge of the paintings of this period, as well as significant in-depth knowledge of and expertise in a specialized subject area. Expert knowledge of modern art history, its cultural influences, its impact on society, its regional patterns, etc. Such knowledge is typically acquired through study at the post-doctoral level and/or by equivalent curatorial experience involving scholarship of breadth and depth.

- Incumbent must have strong written communication skills, must know the differences between esoteric scholarly topics and those of a broader, more general interest and should be able to handle both. Should know how to present significant issues in the field both in depth for a scholarly audience and in a form permitting more public understanding.

- Incumbent must have oral communication skills to represent the Hirshhorn to members of the art and museum worlds at conferences, panels, and fairs, in addition to public programming surrounding their exhibitions and general museum activities.

- Incumbent must have demonstrated experience in organizing exhibitions of significant scope and working cooperatively and effectively with other museum professionals in executing an exhibition of major complexity.

- Must have knowledge of public and private collections. Should have a considered judgment concerning an organization’s collection and experience identifying areas in need of special attention.

- Incumbent must be well-grounded in museum practices such as the interrelationships and functions of other offices and departments. Ability to determine and manage exhibition budgets with an understanding of financial, logistical, and personnel implications of curatorial decisions and commitments.

- Skill in managing and motivating staff, setting goals, and communicating them to others with differing views and backgrounds.

You qualify for this position if you have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as experience managing the curatorial functions of a modern and contemporary art museum or similar cultural organization including overseeing research, exhibitions, and collections development; proposing acquisitions for permanent collections; conducting scholarly research and producing publications and/or exhibitions related to modern and contemporary art; and serving as a subject matter expert on matters relating to modern and contemporary art.

Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to higher education programs of U.S. Institutions by an organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. This documentation is the responsibility of the applicant and should be included as part of you application package.

Any false statements in your application may result in rejection of your application and may also result in termination after employment begins.

Application Instructions

Interested candidates should apply via USA Jobs at this link on or before March 16, 2026. Resumes should include a description of your paid and non-paid work experience that is related to this job; starting and ending dates of job (month and year); and average number of hours worked per week. Resumes may not be more than two (2) pages. Relocation expenses are not paid.

What to Expect Next: Once the vacancy announcement closes, a review of your resume will be compared against the qualification and experience requirements related to this job. After review of applicant resumes is complete, qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager.

The Smithsonian Institution provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation should contact . Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, please review the Smithsonian’s Accommodation Procedures (https://www.si.edu/OEO/IndividualswithDisabilities). 

The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To review the Smithsonian’s EEO program information, please click the following: https://www.si.edu/oeo.