Earlier this month, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) announced the promotion of Interim Chief Curator Dr. Nicole R. Myers and the hiring of Anabelle Gambert-Jouan.
Nicole R. Myers. Image courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art
Ms. Myers joined the museum’s European art department in 2016, and has served in her interim role since June 2021. (Other staff, including Sarah Schleuning, the Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Art and Design, and Roslyn Walker, Senior Curator and the Margaret McDermott Curator of African Art, have held the position of Interim Chief Curator since the 2016 departure of Olivier Meslay, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs.) In her new role as Chief Curatorial and Research Officer, Ms. Myers will direct the museum’s research and archiving initiatives and will oversee the Curatorial, Conservation, and Library and Archives departments. She will also provide leadership in the management and presentation of the museum’s collections. Additionally, she will continue to hold the title of Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art.
In a press release, Dr. Agustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, commented, “Since joining the DMA, [Ms. Myers] has proven to be an exceptional leader, and her curatorial and scholarly achievements have already contributed greatly to the legacy of this institution and the museum field at large.”
Mr. Arteaga explained that this shift to combine the museum’s research, conservation and curatorial teams into one department demonstrates a strengthened commitment to collecting, preserving, and presenting the collection to the local community and beyond through exhibitions and publications. In 2008, when Bonnie Pitman, the then-Deputy Director of the DMA, took on the directorship, she grew the institution’s educational programming and spearheaded the Center for Creative Connections, a 12,000-square-foot educational space. Max Anderson, who served as director of the museum from 2012 to 2015, began a renewed focus on the collection by expanding the international visibility of the museum and deepening connections to the local community by reinstituting free general admission for attendees. During Mr. Anderson’s tenure, the museum also created a conservation studio. Mr. Arteaga’s restructuring of the departments is a continuation of the institution’s focus on the collection.
Ms. Myers added, “It is a true honor to lead the DMA’s outstanding curatorial and research teams in the development of meaningful collections, displays and scholarship that resonate with audiences today and into the future. I could not be more excited to begin this new chapter in such an important moment in the Museum’s history. Moreover, I am elated to welcome Anabelle to our European Art team. Anabelle brings with her deep scholarship in medieval art as well as a fresh perspective on the DMA’s early modern collection, an area we are excited to grow.”
Anabelle Gambert-Jouan. Image courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art
Ms. Gambert-Jouan joins the museum as the Lillian and James H. Clark Assistant Curator of European Art. She is a specialist in the arts of medieval Europe and is currently completing her PhD in History of Art at Yale University. Her dissertation is on the architectural, artistic, and religious environments of polychrome wood sculptures, specifically in Italy and Iberia. Recently, Ms. Gambert-Jouan completed a fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art. She has worked in curatorial departments at the Yale University Art Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In her role at the DMA and under the direction of Ms. Myers, Ms. Gambert-Jouan will oversee the research, exhibition program, and collection development of the museum’s European painting and sculpture collection (which includes works from Greco-Roman antiquity to 1700 AD), focusing on the museum’s early modern holdings.
Ms. Gambert-Jouan joined the museum on March 6, 2023.
