Laura Turner Igoe has accepted the position of curator of American art at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, starting in early July.
Igoe joins the museum with broad curatorial experience from such noted institutions as the Harvard Art Museums, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum and The Barnes Foundation.
She brings with her a strong foundation in American art with a focus on the Philadelphia region. Exhibition projects she has contributed to include “Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment,” “The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766-1820” and “Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life.”
Igoe’s interests and background closely mirror the Michener’s mission to promote the Pennsylvania landscape, and specifically the Buck’s County region, as a treasure trove of world-renowned art.
Additionally, she is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards and is widely published, including “A Greene Country Towne: Philadelphia’s Ecology in the Cultural Imagination,” which she co-edited with Alan C. Braddock (State College, PA: Penn State University Press, 2016).
Igoe received her bachelor of arts in Art History and Studio Art from Dickinson College and her master’s in Art History and Fine Arts Administration from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, where she also earned her Ph.D. in Art History.
“We are so pleased to welcome Dr. Igoe to the Michener,” said Executive Director Kathleen V. Jameson. “Her thoughtful scholarship will be central to the development of our exhibition program, starting immediately with ‘Impressionism to Modernism: The Lenfest Collection of American Art,’ and especially as we begin planning for a landmark presentation of the work of the Philadelphia Ten.
“Her depth of collaborative experience will also be an asset as she serves as the Michener liaison to the Pennsylvania cohort of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative, the collection-sharing program spearheaded by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The formation of these types of meaningful partnerships is critical to the Michener’s continued growth as it enters its third decade.”
Igoe said the Michener’s collection “appeals deeply to my long-standing interests in the art history of the Philadelphia region and the relationship between art and the environment.”
“I’m very much looking forward to working closely with the museum staff and the local community to develop exhibitions that shed new light on the area’s rich artistic history.”
