Courtney J Martin

In 2019, Courtney J. Martin became the sixth director of the Yale Center for British Art. Previously, she was the deputy director and chief curator at the Dia Art Foundation; an assistant professor in the History of Art and Architecture department at Brown University; an assistant professor in the History of Art department at Vander­bilt University; a chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow in the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley; a fellow at the Getty Research Institute; and a Henry Moore Institute research fellow. She also worked in the media, arts, and culture unit of the Ford Foundation in New York. In 2015, she received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

In 2012, Martin curated the exhibition Drop, Roll, Slide, Drip . . . Frank Bowling’s Poured Paintings 1973–1978 at Tate Britain. In 2014, she co-curated the group show Minimal Baroque: Post-Minimalism and Contemporary Art at Rønnebæksholm in Denmark. From 2008 to 2015, she co-led a research project on the Anglo-American art critic Lawrence Alloway at the Getty Research Institute and was co-editor of Lawrence Alloway: Critic and Curator (Getty Publications, 2015, winner of the 2016 Historians of British Art Book Award). In 2015, she curated an exhibition at the Dia Art Foundation focused on the American painter Robert Ryman. At Dia, she also oversaw exhibitions of works by Dan Flavin, Sam Gilliam, Blinky Palermo, Dorothea Rockburne, Keith Sonnier, and Andy Warhol. She was editor of the book Four Generations: The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art (Gregory R. Miller & Co., 2016), surveying an important collection of modern and contemporary work by artists of African descent.

She received a bachelor of arts from Oberlin College and a doctorate from Yale University for her research on twentieth-century British art and is the author of essays on Rasheed Araeen, Kader Attia, Rina Banerjee, Frank Bowling, Lara Favaretto, Sam Gilliam, Leslie Hewitt, Asger Jorn, Wangechi Mutu, Ed Ruscha, and Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA).

She was a participant in the Center for Curatorial Leadership’s fellowship in 2019.

Articles Related to Courtney J Martin

2018-11-01

Center for Curatorial Leadership Announces 2019 Fellows

The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) has selected twelve curators for participation in the 2019 class of its annual Fellowship. Following the organization’s most competitive review process to date, the cohort chosen for the program will convene from January through May 2019. The program includes three weeks of in-session instruction, ... Read More >

2019-04-10

Courtney J. Martin (CCL 2019) named Director of Yale Center for British Art

The Yale Center for British Art has named Courtney J. Martin (CCL 2019) its Director. Previously the deputy director and chief curator of the Dia Art Foundation, Martin will begin her position in June. Martin earned her doctorate from Yale, writing her dissertation on British art and artists in the 1970s. As a graduate ... Read More >

2019-01-21

Program Highlights | 2019 Fellows Complete January Session of the CCL Fellowship

This January, the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) welcomed its twelfth class of Fellows to New York City for the beginning of their five-month Fellowship. Over the two-week intensive, they received instruction from Columbia Business School professors and met with leaders in the field, delving into different approaches to leadership ... Read More >

2019-10-23

Dennis Carr (CCL 2019) appointed Chief Curator of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Dennis Carr (CCL 2019) has been named Chief Curator of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens!  Carr will join The Huntington from the MFA Boston, where he has served as the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture since 2007. While at the ... Read More >

2020-01-27

René Morales (CCL 2019) Named Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator of The Pérez Art Museum Miami

René Morales (CCL 2019) has been named Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), where he has been a member of the curatorial staff since 2005.  During his tenure at PAMM, Morales has curated over 50 exhibitions. Recent curatorial projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude: ... Read More >

2020-03-16

Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange

Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) has been named named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE).  Since 2017, Ryan has served as the Curator and Programs Director of Project Row Houses (PRH) in Houston, Texas. She joined Project Row Houses in ... Read More >

2021-09-03

Johanna Burton (CCL 2019) Named Executive Director of LA MOCA

Johanna Burton (CCL 2019) has been named Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles!  Since 2019, Burton has been the executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts. Previously, she served as the Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement at the New ... Read More >

2021-11-23

René Morales (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

René Morales (CCL 2019) has been named Chief Curator of the MCA Chicago!  René is currently the director of curatorial affairs and chief curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). During his tenure at PAMM, Morales has curated over 50 exhibitions. Curatorial projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Surrounded Islands, 1980–83 (2018), Dara Friedman: Perfect ... Read More >