THE DIA ART FOUNDATION appointed Courtney J. Martin deputy director and chief curator. An assistant professor of art history and architecture at Brown University, she curated an exhibition of the American painter Robert Ryman at Dia:Chelsea in 2015-16. It was the Dia’s first exhibition in Chelsea in more than a decade and Ryman’s first in New York since his 1993 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
“While working closely with [Courtney] on the Robert Ryman exhibition, I was continually impressed by her rigorous curatorial approach and innovative thinking. We are thrilled to welcome her to Dia. I am confident that Courtney’s leadership will bring new insights and energy to the institution,” said Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation.
“I am confident that Courtney’s leadership will bring new insights and energy to the institution.” — Dia Art Foundation Director Jessica Morgan
The foundation maintains multiple sites and its unique programming involves presenting and preserving what it calls “extraordinary” art projects. In New York City, Dia presents exhibitions and installations, as well as performances, lectures, and readings. When Martin joins the foundation in September, she will be a part of the senior management team.
Martin edited “Four Generations: The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art,” a major volume documenting a collection of more than 300 works of art by about 100 African American and African diaspora artists. She also curated “Drop, Roll, Slide, Drip…Frank Bowling’s Poured Paintings 1973–8” (2012-13) at Tate Britain in London.
Martin earned her Ph.D. at Yale University where she concentrated on 20th century British art and her wrote her dissertation on British art in the 1970s with Rasheed Araeen, a Pakistani civil engineer who considered himself an artist featured prominiently. “British art is usually thought of as an 18th- or 19th-century field, but contemporary Britain is a large and interesting place,” she told Brown News when she started at the university in 2013. She also defined herself as an art historian: “That is who I am. It is the only thing that I have ever wanted to do.”
Prior to her tenure at Brown, Martin was an assistant professor of art history at Vanderbilt University and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California at Berkeley.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I join Dia—an institution that I encountered upon moving to New York in the 1990s. It has an unparalleled collection of art and a deep history of helping artists develop their practice and realize ambitious projects,” said Courtney J. Martin. “I am excited to begin working with Jessica and the team to guide Dia’s strategic approach to exhibitions, collections, and public programs and help the institution continue to fulfill its mission.” CT
TOP IMAGE: Courtney J. Martin stands before a Robert Ryman painting at Dia:Chelsea. | Courtesy Dia Art Foundation
