Kathy Halbreich ( ; born 1949) is an American art curator and museum director.

Early life and education

Halbreich was born to Betty Stoll and Sonny Halbreich in 1949. She earned her BA from Bennington College.

Career

Halbreich was director of the Albert and Vera List Visual Arts Center at MIT, where she designed a new arts building with architect

I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

. She was then the curator of contemporary art at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. In 1991, Halbreich was hired as director of the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

. Under her leadership, the museum broadened its reputation for developing emerging talent, hosting avant-garde performances and exhibitions. She oversaw a $73.8 million expansion at the Walker and announced her retirement in 2007. She was hired as an associate director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 2008. At MoMA, Halbreich curated a 2014 retrospective of German artist Sigmar Polke and a 2018 Bruce Nauman exhibition. In September, 2017 Halbreich was appointed director of the

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

Foundation.

Other activities

Halbreich was a member of the juries that selected Kerstin Brätsch for the Edvard Munch Art Award (2017) and

Doris Salcedo Doris Salcedo (b. 1958) is a Colombian-born visual artist and sculpture, sculptor."Doris Salcedo"
Art 21, ...

for the Nomura Art Award (2019) She has also served on the selection committee that chose the artist exhibiting at the

American pavilion The American pavilion is a national pavilion of the Venice Biennale. It houses the United States' official representation during the Biennale. Background The Venice Biennale is an international art biennial exhibition held in Venice, Italy. ...

at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

.Carol Vogel (3 August 2004)
American Art Is Adrift For Biennale In Venice
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New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halbreich, Kathy 1949 births Living people American art curators American women curators American people of German-Jewish descent Bennington College alumni People associated with the Museum of Modern Art (New York City)