Naomi Beckwith (born 1976) is the deputy director and chief curator of the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

. She joined the museum in June 2021. Previously she had been the senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Beckwith joined the curatorial staff there in May 2011.

Early life and education

A native Chicagoan, Beckwith grew up in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

and attended Lincoln Park High School, going on to receive a BA in history from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in Evanston, Illinois. She completed an MA with Distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, presenting her master's thesis on

Adrian Piper Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (born September 20, 1948) is an American conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher. Her work addresses how and why those involved in more than one discipline may experience professional ostracism, otherness, racial ...

and Carrie Mae Weems. Afterward, Beckwith was a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York. Beckwith was a fall 2008 grantee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and was named the 2011 Leader to Watch by ArtTable. She serves on the boards of the Laundromat Project (New York) and

Res Artis Res Artis is the peak member organisation for the international arts residencies field comprising more than 700 vetted members in over 85 countries. Founded in 1993, a operates a website and the largest existing network of artist residency program ...

(Amsterdam).

Career

Prior to joining the MCA staff, Beckwith was associate curator at The

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

. Preceding her tenure at the Studio Museum, Beckwith was the Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow at the

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

, where she worked on numerous exhibitions including Locally Localized Gravity (2007), an exhibition and program of events presented by more than 100 artists whose practices are social, participatory, and communal. Beckwith has also been the BAMart project coordinator at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

and a guest blogger for Art:21. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions at New York alternative spaces Recess Activities, Cuchifritos, and Artists Space. In 2018, she served as curatorial adviser for the biennial SITElines art exhibition in Santa Fe. She has been awarded the 2017 VIA (Visionary Initiatives in Art) Art Fund Curatorial Fellowship and 2017 Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship. Beckwith was a member of the international jury that selected Armenia as recipient of the Golden Lion for best national participation at the

56th Venice Biennale The 56th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2015. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor curated its central exhibition, "All Th ...

in 2015. She later co-chaired (with Fred Wilson) the jury that chose the winners of the Rome Prize for the 2023–24 cycle.

Key exhibitions

Beckwith curated the exhibition ''30 Seconds off an Inch'', which was presented by the

November 12, 2009 – March 14, 2010. Exhibiting artworks by 42 artists of color or those inspired by black culture from more than 10 countries, the show asked viewers to think about ways in which social meaning is embedded formally within artworks. ''Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations'' was on view at the Studio Museum November 11, 2010 – March 13, 2011. The exhibition marked British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s first solo museum show with 24 canvases on display. She also co-curated the first major survey of the art of

Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) is an American artist, curator, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist, her work explores texture, color, structures, and the process of making art; it is often political, addressing ...

at the MCA February 24, 2018 – May 20, 2018.

References

External links

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckwith, Naomi 1976 births Living people People from Chicago Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Northwestern University alumni American art curators American women curators 21st-century American women