New Orleans, LA- Susan M. Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), announced today the appointment of Katie Pfohl as the new Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art who will begin her work at NOMA June 15.

“Katie has distinguished herself as an accomplished curator and scholar. Her museum experience and obvious passion for modern as well as contemporary art make her an ideal candidate for this critical position at NOMA,” said Susan Taylor, director of NOMA. “Her scholarly and curatorial projects clearly demonstrate her wide-ranging experience working across different time periods, media and cultures. We are delighted to welcome her to NOMA.”

Pfohl previously served as a curator at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, and she has a wide range of academic and curatorial experience. She has curated three significant exhibitions at the LSU Museum of Art in the past year, including a career retrospective for the New Orleans artist Margaret Evangeline. Her forthcoming project, Mexico in New Orleans: A Tale of Two Americas, includes works of art by both Louisianan and Mexican artists from the 1920s through 1950s, and will be accompanied by a bilingual exhibition catalogue with essays by Pfohl.

Pfohl has curatorial experience working in three of the premier art museums in the country-the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2006, she completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York, a widely respected contemporary art residency program that invites curators, artists and scholars from across the world to participate in a year-long seminar on pressing issues in contemporary art and culture. Modern and contemporary art was also a major focus of Pfohl’s Ph.D. at Harvard University, which she completed this past May.

“My dedication to expanding the traditional scope of American Art is a defining mission for me as a curator and scholar, and I believe there is no better place to think in global terms about modern and contemporary art than Louisiana,” said Pfohl. “I am thrilled to join the dynamic curatorial team at NOMA, and look forward to continuing my work in modern and contemporary art in Louisiana.”

Pfohl will be instrumental in continuing to build a vibrant home for modern and contemporary art at NOMA as well as facilitate and expand exhibitions and installations that will resonate in New Orleans and beyond.

About NOMA and the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden:
The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 4,000 years of world art. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org.

Contact: Allison Gouaux
Communications and Marketing Manager
agouaux@noma.org
504-658-4106