Overview

Our Mission

The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance and is one of four programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The Museum operates two sites, the Getty Villa in Malibu, which exhibits its collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Getty Center in Brentwood, which displays its collections of European art: Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, drawings to 1900, and photography to the present day (including non-European works). The Museum mounts approximately 25 temporary exhibitions a year across its two sites; maintains an annual permanent gallery improvement program and offers wide-ranging and ambitious programming for its visitors.

The Opportunity

The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks an Assistant Curator of Photographs to become a vital member of a team working with one of the foremost collections of photographs in the United States. The Assistant Curator will play an instrumental role in supporting the collection and its many audiences through acquisitions, exhibitions, original research, and innovative interpretation. The Department of Photographs is committed to developing programming that is engaging and meaningful to diverse audiences. The successful candidate will bring creative ideas and fresh perspectives to developing and interpreting the collection, key attributes for our ongoing work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, both through our internal work and our public-facing programs. Under moderate supervision, the Assistant Curator will help develop the collection particularly in the area of European nineteenth-century photography, with an emphasis on the early history of the medium in France and England, maintaining and managing it in collaboration with colleagues and under the direction of the Senior Curator.

The Assistant Curator will contribute to the ongoing work of cataloguing the collection for the museum website, including doing research, updating information, and writing descriptions of individual objects. The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated person with exceptional organizational skills and experience managing projects in an iterative, fast-paced environment. A natural consensus-builder, the candidate understands how to collaborate successfully in a team with other curators in the department, as well as with colleagues across the campus, including Conservation, Design, Exhibitions, Education, Interpretive Content, Communications, Imaging Services, Preparators, and Registrars.

Responsibilities

• Applies advanced knowledge of the history of photography to curatorial assignments of moderate complexity
• Performs scholarly research
• Conceives and executes exhibitions, in addition to assisting other curators with exhibition projects and acting as presenting curator for exhibitions organized by outside institutions
• Verifies value and authenticity of potential acquisitions and participates in the preparation of acquisition proposals (both for gifts and purchases)
• Travels and networks domestically and internationally to develop/maintain relationships with other colleagues and institutions
• Publishes and lectures in area of specialization
• Updates information in collection management system website
• Contributes to the on-line presence of the photographs collection, including social media posts, Getty collection pages, blogs, and podcasts, and online exhibitions
• Supports scholarly visits and requests