Naomi Beckwith (born 1976) is an American art historian who has been serving as 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 between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

since 2021. Previously she had been the senior curator at the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...

. Beckwith joined the curatorial staff there in May 2011.

Early life and education

A native Chicagoan, Beckwith grew up in Hyde Park and attended Lincoln Park High School, going on to receive a BA in history from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in Evanston, Illinois. She completed an MA with Distinction from the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

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 Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and Video installation, installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photog ...

. Afterward, Beckwith was a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

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.

Career

Early career

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

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

. 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 t ...

, 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 multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

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 Artists Space is a non-profit art gallery and arts organization first established at 155 Wooster Street in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1972 by Irving Sandler and Trudie Grace and funded by the New York State Council on the Arts ...

. In 2018, she served as curatorial adviser for the biennial SITElines art exhibition in Santa Fe. In 2021, she was a member of the curatorial team – alongside

Massimiliano Gioni Massimiliano Gioni (born 1973) is an Italian curator and contemporary art critic based in New York City, and artistic director at the New Museum. He is the artistic director of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation in Milan as well as the artistic dir ...

Glenn Ligon Glenn Ligon (born 1960, pronounced Lie-gōne) is an American conceptual artist whose work explores race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity.Meyer, Richard. "Glenn Ligon", in George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman (eds), ''Gay Histories a ...

and Mark Nash – that realized

Okwui Enwezor Okwui Enwezor (23 October 1963 – 15 March 2019) was a Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, poet, and educator, specializing in art history. Enwezor served as artistic director of several major exhibitions, including Documenta11 (2002) and th ...

's posthumous show “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America” at the

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-nam ...

. 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 art exhibition, exhibition held between May and November 2015. The Venice Biennale takes place biennale, biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor curated its cent ...

in 2015. She later served on the jury that chose

Deana Lawson Deana Lawson (born 1979) is an American artist, educator, and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is primarily concerned with intimacy, family, spirituality, sexuality, and Black aesthetics. Lawson has been praised for her ability ...

as recipient of the Guggenheim’s 2020

Hugo Boss Prize The Hugo Boss Prize was an award given every other year to an artist (or group of artists) working in any medium, anywhere in the world. Upon its establishment in 1996, it distinguished itself from other art awards because it has no restrictions on ...

Guggenheim Museum, 2021–present

Since joining the Guggenheim and succeeding Nancy Spector in 2021, Beckwith has overseen the organization's collections and exhibitions programs at its various sites in New York, Bilbao and Venice. Beckwith co-chaired (with Fred Wilson) the jury that chose the winners of the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

for the 2023–24 cycle. In December 2024, Beckwith was chosen as Artistic Director of

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

16, held in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

in summer 2027.

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 from 2010 to 2011, marking British artist

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977) is a British painter and writer of Ghanaian heritage. She is best known for her portraits of imaginary subjects, or ones derived from found objects, which are painted in muted colours. Her work has contributed to ...

’s first solo museum show with 24 canvases on display. In 2018, Beckwith also co-curated the first major survey of the art of

Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) is an American artist, curator, critic, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist who uses a wide variety of techniques and materials. She began her long arts career working with the N ...

at the MCA.

Other activities

Beckwith 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, it operates a website and the largest existing network of artist residency progra ...

(Amsterdam).

Recognition

Beckwith has been awarded the 2017 VIA (Visionary Initiatives in Art) Art Fund Curatorial Fellowship, the 2017 Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship, and the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

's 2024 David C. Driskell Prize.

Personal life

Beckwith is married.Victoria Woodcock (24 September 2020)
‘I want the world to ask, “Why not champion more women, more artists of colour?” ’
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''.

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 Documenta American art curators American women curators 21st-century American women