Sabine Eckmann, the William T. Kemper Director and chief curator of the Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, will retire in January after more than 20 years of leadership.
Eckmann first joined the Museum as curator in 2000 and was named director and chief curator in 2005. The following year, with the establishment of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, she led the museum through its incorporation into the newly formed school and its move into new facilities.
During Eckmann’s tenure, the museum has undergone significant growth in size, visibility and impact, strengthening its role as a center of cultural and intellectual life both on campus, in St. Louis and beyond. She has curated numerous award-winning projects, including “Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany” (2007), for which she received the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation award for curatorial innovation. She was named the inaugural William T. Kemper Director and chief curator in 2010.
“By exploring art and its histories through many perspectives and in ever-new spatial arrangements, at the museum we strive to continuously educate ourselves, the WashU community and general audiences alike,” Eckmann said. “Our curatorial practice aims to center artworks that at their best are often counter proposals, rooted in the creative imagination and frequently alogical; they shape open-ended, complex and ambiguous platforms for engaging the human condition.
“Reflecting on these rich experiences, I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to shape the Kemper Art Museum and its programs over the last two decades. I am deeply indebted to Dean Carmon Colangelo for his trust and energetic, collaborative leadership.”
Read more on the Sam Fox School website.
