PURCHASE, NY.- Purchase College President Thomas J. Schwarz announced that Tracy Fitzpatrick, Chief Curator of the Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, SUNY, will become the museum’s eighth director, effective November 1, 2014. A widely respected curator, teacher, and author, Dr. Fitzpatrick will oversee an institution that has achieved international stature for its outstanding collection of modern, contemporary and African art, as well as its innovative exhibitions presenting established modern masters and cutting-edge contemporary artists. Dr. Fitzpatrick has served as Chief Curator of the Neuberger Museum of Art since 2012 and is a tenured associate professor of art history at Purchase College where she has taught for the last ten years.

“As a scholar, art historian, and art museum professional, Dr. Fitzpatrick has a strong commitment to new scholarship, and to maintaining the museum as an unparalleled educational resource for students, scholars, and members of the public,” President Schwarz noted. “With her uncommon wisdom and boundless energy, she will strengthen and advance the Museum’s reputation as a cultural and intellectual magnet for modern and contemporary art, and build upon a strong tradition of distinguished leadership. We couldn’t be more delighted.”

In her new role as director, Dr. Fitzpatrick will be responsible for all Museum decisions and operations, including collections, acquisitions, and exhibitions; will collaborate closely with the Board of The Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art and donors to enhance the Museum’s role in the region; and work actively with the Purchase College leadership to continue integrating the Museum into the educational experiences of students at the College.

Dr. Fitzpatrick organized and edited the newly-published When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection, a 276-page, fully illustrated, hardcover landmark collection catalogue that chronicles the Museum’s founding patron Roy R. Neuberger’s work as collector, donor, and arts advocate, providing new information on a remarkable moment in the history of the development of modern art in the United States. The book was published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, curated by Dr. Fitzpatrick, currently on view, in celebration of the Museum’s fortieth anniversary year. Recent exhibitions that Dr. Fitzpatrick curated – American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Painting of the 1960s (2010) and Hannah Wilke: Gestures (2008-2009); and coordinated – Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible (2014) and American Vanguards: John Graham, Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, William de Kooning, and Their Circle (2012), received widespread international acclaim and press coverage. Since 1995, she has authored seventeen publications, including a full length book entitled Art and the Subway: New York Underground published by Rutgers University Press, participated in numerous panel discussions, been interviewed by outlets such as PBS and NPR, lectured widely, and served as a juror for local and national art competitions such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Arts for Transit program and CurateNYC. Between 2004 and 2012, she has been curator of modern art at the Neuberger Museum, an associate professor of art history at Purchase College, a visiting lecturer at Christies Education Graduate Program (2004-2008), a lecturer at Rutgers University, and an adjunct assistant professor at Pratt Institute. She was the recipient of the Faculty support Award, Purchase College, SUNY; Junior Faculty Award; UUP Professional Development Award; Rutgers University Dissertation Teaching Award; Luce Foundation American Art Dissertation Fellowship; and was an Andrew Mellon Fellow, Print Department, at the Zimmerli Art Museum. She earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Rutgers University; M.A. in Art History from The George Washington University; and a B.A. cum laude in Art History and English from Tufts University.

“I am deeply honored and tremendously excited to have been selected to be the next director of the Neuberger Museum of Art,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said. “I have long admired the legacy established by Roy R. Neuberger, whose guiding principle was to support living artists by purchasing their works. It was not until I began the When Modern Was Contemporary project that I understood fully the importance of the objects in the collection in terms of the man who acquired them and donated them to the Neuberger Museum of Art. Mr. Neuberger was one of the 20th century’s most important collectors of contemporary art and this collection is one of the best of its kind. I am looking forward to continuing to serve the Neuberger in this new capacity. It is an institution with an exemplary track record of innovative exhibitions and generous support, and I intend to honor and build on this legacy.”

The Neuberger Museum of Art opened its doors 40 years ago on the Purchase College campus as a cultural and intellectual center for modern, contemporary, and African art. It had been the dream of New York’s then-Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to build a world-class art museum on the campus to enrich the life of the college and local community. Rockefeller turned to financier Roy R. Neuberger to donate part of his collection to establish the museum’s holdings. In 1969, Neuberger donated over 100 works from his extensive art collection, considered by many to have been the most important private collection of contemporary American art in the world, and became the Museum’s founding patron. The Roy R. Neuberger Collection is now the cornerstone of a collection that has grown to 8,000 objects and is strongest in materials that describe the evolution of modern in the visual arts of North America.

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The Neuberger Museum of Art is an integral part of Purchase College, State University of New York. The Museum is supported in part by the State University of New York. Support for the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, publications, and education programs is provided by grants from public and private agencies, individual contributions, and the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art’s members and Board.