Norton Simon Museum Appoints Emily Talbot to Chief Curator

Pasadena, CA— The Norton Simon Museum has appointed Emily M. Talbot as its new Chief Curator, responsible for the care, interpretation and display of the Norton Simon art collections. Dr. Talbot joined the Museum’s curatorial department in 2017 as a specialist of 19th- and 20th-century European art, and has served as Acting Chief Curator since February 2019. Her promotion to Chief Curator became effective on January 1, 2020.

“Emily’s professional and academic background make her a perfect fit for the Norton Simon Museum. A specialist in French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, a particular interest of Mr. Simon and a highlight of his collections, she has organized excellent exhibitions and programs at the Museum, including Taking Shape: Degas as Sculptor and By Day & by Night: Paris in the Belle Époque,” says Museum President Walter Timoshuk. “As Acting Chief Curator and now Chief Curator, she brings a fresh perspective and energy to the Museum’s curatorial team and our many ongoing collaborations and initiatives.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to oversee the Norton Simon’s remarkable collections,” says Talbot, “and I am delighted to deepen my knowledge of the institution in this new role. I look forward to working with colleagues both in and outside of the museum to organize exhibitions and other projects that further enhance the museum’s local and international reputation.”

Talbot received her PhD in the History of Art from the University of Michigan in 2017, and holds Master’s degrees from the Courtauld Institute of Art (2006) and New York University (2005). She has published and lectured on a wide range of subjects, including nineteenth-century realism, twentieth-century printmaking, and the history of collecting. Prior to joining the Museum in 2017, she served as the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, where she organized the exhibition Picturing Buildings: Photographers and Architecture, 1855-1985 (May 13 – August 13, 2017). Between 2007 and 2010 she was a Curatorial Assistant at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, where she managed its collection of 55,000 prints, illustrated books and multiples, dating from the late 19th century to the present. Prior to her time at MoMA, Talbot worked in the curatorial departments of the Brooklyn Historical Society, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, and the British Museum.

At the Norton Simon Museum, Talbot supervises the Museum’s curatorial, collections and conservation staff, as well as the library. In her new role she will be managing the production of scholarly catalogues and overseeing the Masterpiece Exchange Program with partners including the National Gallery, London, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Dresden Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.