Mark Cole
William P. and Amanda C. Madar Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, Chair of Art of the Americas and Modern and Contemporary Art
Mark Cole has been curator of American painting and sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art since 2006. He completed the reinstallation and reinterpretation of these holdings as part of the museum’s comprehensive renovation and expansion while simultaneously launching an extensive reframing initiative. His acquisitions include major works by Edmonia Lewis, Reginald Marsh, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Jared French, and Norman Lewis. He has curated and hosted several exhibitions, including Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties; William H. Johnson: American Modern; Maine Sublime: Frederic Church’s “Twilight in the Wilderness”; “Stag at Sharkey’s”: George Bellows and the Art of Sports; Cutting Edge: Modern Prints from Atelier 17; and Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern.
He has lectured and published on a variety of topics, including Beaux-Arts mural painting, New Deal–era African American artistic production in Cleveland, and commodity sculpture of the 1980s.
Cole holds a PhD from the University of Delaware where he specialized in the history of American art, an MA in art history and museum studies from Case Western Reserve University, and a BS in chemistry from John Carroll University.
Contact the Curator at: AmericanPaintings@clevelandart.org