Mellon-Marron Research Consortium (MRC)

Research and learning

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About
Director and Steering Committee
Fellows
Study Sessions
Participating in the MRC
Dossiers

Through the Mellon-Marron Research Consortium (MRC), MoMA mentors the next generation of art historians and curators.

About

The Mellon-Marron Research Consortium (MRC) is a partnership between The Museum of Modern Art and five regional graduate art history programs—Columbia University; The Graduate Center, City University of New York; the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Princeton University; and Yale University—supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron. The MRC provides a framework for the Museum’s participation in the training and education of the next generation of art historians and curators.

The Mellon-Marron Research Consortium hosts one MRC Fellow from each participating program annually to work with an experienced curator on scholarly curatorial projects at the Museum. The MRC also organizes semiannual Study Sessions around key holdings in MoMA’s collection. These sessions generate new approaches to and ideas about works in the collection by providing greater access to these objects for a community of art historians, while also developing strong ties across the Consortium community.

Director and Steering Committee

The Mellon-Marron Research Consortium is led by Leah Dickerman, Director, Editorial and Content Strategy, and guided by a steering committee that also includes Sarah Suzuki, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, and representatives from the five partner programs:

Columbia University
Branden Joseph, the Frank Gallipolli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Director of Art Humanities

The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Emily Braun, Distinguished Professor of Twentieth-Century European and American Art

Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Christine Poggi, the Judy and Michael Steinhardt Director and Professor of Fine Arts

Princeton University
Hal Foster, the Townsend Martin Class of 1917 Professor of Art and Archaeology

Yale University
Kobena Mercer, Professor, History of Art and African American Studies

Fellows

The MRC Fellows program is at the core of the Mellon-Marron Research Consortium initiative. As part of the program, one PhD candidate from each of the five partner institutions is awarded a fellowship, and each is assigned to work full-time with a MoMA curator on a scholarly curatorial project. In addition to gaining hands-on experience in museum practice and receiving mentoring from established curators, fellows also benefit from professional development programs, as well as opportunities to network with colleagues in other Consortium-member graduate programs.

2020–21 Fellows

The 2020–21 MRC Fellows are Francesca Ferrari (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Joseph Henry (Graduate Center/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Piper Marshall (Columbia/Fellow in Media and Performance), Caitlin Ryan (Princeton/Fellow in Photography), and Jenny Tang (Yale/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture).

2019–20 Fellows

2019–20 MRC Fellows, from left: Rattanamol Singh Johal, Annemarie Iker, Andrew Vielkind, Da Hyung Jeong, and Dana Liljegren. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2019–20 MRC Fellows were Annemarie Iker (Princeton/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Da Hyung Jeong (IFA/Fellow in Architecture and Design), Rattanamol Singh Johal (Columbia/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Dana Liljegren (Graduate Center/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), and Andrew Vielkind (Yale/Fellow in Photography).

2018–19 Fellows

2018–19 MRC Fellows, from left: Charlotte Healy, Kaegan Sparks, Barbora Bartunkova, Michaëla de Lacaze, and Erica DiBenedetto. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2018-19 MRC Fellows were Barbora Bartunkova (Yale/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Erica DiBenedetto (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Charlotte Healy (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Michaëla de Lacaze (Columbia/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), and Kaegan Sparks (Graduate Center/Fellow in Media and Performance).

2017–18 Fellows

2017-18 MRC Fellows, from left: Julia Bozer, Liz Donato, Vivian Crockett, Theodossis Issaias, and Erica Cooke. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2017-18 MRC Fellows were Julia Bozer (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Erica Cooke (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Vivian Crockett (Columbia/Fellow in Media and Performance), Liz Donato (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), and Theodossis Issaias (Yale/Fellow in Architecture and Design).

2016–17 Fellows

2016–17 MRC Fellows, from left: Ashley James, Elizabeth Gollnick, Matthew Worsnick, Jessica Bell Brown, and Abigail Lapin Dardashti. Photo: Amanda Kirkpatrick

2016-17 MRC Fellows were Jessica Bell Brown (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Elizabeth Gollnick (Columbia/Fellow in Media and Performance), Ashley James (Yale/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Abigail Lapin Dardashti (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), and Matthew Worsnick (IFA/Fellow in Architecture and Design).

2015–16 Fellows

2015-16 MRC Fellows, from left: Natalie Dupêcher, Nomaduma Masilela, Antonia Pocock, Elizabeth Hawley, and Swagato Chakravorty. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2015–16 MRC Fellows were Swagato Chakravorty (Yale/Fellow in Media and Performance), Natalie Dupêcher (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Elizabeth Hawley (Graduate Center/Fellow in Architecture and Design), Nomaduma Masilela (Columbia/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), and Antonia Pocock (IFA/Fellow in Drawings and Prints).

2014–15 Fellows

2014-15 MRC Fellows, from left: Rachel Silveri, Kristin Poor, Lauren Rosati, Rebecca Lowery, and Sam Sackeroff. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2014–15 MRC Fellows were Rebecca Lowery (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Kristin Poor (Princeton/Fellow in Photography), Lauren Rosati (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), Sam Sackeroff (Yale/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), and Rachel Silveri (Columbia/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture).

2013–14 Fellows

2013-14 MRC Fellows, from left: Kirsty Dootson, Rachel Kaplan, Stephanie O’Rourke, Andrew Cappetta, and Frances Jacobus-Parker. Photo: Marcin J. Muchalski, Diamond Shot Studio

The 2013–14 MRC Fellows were Andrew Cappetta (Graduate Center/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Kirsty Dootson (Yale/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Frances Jacobus-Parker (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Rachel Kaplan (IFA/Fellow in Photography), and Stephanie O’Rourke (Columbia/Fellow in Drawings and Prints).

Study Sessions

The MRC Study Sessions are incubators for new ideas and approaches to key holdings in the Museum’s collection. The sessions are a collaborative endeavor, intended to provide greater access to objects in the collection for a community of art historians, while also developing strong ties across the Consortium. Study session participants include MoMA curators and conservators, the current class of MRC Fellows, faculty members and graduate students from each of the five university partners, and invited guest scholars. The 2020 Study Sessions considered the reinstallation of MoMA’s collection following the Museum’s 2019 expansion project. Previous sessions focused on work by Jean Dubuffet (2014); on Picasso’s sculpture (2015); on work by African American artists (2016); on MoMA’s history of collecting and exhibiting performance and performance-based work (2017); on recent gifts from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros of work from Latin America and the Caribbean (2018) and on the role of instructions within an artist’s practice, focusing on the Museum’s holdings of works that delegate the task of making (2019).

Participating in the MRC

The MRC Fellows and the Study Sessions programs aim to build a broad research community between MoMA and academic colleagues. Participation in the MRC is open to doctoral students in the Consortium partner programs.

The MRC Fellows program offers an annual fellowship to one PhD candidate from each of the five partner institutions. While the program does not support dissertation or independent research, it does provide a structure for participating in scholarly research projects within the Museum with mentoring from an experienced curator. Students interested in either academic or museum careers are welcome to apply. Each partner program coordinates the nomination process for its own proposed candidates for the fellowship. The nomination period for 2021-22 Fellows is now open. You can view the call for applications here.

The Study Sessions are a collaborative endeavor, and include MoMA curators and conservators, the current class of MRC Fellows, faculty members and graduate students from each of the five university partners, and guest scholars. Each partner program nominates three graduate student participants for the sessions. Interested individuals should contact their departments for more information about applying for either the Fellows or the Study Sessions programs.

Dossiers

The MRC Dossiers are a series of digital publications growing out of the Study Sessions that feature the research produced by the MRC Fellows and the graduate student participants as part of the sessions.

MRC Dossier 1: The Work of Jean Dubuffet

View the dossier

With texts by Rachel Boate (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Maibritt Borgen (Yale University), Tom Campbell (Columbia University), Andrew Cappetta (2013–14 MRC Fellow/The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Erica DiBenedetto (Princeton University), Kirsty Dootson (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Yale), Beth Gollnick (Columbia), Christopher Green (Graduate Center), Charlotte Healy (Institute of Fine Arts), Niels Henriksen (Princeton), Frances Jacobus-Parker (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Rachel Kaplan (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Christina McCollum (Graduate Center), Stephanie O’Rourke (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Jonathan Patkowski (Graduate Center), AnnMarie Perl (Institute of Fine Arts), Daniel Spaulding (Yale), Phil Taylor (Princeton), and Matthew Teti (Columbia)

MRC Dossier 2: Picasso’s Sculpture

View the dossier

With texts by Julia Bozer (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Benjamin Clifford (Institute of Fine Arts), Nicole Demby (Yale University), Natalie Dupêcher (Princeton University), Courtney Fiske (Columbia University), Matilde Guidelli-Guidi (The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Joseph Henry (Graduate Center), Lucy Hunter (Yale), Marci Kwon (Institute of Fine Arts), Ashley Lazevnick (Princeton), Rebecca Lowery (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Leah Pires (Columbia), Kristin Poor (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Amy Raffel (Graduate Center), Lauren Rosati (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Graduate Center), Sam Sackeroff (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Yale), Rachel Silveri (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Alex Weintraub (Columbia), Caitlin Woolsey (Yale), and Hannah Yohalem (Princeton)

MRC Dossier 3: African American Artists and the Museum

With texts by Caitlin Beach (Columbia University), Jessica Bell Brown (Princeton University), Swagato Chakravorty (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Yale University), Natalie Dupêcher (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Yasmine Espert (Columbia University), Linda Green (Institute of Fine Arts), Maya Harakawa (The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Elizabeth Hawley (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Graduate Center), Ashley James (Yale), Perrin Lathrop (Princeton), Debra Lennard (Graduate Center), Nomaduma Masilela (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Desiree Mitton (Institute of Fine Arts), Sasha Nicholas (Graduate Center), Antonia Pocock (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Abbe Schriber (Columbia), Claire Schwartz (Yale), Kimia Shahi (Princeton), Juanita Solano (Institute of Fine Arts), and Jenny Tang (Yale)

MRC Dossier 4: Performance and the Museum

With texts by Barbora Bartunkova (Yale University), Jessica Bell Brown (2016–17 MRC Fellow/Princeton University), Jack Crawford (The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Vivian Crockett (Columbia University), Julia Pelta Feldman (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Beth Gollnick (2016–17 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Ashley James (2016–17 MRC Fellow/Yale), Erich Kessel (Yale), Sonia de Laforcade (Princeton), Abigail Lapin Dardashti (2016–17 MRC Fellow/Graduate Center), Ben Murphy (Princeton), Jakob Schillinger (Princeton), Johanna Sluiter (IFA), Ksenia M. Soboleva (IFA ), Rebecca Straub (Yale), Molly Superfine (Columbia), Rachel Valinsky (Graduate Center), Gillian Young (Columbia), and Ian Wallace (Graduate Center)

MRC Dossier 5: Selected Gifts from Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

With texts by Julia Bozer (2017–18 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Erica Cooke (2017–18 MRC Fellow/Princeton University), Vivian Crockett (2017–18 MRC Fellow/Columbia University), Liz Donato (2017–18 MRC Fellow/The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Francesca Ferrari (IFA), Sonja Gandert (Graduate Center), Mostafa Heddaya (Princeton), Theodossis Issaias (2017–18 MRC Fellow/Yale University), Mia Kang (Yale), Michaëla de Lacaze Mohrmann(Columbia), Isabela Muci Barradas (Princeton), Horacio Ramos (Graduate Center), Alexandra van Riel (Columbia), Javier Rivero Ramos(Princeton), Julián Sánchez González (IFA), Pooja Sen (Yale), Gillian Sneed (Graduate Center), Madeline Turner (IFA), Gwen Unger (Columbia), and Colin Young (Yale)