Curator of Modern Art
Curator of Modern Art, Robert Cozzolino joined PAFA in 2004. He has organized numerous exhibitions for the Academy, including, Light, Line and Color: American Works on Paper 1765-2005 (2005), Vik Muniz: Remastered (2005), Art in Chicago: Resisting Regionalism, Transforming Modernism (2006), This Place is Ours! Recent Acquisitions at the Pennsylvania Academy (2007), Harnett, Peto, and their Accomplices: Trompe l'oeil Paintings from the Collection (2008), Reverberations: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Bank of America Collection (2008), Jacob Lawrence's Hiroshima (2008), George Tooker: A Retrospective (2009), and Elizabeth Osborne: The Color of Light (2009). He has also coordinated major exhibitions at PAFA that were organized by colleagues, in each case introducing innovative public programs that provided new contexts for the material, including Villa America: American Moderns 1900-1950 (2006) and Peter Saul: A Retrospective (2008).
He is currently organizing a retrospective of the artist Peter Blume (1906-1992) and an exhibition of artist portraits and self-portraits drawn largely from PAFA’s collection. His research interests range from the intersection of art and religion to the role of the body in Pop art. He will be a contributor to PAFA’s upcoming Henry O. Tanner exhibition catalogue and believes strongly in collaboration with his colleagues at PAFA.
Dr. Cozzolino earned his Ph.D in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a dissertation on Ivan Albright (1897-1983). His publications include exhibition catalogues for Elizabeth Osborne: The Color of Light and Art in Chicago (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2009 and 2006), With Friends: Six Magic Realists 1940-1965 (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005), and Dudley Huppler: Drawings (University of Wisconsin Press, 2002) as well as major contributions to: Shared Intelligence: American Painting and Photography (Forthcoming, University of California Press), George Tooker: A Retrospective (Merrell, 2008), American Art at Princeton Volume One: Drawings and Watercolors (Yale University Press, 2004), New Critical Perspectives on Dalí (Bompiani, 2004), and Ivan Albright (Hudson Hills Press, 1997).
An active musician, he performs and records as a percussionist in two ensembles based in the Philadelphia area. He has also contributed to
www.artjaw.com, a Philadelphia-based writing project about working in the art world.