Art Gallery of Ontario Names Julian Cox as New Chief Curator

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Julian Cox

The Art Gallery of Ontario has appointed Julian Cox as  its new chief curator. With 25 years of museum experience, the British-born Cox, currently chief curator and founding curator of photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, begins in January 2018, pending approval to work in Canada. In his capacity as chief curator, Cox will also become the gallery’s second deputy director, joining Alicia Vandermeer, deputy director and chief advancement officer.

“Julian is joining us at a pivotal moment in the AGO’s history,” said Stephan Jost, the AGO’s CEO. “We face exciting opportunities as our audiences expand and we continue our evolution into a 21st-century museum. His strong leadership and curatorial sensibilities will help us ignite and sustain passionate and timely conversations through art, both locally and globally.”

Since 2010, Cox has directed a renowned curatorial team working across two museums, the de Young and the Legion of Honor. As chief curator, he led curatorial activities in art of the Americas, Oceania and Africa, ancient art, European painting and European decorative arts and sculpture, prints and drawings, American art, contemporary art and international textiles and costume. He has also overseen conservation, library and publications staff. Cox has considerably strengthened the institution's curatorial endeavours in photography, his field of expertise, leading a robust program of exhibitions and scholarly projects, and increasing the collection by almost 20 per cent to more than 5,000 works. Cox has also published and lectured extensively, giving recent presentations on American civil rights and media culture at the Cincinnati FotoFocus Biennal and on photography and social activism at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the AGO, and I look forward to working closely with its talented staff and ambitious board, who share a mutual commitment to seeing the institution increase its impact on the national and international stage,” said Cox. “Toronto’s vibrant civic energy and dynamic multicultural character are immensely appealing to me. There will be much to learn and experience, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Cox will lead the Gallery’s curatorial team in designing meaningful art experiences that embrace multiple — and often challenging — points of view. He will focus on exhibition planning in addition to developing the AGO’s significant collections, positioning Toronto and Ontario’s rich artistic landscape in the widest context possible to ensure the gallery is inclusive and welcoming, and better reflects the diversity of the communities it serves.

Cox will lead the AGO’s publishing department and its 10-member curatorial team.

“Julian has a strong track record of meaningful collection-building, exhibitions and publications like Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 (High Museum of Art, 2008), as well as solo shows by Julia Margaret Cameron, Danny Lyon, Sheila Pree Bright, Anthony Friedkin and others,” said AGO photography curator Sophie Hackett. “These demonstrate his commitment to scholarship, to working with local artists, and his ability to recognize how exhibitions can channel a particular cultural moment. Julian’s appointment will help us further amplify the AGO photography department's activities here in Toronto and internationally, and assistant curator of photography Julie Crooks and I are very much looking forward to working with him.”

ABOUT JULIAN COX

Julian Cox is an internationally renowned curator, writer and museum administrator. Over seven years as Chief Curator and Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), he has curated several exhibitions of significance, including Danny Lyon: Message to the Future (2016-17), Janet Delaney: South of Market (2015), Anthony Friedkin: The Gay Essay (2014), Eye Level in Iraq: Photographs by Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson (2013), and Real to Real: Photographs from the Traina Collection (2012). He also served as a contributing curator for the critically acclaimed exhibitions The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock and Roll (2017) and Keith Haring: The Political Line (2014).

Prior to that appointment, Cox served as Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, during which time he significantly expanded its permanent collection of photographs and enhanced its reputation in the field. He organized such exhibitions as Harry Callahan: Eleanor (2007), Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956–1968 (2008), The Portrait Unbound: Photographs by Robert Weingarten (2010) and Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer (2010), accompanied by critically acclaimed scholarly publications.

Before joining the High Museum, Cox served for 12 years in several positions in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, working closely with the Getty’s esteemed Founding Curator of Photography Weston Naef. His work at the Getty included the exhibitions André Kertész: A Centennial Tribute (1994), Alfred Stieglitz: Seen and Unseen (1995–1996), Julia Margaret Cameron: The Creative Process (1996–1997), The Making of a Daguerreotype: Images and Artifacts (1998), Spirit into Matter: The Photographs of Edmund Teske (2004) and The Photographs of Frederick Sommer: A Centennial Tribute (2005). Prior to that, he worked at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, England, and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Born in London, England, Cox earned a Master of Philosophy degree in the history of photography from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1990, preceded by a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from the University of Manchester, England.

Source: Art Gallery of Ontario