Kathleen A. Foster


Kathleen Adair Foster is an American art historian, critic, and curator. Since 2002 she has served as the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator and Director of the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 1989 - 2002 she served as Senior Research Scholar and Class of 1949 Curator of Western Art at the Eskenazi Museum of Art. From 1979-1989 she worked at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, departing as Chief Curator and Director of Research and Publications.
The author of more than a dozen books, Foster's publications include American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent, Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and “The Life Line”, and Thomas Chambers: American Marine and Landscape Painter, 1808-1869, among others. Throughout her career, she has held teaching positions at Williams College, Temple University, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2015 Foster was made an Edmond J. Safra Professor at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Biography

Foster received her B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College and her M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University. Throughout her graduate studies, she served as a Teaching Fellow and Curatorial Assistant at the Yale University Art Gallery.
From 1975-1976 Foster served as Assistant Professor of Art History and Studio Art at Williams College. From 1976-1979 she served as an Assistant Professor in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. In 1979 Foster joined the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as an Assistant Curator, rising the ranks of Associate Curator, Curator, and eventually Chief Curator and Director of Research & Publications. During this period she also served as a Visiting Lecturer in the History of Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania.
Foster would depart P.A.F.A. in 1989 to join the full-time Art History faculty at Indiana University Bloomington, where she jointly served as Class of 1949 Curator of Western Art at the Eskenazi Museum of Art. In 2002 she would accept the position of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art at Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she concurrently serves as Director of the Center for American Art.
Across multiple institutions, Foster’s work has focused on how American art—specifically from the 19th century—has shaped and reflected the cultural landscape of the nation. Her scholarship has paid particular attention to landscape painting, often emphasizing the work of Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, and the Hudson River School.
A prolific author of art history and criticism, Foster's book-length publications include American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent, Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and "The Life Line, Thomas Chambers: American Marine and Landscape Painter, 1808-1869, Captain Watson's Travels in America: The Sketchbooks and Diary of Joshua Rowley Watson, 1771-1818, and Writing About Eakins: The Manuscripts in Charles Bregler's Thomas Eakins Collection. Additional works as co-author include, In a New Light: Alice Schille and the American Water Color Movement, Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller in the Bank of America Collection, and American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum: Volume 1: Drawings and Watercolors.
Throughout her career, Foster has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including seven bursaries from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as five bursaries from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2001 she was named a Whitney Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 2002 she was made a Visiting Research Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2005 she was named the Wyeth Foundation Lecturer at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Ten years later, in 2015 Foster was made an Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor at the National Gallery of Art.
Foster previously served on the Editorial Board of American Art Review, and has been an editorial reviewer for University of Pennsylvania Press ; Princeton University Press ; Penn State University Press ; American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin ; and University of Chicago Press. Additionally she has served as a grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Publications

Books & Catalogs

  • In a New Light: Alice Schille and the American Water Color Movement
  • American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent
  • Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and "The Life Line"
  • An Eakins Masterpiece Restored: Seeing “The Gross Clinic” Anew
  • Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller in the Bank of America Collection
  • Thomas Chambers: American Marine and Landscape Painter, 1808-1869
  • A Drawing Manual by Thomas Eakins
  • American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum: Volume 1: Drawings and Watercolors
  • Thomas Hart Benton and the Indiana Murals
  • American Watercolors at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
  • Thomas Eakins Rediscovered: Charles Bregler's Thomas Eakins Collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
  • Captain Watson's Travels in America: The Sketchbooks and Diary of Joshua Rowley Watson, 1771-1818
  • An American Picture-Gallery: Recent Giſts from Morton C. Bradley, Jr.
  • Writing About Eakins: The Manuscripts in Charles Bregler's Thomas Eakins Collection
  • Daniel Garber
  • ''Edwin Austin Abbey, 1852-1911''

Essays (selected)

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  • “American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent,” American Art Review, vol. XXIX.
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  • "Edwin Austin Abbey," American Art Review, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 83–95.

Awards and honors