An OU alumna was recently named the chair of a large department at one of the most prestigious art museums in the country.
Gloria Groom, a 1976 letters graduate of OU, was recently named the chair of the European Painting and Sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Groom joined the institute in 1984 as a research assistant and was named the David and Mary Winton Green Curator in 1998, Groom said via email.
“This endowed title is like the endowed titles for professors at a university,” Groom said.
Though Groom will retain this title along with her promotion, being chair of the department will allow Groom to lead the department in different ways than when she was just a curator, she said.
Instead of having a focus on solely the 19th century, Groom will now be responsible for guiding the department curators who specialize in medieval through the 1900s artwork, she said.
Her goal will be to increase the stories of artworks and make the works even more accessible to the public by including art from different media like tapestries and works on paper, she said.
“The chair of the department will allow me to lead the department to open our doors to audiences that may not be as familiar with the story of European Art,” she said.
Groom received her bachelor's degree in letters in 1976, taking five art history classes, one of which was Koshkin-Youritzin’s seminar in museum training, said Victor Koshkin-Youritzin, the OU David Ross Boyd professor of art history.
Groom completed a senior thesis on the artist Odilon Redon, which was directed by Koshkin-Youritzin, and also took Koshkin-Youritzin’s 19th-century French art history and museology seminar courses, Groom said.
“Professor Youritzin played a huge role in propelling me into art history and museum work,” Groom said.
Connoisseurship is typically not taught in the university setting, and a developed eye for art is one of the most important skills as a curator, Groom said.
“I am still using the precepts of this class today,” Groom said.
