Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art announced today the appointment of C. D. Dickerson III as dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (the Center). Dickerson has been with the National Gallery since 2015, serving most recently as senior curator of European and American art and head of sculpture and decorative arts.

Appointed as the Center’s dean following a nationwide search, Dickerson will join the National Gallery’s executive leadership team when he assumes the role on June 1. He will be responsible for guiding and advancing the Center’s scholarship in art, art history, and related fields through its acclaimed fellowship programs, convenings, publications, and research initiatives.  

The Center was founded in 1979 with the goal of advancing art historical research and scholarship, developing talent, and supporting the field of art history. The Center hosts over 30 events, meetings, and symposia annually, including the A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, the National Gallery’s longest-running lecture series, established soon after the museum’s founding. The Center’s fellows include art historians of all levels, from predoctoral researchers to appointed professors, who form a thriving community of approximately 50 scholars each year. Together, these programs promote the study of the production, use, and cultural meaning of art, artifacts, architecture, urbanism, photography, and film from all places and periods.

Dickerson has focused his curatorial and accompanying academic work at the National Gallery—including the exhibitions Canova: Sketching in Clay and Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain—on making the complexities of art history accessible to the public in imaginative ways and developing groundbreaking scholarship, furthering the National Gallery’s mission as the nation’s art museum.

“C. D. Dickerson has been a vital part of the National Gallery of Art since he arrived in 2015,” said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery. “His vast curatorial, academic, and leadership experience, vision, and his dedication to accessible, high-impact research make him uniquely positioned to lead the Center. Under his leadership, the National Gallery will continue to serve as a resource to the art historical community worldwide, spearheading scholarly efforts at the highest level of rigor and excellence.”  

“I look forward to working with the National Gallery’s staff and scholars to maintain the Center’s position as one of the leading art history laboratories in the world,” said Dickerson. “Having spent the past decade at the National Gallery, I have a deep appreciation for what makes this institution so extraordinary—from the collections to the people—and am genuinely thrilled to help shape the Center’s next chapter.”

About C. D. Dickerson

C. D. Dickerson joined the National Gallery of Art in 2015 as curator and head of the department of sculpture and decorative arts. He became senior curator of European and American art in 2022. Dickerson was also the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow at the Center in 2014. 

While leading the department of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery, Dickerson has been responsible for several key acquisitions, including Luisa Roldán’s Virgin and Child, David d’Angers’s Comte Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe, and an important 17th-century northern European nautilus cup. His first exhibition at the National Gallery was Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain (2019–2020), the catalog for which won the Eleanor Tufts Award for best publication in Spanish art history. He also curated Canova: Sketching in Clay (2023–2024), an exhibition focused on the brilliantly expressive terracotta models of the sculptor Antonio Canova. The accompanying catalog was the first book devoted entirely to the subject. He is currently curating Broken: The Power of the Fragment in Sculpture, which will open at the National Gallery in March 2027, following its presentation at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

Prior to his time at the National Gallery, Dickerson spent eight years at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth as curator of European art. The exhibitions he curated there included From the Private Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern (2009–2010); Bernini: Sculpting in Clay (2012–2013); The Brothers Le Nain: Painters of Seventeenth-Century France (2016–2017); and Casanova: The Seduction of Europe (2017–2018).

Dickerson’s work has been widely published in exhibition catalogs, scholarly articles, and reviews in leading academic journals, including The Burlington Magazine, Storia dell’arte, and Facture. He regularly presents his work in lectures, academic conferences, and scholarly symposia across the United States and Europe. He serves as a board member for Save Venice Inc. and the Chipstone Foundation. Dickerson enjoys volunteering his time to work with young scholars and serve on thesis and dissertation committees.

Dickerson holds a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, an MA from Washington University in St. Louis, and an AB from Princeton University.  

About the Center

Since its inception in 1979 with the opening of the National Gallery’s East Building, the Center has promoted the study of the production, use, and cultural meaning of art, artifacts, architecture, urbanism, photography, and film from all places and periods through the formation of a community of scholars. Center publications seek to deepen our knowledge of the artistic past, present, and future, transforming our understanding of art’s role in the world. 

About the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millions of people come through its doors each year—with millions more online—making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery’s renowned collection includes nearly 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.