Up next... Annie Stuart
Thank you for your support on our newsletter last week with Tish Spearman! This week we are talking with Annie Stuart, who has had a very interesting and successful time post-Sewanee. Enjoy reading!
Did you have any internships during your time at Sewanee? If so, what were they?
“I interned for two summers at the Art Institute of Chicago in the Photographs Department under Newell Harbin (C’01). She was a wonderful mentor and really helped shape who I wanted to be within the art market. I still run into her in the art world, so I continue to be grateful for that experience.
“In the summer before senior year, I interned in the Photographs Department at the National Gallery under Senior Curator Sarah Greenough. She was publishing a selection of letters between Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, and I assisted her with the transcriptions – fascinating days reading the correspondence between such pivotal artists!
“Right after college, I interned at the Museum of Modern Art in the Photographs Department. I helped Eva Respini, who was a curator there at the time, with research on a retrospective of Cindy Sherman.”
What made you decide to major in Art History?
“I had a visual response to art from a very young age, which developed into a curiosity about it that led me to take Art History classes in high school. I became fascinated with the symbolism in the religious works of the Renaissance, and how postwar works reflected society’s unease with the darkness of the human condition that had been revealed by the two conflicts.
“I’m also a history buff, so I like to look at works through the lens of the historical moment they were created in. Art is such a powerful tool for understanding what was happening culturally and politically at that moment in history.”
What was your favorite art history course you took at Sewanee?
“I had several amazing classes. Dr. Clark’s Junior Seminar was great – it taught you a number of skills: critical reading, public speaking, and critical reception. But it was tough!
“Any class by Dr. Brennecke – her energy and enthusiasm about the subject is contagious.
“I took some of the first classes Dr. Thompson taught at Sewanee – History of Photography and Contemporary Art. These gave me my first opportunity to learn about contemporary art, and helped motivate me to go and get involved in the great art that was being made in our lifetimes.”
Where did you go after graduating? What’s your story postgrad?
“I moved to New York because I wanted to position myself in the capital of the art world. Initially, I interned at MoMA to explore what it was like to work on the museum side of the art business. But I ultimately decided I wanted to pursue something faster-paced, so I enrolled in the M.A. program at Christie’s Education because of its focus on the commercial side of the art business. After graduating, I worked at Christie’s auction house in the Photographs department and then private sales in the Old Masters department.
“Working for an auction house is exciting and prestigious, but (like everything) there are tradeoffs. These are very old institutions with established hierarchies and rigid operational cultures. After two years at Christie’s, I received an opportunity through a former professor from my master’s program to get into the contemporary space, which was always my ultimate goal.
“I am now a Director at James Cohan – a contemporary art gallery in New York where I’ve worked since 2015. It’s a midsize gallery, which means I have the opportunity to be involved in multiple areas of the business. For example, I function as an artist liaison (a career path in its own right!) for several artists in our program, and I’m part of our sales team with clients of my own.
“But my primary responsibility is overseeing the art fairs for the gallery. The contemporary art market has undergone a transformation in recent years whereby the majority of sales now take place via fairs like Art Basel, Frieze, Armory, and many others. I enjoy traveling to all the different places around the world where these fairs take place and getting to interact with the many clients, curators, and other gallerists who attend them.”
If you had to give one piece of advice to your college self, what would it be?
“It’s okay to fail. Don’t worry about grades! Take a class you never thought you’d take. There are so few moments after college where you can learn something completely new. And keep in touch with the people you intern for! See if you can grab coffee with them when you’re in town or just send them an email from time to time.”
What’s your favorite museum/ gallery/ exhibit/ work of art you’ve seen recently?
“I attended the 2022 Venice Biennale, which was an amazing experience. Before college, I took a gap year and spent a semester in Venice, so the city holds a special place in my heart.
“It’s exciting to attend one of the biggest, most famous art events in the world, of course. But it’s also a unique opportunity to learn about new artists I haven’t seen before, and to see the special projects the already-famous names make on the monumental scale the event provides.
“I also want to call out an exhibition by the video artist Ragnar Kjartansson called The Visitors. I saw it at Luhring Augustine when it first opened in 2013, and now it’s on display at SF MoMA, where I saw it again two weeks ago.
“Back then I wasn’t very familiar with video art, so I didn’t yet have an appreciation for it. But when I walked in I was floored. It’s a multiscreen work – each screen shows a different musician playing their instrument in one room of a decaying mansion. The runtime is ~60 minutes but I ended up staying for two hours.”
How has your art history major helped you in your daily life?
“Learning to think critically about art gives you the ability to think critically about anything you encounter in life: books, movies, the news…
“An Art History background is also great fuel for a lifelong love of travel. It makes visiting famous places so much richer and provides context to the history and culture of a place.
“It’s also a passion that’s shared by others, which means it’s a great way to connect with new people and build relationships. And staying dialed into the exhibitions, museum shows and events that come to your town enables you to engage more deeply with your community.”
Thank you so much, Annie, for sharing your post-graduate experiences with us! If you are interested in connecting with her, don’t hesitate to reach out! Be on the lookout for our conversation next week with Carolyn Bess (C’93).