Scarsdale Resident Linda Simon to Head Morgan Library Department of Drawings and Prints

Scarsdale resident Linda Wolk-Simon has been appointed as Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Morgan Library and Museum’s renowned Department of Drawings and Prints. The Morgan houses one of the world’s finest collections of old master drawings, as well as a growing collection of nineteenth-century and modern works on paper.

Ms. Wolk-Simon was most recently Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she has held a number of positions over more than two decades. A specialist in Italian Renaissance art, she will assume her duties at the Morgan in May. Her appointment concludes a broad, international search.

“I am delighted that Linda Wolk-Simon will join the Morgan’s team of outstanding curators,” remarked Museum Director, William M. Griswold. “Linda has laid out a compelling vision for the future of one of the most important of the Morgan’s collections. She is noted in the field for the vitality of her exhibitions and the excellence of her scholarship. This is an exciting time in the department, as the collections continue to grow, particularly in the area of modern and contemporary drawings, and as we seek to expand our exhibition program and educational offerings.”

The Department of Drawings and Prints is the largest of the Morgan’s curatorial departments, and its approximately 25,000 works span the fourteenth century to the present. The department is especially strong in drawings from the Italian, French, Dutch, and British schools, and the list of important artists represented is vast, ranging from Michelangelo and Raphael to Dürer, Rubens, Fragonard, David, Watteau, Gainsborough, Constable, and Turner, to name only some of the highlights. The department also has the largest and finest collection of Rembrandt etchings in America. In recent years, with support from Trustee Eugene V. Thaw and under the energetic leadership of Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings, the Morgan has systematically expanded its collection and programs to encompass the twentieth and even twenty-first centuries.

“It is a supreme honor to be appointed to head the Department of Drawings and Prints and to follow in the tracks of so many distinguished predecessors,” said Ms. Wolk-Simon. “The Morgan houses one of the preeminent collections in the world, and the depth, breadth, and quality of the holdings are truly extraordinary. I look forward to working with Bill Griswold and my new colleagues as we set out to create a template for the future and to craft the next chapter of the department’s long and impressive history.”

Upon Ms. Wolk-Simon’s arrival, she will launch a long-range program of major international loan shows of old master drawings, beginning with the first-ever monographic presentation of the drawings of the seventeenth-century Italian artist and satirical poet Salvator Rosa. Focused exhibitions highlighting individual masterpieces or small groups of distinguished works in the Morgan’s collection and supplemented by a few key loans; a rotating installation of selected works from the Morgan’s extensive and varied holdings of drawings and prints; and thematic exhibitions bringing together works from a number of different curatorial divisions will also be part of the department’s program.

Ms. Wolk-Simon received her Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of Michigan. In 1986 she joined the staff of The Metropolitan Museum, where she was a curator in the Robert Lehman Collection, coordinator of the museum’s World War II-era Provenance Research Project, and a curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints specializing in Italian drawings. She also served for many years as reviews editor for the scholarly journal Master Drawings, which has its headquarters at the Morgan.

At the Metropolitan Museum she organized or co-curated numerous well-received exhibitions, including most recently Art and Love in Renaissance Italy; Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece; and An Italian Journey, Correggio to Tiepolo: Italian Drawings in the Tobey Collection. A noted expert on the art of Raphael and his followers, she has contributed essays, articles, and reviews to numerous publications; lectured extensively in the United States and abroad; and was the recipient of a Fulbright Grant, and of a Kress Fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, at the National Gallery of Art. Her publication Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece was named most outstanding essay devoted to a single work of art by the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Simon, a mother of two has lived in Scarsdale for almost nineteen years and commented, “I love living in Scarsdale because it’s such a warm and friendly community with so much to offer—great schools; sports and activities for kids; wonderful services such as the library and the pool; friendly, accomplished people; interesting and fun events going on all the time such as lectures at the library or at local synagogues; concerts of outstanding quality performed by the New Choral Society at Hitchcock Church in my own backyard and, in the summer, at Chase Park by Westchester Band, plus it is a great commuter town. I was able to both pursue a career in the city and have lots of time at home with my kids without feeling like the commute consumed hours and hours of my day.”

She would like to encourage you to visit the Morgan Library and Museum at 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street sometime soon. The building began as the private library of financier Pierpont Morgan and is now a museum, library, musical venue, architectural landmark and historic site. In 2006 the building was expanded by architect Renzo Piano and in 2010 the original McKim building was restored. See what they have to offer at www.themorgan.org .