About Me
Matthew K. Ward
Areas of Specialization: American Modernism, Commercial Art & Illustration, Material Culture, Contemporary Art
Ph.D. SUNY Stony Brook
Email: mattkevinward@gmail.com; matthew.k.ward@stonybrook.edu
Matthew K. Ward is an art historian, curator, and writer based on Long Island, NY. He specializes in the intersection of American Modernism with popular and material culture. His doctoral research into the early American commercial career of Willem de Kooning will feature in an upcoming publication from the Art Institute of Chicago. As a curator, he takes an artist-first approach, emphasizing the artist's humanity, biography, and lived experience.
At present, he is the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, New York. Previously, he held the title of Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. He has also worked on teams at the Brooklyn Museum and the Willem de Kooning Foundation. As an instructor, he has developed and delivered courses at SUNY Stony Brook, St. Joseph's University, and Hofstra University.
Select Exhibitions
Click on an exhibition title below to learn more.
Select Writings & Media
The official podcast of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.
Smarthistory article on the Kiowa artist's federal murals.
Willem de Kooning and his American Dream: The Artist's First Five Years in the United States
Doctoral thesis investigating details of de Kooning's career between 1926 and 1931.
Wish Goes Home
A children's book about displacement and relocation, illustrated by Nutsa Gogaladze.