Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Clare Fitzgerald is a curator, teacher, and researcher whose interest in the intersection of people and material culture drives her professional work. She received her Ph.D. in Egyptian Art from Emory University and held fellowships at the American Research Center in Egypt, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She curated the cross-cultural permanent installation of the ancient Mediterranean collection at the Newark Museum of Art and strives to represent the cultural diversity and interconnected nature of the ancient past in her work.

As the Lisa and Bernard Selz Director of Exhibitions at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, she mounted five international exhibitions on ancient topics ranging from the construction of the Ishtar Gate at Babylon to Pompeiian frescoes to the ancient inspiration of the early 20th-century dance company, Ballets Russes.

Clare teaches not only the art of ancient Egypt and Nubia but also curatorial theory and practice and is currently working as a consultant on developing a curatorial studies program at Hamilton College. Her Egyptological research focuses on representing elite identity in tomb painting and the afterlives of Egyptian art in museum collections.