John Ravenal
{{short description|American art historian}}
John B. Ravenal (born August 1, 1959 in Providence, Rhode Island) is an art historian, writer, and museum curator. Before 1998, he was the Associate Curator of 20th-Century Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 1998 to 2015 he was curator of contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, where he organized exhibitions of Ryan McGinness: Studio Visit (2014); Xu Bing: Tobacco Project(2011), and Sally Mann: The Flesh and The Spirit (2010).{{cite web|title=Fellows: John Ravenal|url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/fellows/john-ravenal/|website=Curatorialleadership.org|accessdate=14 November 2016}}{{cite web|title=John Ravenal {{!}} New American Paintings|url=https://newamericanpaintings.com/jurors/john-ravenal|website=Newamericanpaintings.com|accessdate=14 November 2016}} He was curator of the VMFA's Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch exhibition, Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life. His lecture about the exhibition took place in the Leslie Cheek Theater in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The show opened in November 2016 in partnership with the Munch Museum in Oslo.{{cite web|title=Virginia Curator Hired To Make DeCordova One Of The Best U.S. Sculpture Parks|url=http://www.wbur.org/artery/2014/11/17/decordova-john-ravenal|website=Wbur.org|date=17 November 2014 |accessdate=13 November 2016}}{{cite web|author= |url=https://vmfa.museum/calendar/events/jasper-johns-edvard-munch-inspiration-transformation/ |title=Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation - Calendar & Events |website=Vmfa.museum |date=2014-06-20 |accessdate=2016-11-15}}{{cite web|title=Curating Jasper Johns+Edvard Munch|url=https://vimeo.com/171099523|website=Vimeo|accessdate=17 November 2016}} He is the author of the exhibition catalogue Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation.{{cite book|last1=Ravenal|first1=John |editor1=Rosalie West|editor2=Stacy Moore|title=Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation|date=2016|publisher=Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Yale University Press|pages=126|language=English|type=hardback|quote=This catalogue accompanied exhibitions at: Munch Museum, Oslo Norway, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia.}}
Education
Ravenal earned his BA in art history from Wesleyan University and his Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in art history from Columbia University.
Professional activities
His exhibitions for the Philadelphia Museum of Art included commissioned projects by Sherrie Levine, Lawrence Weiner, Richard Long, and Rirkrit Tiravanija; a retrospective of the art of Sidney Goodman; and the first United States museum exhibition by Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay.
He returned to the VMFA for the Johns/Munch exhibition, presenting a lecture about mutual motifs in the works of the two
artists, which was preceded by a performance by Norwegian pianist Else Olsen Storesund{{cite web|url=http://www.norway.org/News_and_events/Embassy/VMFA-Lecture-Jasper-Johns-and-Edvard-Munch-Inspiration-and-Transformation/#.WCofDoWcGkY |title=VMFA Lecture: Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation |website=Norway.org |date= |accessdate=2016-11-15}} of the John Cage composition, Perilous Night.{{cite web|title=News - John Ravenal to deliver lecture on Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch - Matthew Marks Gallery|url=http://www.matthewmarks.com/news/john-ravenal-to-deliver-lecture-on-jasper-johns-and-edvard-munch/|website=Matthewmarks.com|accessdate=14 November 2016}}
While at the VMFA, where he was the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art,{{cite web|url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/fellows/john-ravenal/ |title=John Ravenal - CCL Class of 2012 | Center for Curatorial Leadership |website=Curatorialleadership.org |date= |accessdate=2016-11-15}} he was a speaker at art6 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia in the lecture series honoring Virginia Museum of Fine Arts curator Pinkney Near.
Also while at the VMFA, Ravenal’s exhibitions included Vanitas: Meditations on Life and Death in Contemporary Art; Outer & Inner Space, a history of video art; Robert Lazzarini’s first solo museum exhibition; and Artificial Light, displayed at VCUarts Anderson Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. During his tenure at the VMFA, the museum acquired the Kehinde Wiley painting "Willem van Heythuysen".{{cite web|title=John Ravenal {{!}} Recent Acquisitions, Kehinde Wiley's Willem van Heythuysen|url=http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n1/gallery/ravenal_j/intro.htm|website=Blackbird.vcu.edu|accessdate=14 November 2016}}
Ravenal served as the fourth president of the Association of Art Museum Curators (2009–11).
In 2015 Ravenal became executive director of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts.{{cite web|last1=Baldwin|first1=Brent|title=Ravenal Leaving VMFA|url=http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/ravenal-leaving-vmfa/Content?oid=2148114|website=Style Weekly|date=17 November 2014 |accessdate=15 April 2017}}{{cite news|title=DeCordova Taps Ravenal|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/11/17/decordova-taps-ravenal...|accessdate=13 November 2016|publisher=Boston Globe|date=November 17, 2014}} His appointment to DeCordova as Executive Director was announced by the Center for Curatorial Leadership, of which he had been a Fellow since 2012.{{cite web|title=John Ravenal|url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/fellows/john-ravenal/|website=Curatorial Leadership|accessdate=14 November 2016}} He served in this position until 2020.{{cite news |last1=Whyte |first1=Murray |title=Jessica May named to artistic leadership at deCordova and other Trustees properties |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/12/arts/jessica-may-named-artistic-leadership-decordova-other-trustees-properties/ |access-date=16 July 2021 |work=Boston Globe |date=12 March 2021}}
Ravenal has contributed to exhibition catalogues and essays about the artist Sol LeWitt and other contemporary artists.{{cite web|title=Specific Object|url=http://www.specificobject.com/objects/index.cfm?search_type=basic&search=John%20Ravenal#.WCoW7IWcGkY|website=Specificobject.com|accessdate=14 November 2016}} He worked on the TV series documentary Art in the Twenty-First Century (2001) and the biographical documentary, Herb & Dorothy 50X50 (2013).{{cite web|title=John Ravenal|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5508167/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm|website=IMDb|accessdate=14 November 2016}}
Bibliography
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- Sally Mann: The Flesh and the Spirit by John B. Ravenal, John Ravenal, Sally Mann (Photographer).{{cite news|title=Sally Mann: The Flesh & The Spirit|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/8143687/Sally-Mann-The-Flesh-and-The-Spirit.html|website=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=16 November 2016|date=2010-11-25|last1=Davies|first1=Lucy}}
- Modern & Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.{{cite web|last1=Slipek|first1=Edwin|title=A Major New Exhibit at the VMFA Examines the "Why" Behind Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch|url=http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/a-major-new-exhibit-at-the-vmfa-examines-the-why-behind-jasper-johns-and-edvard-munch/Content?oid=2379080|website=Style Weekly|date=8 November 2016 |accessdate=16 November 2016}}
- Vanitas: Meditations On Life And Death In Contemporary Art{{cite book|last1=Ravenal|first1=John B.|last2=Arts|first2=Virginia Museum of Fine|title=Vanitas: meditations on life and death in contemporary art|publisher=Virginia Museum of Fine Arts|isbn=9780917046551|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VdJPAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 November 2016|language=en|year=2000}}
- Outer and Inner Space: Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Neshat, Jane and Louise Wilson, and the History of Video Art by John B. Ravenal, Laura Cottingham, Jonathan Crary{{cite book|last1=Ravenal|first1=John B|title=Outer & inner space: Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Neshat, Jane & Louise Wilson, and the history of video art|year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/outerinnerspacep0000rave|url-access=registration|publisher=Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Distributed by the University of Washington Press|isbn=0917046617|language=English|oclc=49201211}}
- Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation{{cite web|last1=Ravenal|first1=John|title=Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Inspiration and Transformation - Harvard Book Store|url=http://www.harvard.com/book/jasper_johns_and_edvard_munch_inspiration_and_transformation/|website=Harvard.com|accessdate=15 November 2016}}
- The Alumni Show II: Wesleyan University{{cite web|url=http://www.upne.com/0819574626.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125041720/http://www.upne.com/0819574626.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 25, 2013 |title=UPNEBookPartners - The Alumni Show II: John B. Ravenal |website=Upne.com |date= |accessdate=2016-11-15}}
- Artificial Light: New Light-Based Sculpture and Installation Art by John B. Ravenal, Kathleen Forde{{cite book|last1=Ravenal|first1=John B|last2=Allora|first2=Jennifer|last3=Feldman|first3=Paula|last4=Forde|first4=Kathleen|last5=Museum of Contemporary Art (North Miami|first5=Fla.)|title=Artificial light: new light-based sculpture and installation art : Jennifer Allora [and others|publisher=VCUarts Anderson Gallery|isbn=0935519289|language=English|oclc=76829442|year=2006}}
- Twenty Philadelphia Artists: Celebrating Fleisher Challenge At Twenty{{cite web|title=Twenty Philadelphia Artists: Celebrating Fleisher Challenge at Twenty|url=http://www.alibris.com/Twenty-Philadelphia-Artists-Celebrating-Fleisher-Challenge-at-Twenty-John-B-Ravenal/book/9653429|website=Alibris.com|accessdate=15 November 2016}}
- Sidney Goodman: Paintings And Drawings, 1959-95{{cite book|last1=Ravenal|first1=John B.|title=Sidney Goodman : paintings and drawings, 1959-95|date=1996|publisher=Philadelphia Museum of Art|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|isbn=9780876330999}}
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Biography
John Ravenal is the husband of writer Virginia Pye, the author of River of Dust and Dreams of the Red Phoenix.{{cite web|url=http://www.virginiapye.com/ |title=Virginia Pye Author |website=Virginiapye.com |date= |accessdate=2016-11-15}} They have two children, Eva and Daniel.
References
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Category:American art historians
Category:American art curators
Category:Wesleyan University alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:People associated with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts