About
The Digital Art History Lab (a virtual entity) began in October 2014. In 2017, it was tasked by the Kress and Getty Foundations to produce the Art history in digital dimensions report. An update of this report can be found in ‘Digital dimensions revisited’, by Stephen Bury, in Art Libraries Journal, 46/2 (2021).
The DAHL has been involved with pop-up presentations on digital art history at MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the IFA; projects such as ARIES (ARt Image Exploration Space) with the Tandon School of Engineering, NYU; artificial intelligence/machine learning projects with Stanford University Department of Statistics, Cornell University Department of Operations Research and Information Engineering; and the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering; collaboration with university art history departments interested in digital art history e.g. Hunter College, CUNY; programming – workshops and lectures for art historians and the general public, and collaborative programming in a biennial series on computer vision.
The current strategy is to digitally exploit the digital content of the Library – 1.2 photographic records of works of art, 8.5 Tb of web archives, c. ½ M books and various subject databases (history of collecting,
Spanish artists, 17th C art inventories compiled by Professor John Michael Montias, etc.) – to answer art historical questions; training and working with art historians; and collaborating with university engineering departments and other technology partners.
In July 2020 the Library was re-organized into four clusters – Access, Content, Preservation/Digitization and Archives/Records Management – and lead positions were created to work across the Clusters: the title of Digital Art History Lead reflects this responsibility.
Position Summary
Reporting to the Associate Chief Librarian, Content. The Digital Art History Lead will develop and deliver the digital art history strategy for the Frick Art Reference Library and maintain its high international reputation in this area.
Primary responsibilities include: audit and evaluate DAH activities of the Frick Art Reference Library; in consultation with internal and external stakeholders, the Lead will define the strategy and work plan of the Library in the area of digital art history; lead and co-ordinate the Frick Art Reference Library’s Digital Art History activities across the four Clusters
The Lead will assess and create programming in support of the digital art history of collecting and provenance research. The Lead will liaise with external partners for existing and future collaborative projects, including university engineering departments, university art history departments (in liaison with TFC Education), technology companies; supervise the Digital Art History Fellows and interns; DAHL through social media and publication. Collaborate with External Affairs/Fund Raising in support of DAHL activities.
Requirements
Education: postgraduate qualification in Art History or a related subject (preferably PhD) or postgraduate library qualification.
Successful candidates will have been to have been closely involved in at least one digital art history project and have knowledge of the digital art history landscape. They will have basic technical skills e.g. Excel, blog post or Wikipedia entry writing, coding, Python, OpenRefine, Gephi, a basic knowledge of statistics and good knowledge of a language other than English. Excellent communication skills, both written and oral are essential for success in this role. We are searching for a person committed to diversity and exploring digital art history to advance this and to reach wider audiences and for someone who works well individually and in a team.
Application Process
Please send resume and cover letter with salary requirements to:
Associate Chief Librarian, Content
jobs@frick.org (include “DAHL Lead” in subject line of email)
Mailing address for application:
Frick Madison
30 East 75th Street
New York, NY 10021