Curatorial profile

Lydia Peabody, Associate Curator

Lydia Peabody is a specialist in modern and contemporary art. At the Peabody Essex Museum, she is the presenting curator of Gio Swaby: Fresh Up, opening in 2023, and organizing curator of Bethany Collins: America, A Hymnal, also opening in 2023. Previously, Peabody served as the co-curator of The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming (2021) and coordinating curator for Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle (2020–2021) and Hans Hofmann: The Nature of Abstraction (2019). She also organized Vanessa Platacis: Taking Place (2019-ongoing), a long term site-specific painting installation at the Peabody Essex Museum. Her book publication projects include Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle (Peabody Essex Museum / University of Washington Press, 2019) and Inappropriate Bodies: Art Design, and Maternity (Demeter Press, 2019). Peabody’s writing can be seen in Hyperallergic, ARTnews, and Boston Art Review. She is associate professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Montserrat College of Art.

Prior to joining PEM, Peabody worked for the Society of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago and as the Art Loan Manager at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA). She earned her BA in Art Administration from Simmons College and her Dual MA in Art History, Theory and Criticism, Art Administration & Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research interests include 20th century American art and global contemporary art, architecture, and design surrounding themes of identity and representation.