American Painting and Decorative Art Associate Curator
Dr. Susan J. Rawles, Associate Curator of American Painting and Decorative Art, joined the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1995. She has since served as Interim Department Head, Assistant Curator of American Decorative Art, and Research Associate for the American Department. Rawles received a PhD in American Studies from the College of William and Mary, an MA in the history of art from Rice University, and a BA in economics and government from Smith College. While specializing in material culture of the mid-17th to early-19th century, she has written and lectured on topics ranging from colonial portraiture to period interiors. A member of the installation teams for VMFA's American art galleries (2010) and the James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Collection (2015), she co-authored the accompanying publications, American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2010) and A Promise Fulfilled: The James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin Collection of American Art (2015). Her most recent projects include "Collecting for the Commonwealth: Celebrating a Century of Art Patronage at VMFA, 1919-2018," an exhibition and catalog prepared for the 2018 Winter Antiques Show in New York; and "A Return to the Grand Tour: Micromosaic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke," an exhibition with catalog opening in 2019.