Dorothy Kosinski

Board of Governors Member since 2024

Dr. Dorothy Kosinski is Director Emerita of The Phillips Collection where she served from 2008 to 2023. Prior to leading the Phillips, Kosinski distinguished herself internationally as an art historian and curator. From 1995 to 2008 she was curator at the Dallas Museum of Art. From 1985 to 1997, while living in Basel, Switzerland she was the curator of the Douglas Cooper Collection of cubist art. She also served as an independent curator of major exhibitions on Cubism, Fernand Leger, and Frantisek Kupka at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; The Kunstmuseum Basel; The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; and The National Gallery in Prague.

In 2017 she was recognized by the Ambassador of Italy with the Order of the Italian Star. In 2022 she was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. She currently serves on the boards of national foundations as well as the board of governors of the Folger Shakespeare Library. In 2013 Kosinski was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Council on the Humanities. In spring 2024 Kosinski was a Getty Museum Scholar in Residence in Los Angeles.

Dr. Kosinski has written widely on topics including 19th Century Symbolism, Dada, Surrealism, 20th Century sculpture and contemporary art, and innovative and socially impactful museum practice. In 2014 she published “A Case for the Importance of Culture in a Prosperous Society”. In 2022 her essay, “Purpose is the Only Thing” appeared in the compendium, Change is Required, Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum. Her current major project is a publication about “Cultural Practice as an Act of Citizenship”.