LMA ART Consultant, LLC

Lynn Marsden-Atlass is a curator and museum director with over 30 years of global experience and expertise in museums and universities. Marsden-Atlass specializes in American, 20th century and contemporary art.

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As Executive Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania (2008-2023) Marsden-Atlass presented 53 multicultural exhibitions of renowned masters such as Gustave Courbet, Helen Frankenthaler, Francisco Goya, and Pablo Picasso to BIPOC and contemporary artists, including William Kentridge, Roberto Lugo, Laurel McSherry, Jaume Plensa, Roger Toledo, and Willie Cole. 

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During her tenure hundreds of related programs (including artist talks, dance, music, and performance) were free and accessible to all. Engaging Minds through Art, the gallery’s elementary educational program provided onsite learning and art making for underserved Philadelphia public and parochial schools. Gallery attendance increased by 100%, along with grant and donor support.  In 2016 the annual Susan T. Marx Distinguished Lecture series was established, bringing renowned artists and museum directors to Penn. In 2018 a national Arthur Ross Gallery Advisory Board was established. In 2023 Jason Musson was the inaugural David Evans Family Artist-in-Residence. 

 

Also serving as University Curator at the University of Pennsylvania (2010-2023) Marsden-Atlass was responsible for a diverse collection of 8,750 works located in 118 different locations on Penn’s campus.  She oversaw acquisitions, conservation, deaccession, installations, collection research and an active campus loan program. Faculty taught onsite from primary objects in the collection. Weekly access to documentary files and objects in storage was provided for students, faculty, and scholars.  Eleven exhibitions drawn from the Penn Art Collection were curated and presented at the Arthur Ross Gallery.  Marsden-Atlass also oversaw the installation of seven monumental public sculptures at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Previously Marsden-Atlass served as Senior Curator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Curator of American & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art and Assistant Director at the Colby College Museum of Art. For ten years she was Director of the Consortium of Colleges Abroad in Paris, France and professor of 19th century French Art for three colleges and the British Institute in Paris.  She received an M.A. in History of Art from

the University of Chicago, a B.A. from Lake Forest College, and a certificate from 
Université de Paris IV. In 2016 she was an Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy in 
Rome.