The Arts Club of Chicago

CHICAGO, IL (20 December 2011) – Janine Mileaf has been named Director of The Arts Club of Chicago, Sophia Siskel, President of the Board of Directors, announced today. The appointment is effective 17 January 2012.

As director, Mileaf will oversee the operation of the 95-year old Club, which, since 1916, has been a preeminent exhibitor of international art, a forum for both established and emerging artists, and a celebrated venue for performers from around the world.

Mileaf succeeds Kathy Cottong, who departed the position in August 2011, after 17 years of stewardship of the Club.

“Since its founding nearly one century ago, The Arts Club has played a vital role in educating a broad-minded audience by presenting important and challenging art,” Mileaf said. “I look forward to building upon that tradition,” she added, “by working with the Club's staff, board, and members to further The Arts Club's relevance and deepen its impact.”

Mileaf has curated exhibitions for the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, and the Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and has taught university-level art history since 1999. Since 2001, she has served as a Professor of Art History at Swarthmore College, where she received tenure in 2010. During that time she helped redesign the art history curriculum, and also developed new courses on modern and contemporary art, exhibition theory and practice, and the history of photography. She was co-chair of the Cooper Foundation Committee, a fund dedicated to sponsoring premier events in arts and letters, and worked closely with students to bring performers and speakers to campus. Her own scholarly research encompasses writing on Dada and Surrealism, including the work of Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and other figures that are part of The Arts Club's history.

“During the past three months, the Club has conducted an international search that included some of the most talented people in the art and museum fields,” Siskel said. “Janine has been selected to lead The Arts Club because of her extensive knowledge of the history of art, her ability to communicate that history to a broad audience, and her interest in bringing innovative programs to the Club's membership and the exhibitions to the public. Her leadership will advance the Club's mission to ‘encourage higher standards of art, maintain galleries for that purpose, and to promote the mutual acquaintance of art lovers and art workers.’ ”

Mileaf is the recipient of multiple awards for her teaching and scholarship. She is the author of Please Touch: Dada and Surrealist Objects after the Readymade, a book about the tactility of art made out of everyday things, as well as numerous articles for museum exhibition catalogues and journals.

She received her B.A. from the College of Letters at Wesleyan University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mileaf resides in Chicago with her husband, Matthew Witkovsky, Richard and Ellen Sandor Chair and Curator of the Department of Photography at The Art Institute of Chicago, and their two children.

Please contact Allie Foradas (312.787.3997 or allie@artsclubchicago.org) for further information.