March 10, 2025

Minneapolis—Spencer Wigmore will join the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) as the Associate Curator of American Paintings in the Department of the Arts of the Americas. A specialist in American landscape painting, his curatorial interests are rooted in 19th- and early 20th-century American art. Before arriving at Mia, Wigmore was the Curator of Fine Art at the Minnesota Historical Society. He oversaw a collection of roughly 8,000 artworks and led a year of unprecedented growth for the institution’s fine art collection, acquiring more than 70 contemporary and historical works of Minnesota art. Prior to joining MNHS, Wigmore spent five years on the curatorial team at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.

While at the Carter, Wigmore assisted with the museum’s 2018 reinstallation of their permanent collection and developed exhibitions that worked to broaden and diversify narratives of American art. His 2023 exhibition, “Trespassers: James Prosek and the Texas Prairie,” brought together landowners, conservationists, and biologists across Texas to shed new light on endangered grassland ecosystems.  Wigmore is the co-author of Carter Handbook and has written essays for several exhibition catalogs. He is currently revising a book on the landscape painter Albert Bierstadt and is editing a forthcoming multi-author publication on the complex legacy of Western American painter Charles Russell. A graduate of Carleton College, he earned his PhD in art history from the University of Delaware.

Wigmore joins Mia in April.