The Getty Research Institute (GRI) announced on Wednesday the appointment of Naoko Takahatake as Curator of Prints and Drawings.

“Naoko Takahatake is a gifted curator and has extensive expertise working with works on paper of the greatest importance,” said Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute. “She has been a prominent colleague and critical figure in the field here in Los Angeles and internationally. We are excited to welcome her to the GRI, where she will be responsible for our exceptional collection of works on paper. I’m confident she will help us expand and present our already broad holdings in meaningful ways.”

Takahatake comes to the Getty from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where she has been curator of prints and drawings since 2010, overseeing the collection of Old Master works on paper. At LACMA she curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions of prints and drawings from the Renaissance to the contemporary, most recently The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy in 2018, which travelled to the National Gallery Art, Washington.  She also engaged in several collaborative research projects with conservators and conservation scientists, and led a major grant-funded project to reorganize and inventory the entire prints and drawings collection. Before her tenure at LACMA, she was an Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Old Master Prints at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.  She previously served as Research Associate at the Center for Advance Study in the Visual Arts and as Michael Bromberg Fellow in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum.

“The GRI is home to more than 30,000 works on paper that together illustrate a comprehensive and multi-faceted overview of the history of printmaking from the Renaissance to today,” said Marcia Reed, chief curator at the Getty Research Institute. “Dr. Takahatake has an important role as caretaker of this truly one-of-a-kind collection. I am thrilled that we have found a curator with the knowledge and vision to lead our work in this area.”

Takahatake earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Italian from Vassar College, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Oxford, the latter with a dissertation on the print industry in 16th- and 17th-century Bologna.

A specialist in Italian Renaissance and Baroque print history, her scholarly research interests include the technical study of printmaking processes and the history of print publishing and collecting. Her catalogue on Italian chiaroscuro woodcuts was a finalist for the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award in 2019. She is a member of the editorial board of Print Quarterly, and has published numerous papers, essays, and articles and participated in major symposia internationally.

”It is an immense pleasure and privilege to be joining the curatorial team at the GRI, with its notable collections and research resources,” said Takahatake. “The Getty's profound commitment to advancing the appreciation of the history of prints and drawings has inspired audiences in Los Angeles and internationally. I am looking forward to participating in its outstanding programs of exhibitions, education, and scholarship, while helping to expand the collection.”

Takahatake starts at the Getty Research Institute in July 2019.