NORFOLK, VA.- Crawford Alexander Mann III has joined the Chrysler Museum of Art as the Joan and Macon Brock curator of American art. The new position within the curatorial department is fully endowed and made possible by a generous contribution from the Brocks. Macon Brock currently serves as the chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees.

Mann, a specialist in 19th-century American art, will use his knowledge and experience to build and reinterpret the Museum’s exceptional collection of pre-1945 American art.

“The Museum is extremely proud to double its curatorial staff over the past six months, and the entire community will no doubt benefit from the wealth of knowledge Alex brings to the region,” said Bill Hennessey, the Museum director.

“I’ve long been a fan of the Chrysler’s collection of American art, with its unsurpassed holdings of neoclassical sculpture and masterpiece paintings by Thomas Cole and Childe Hassam,” said Mann. “I look forward to sharing my passion for these works with our visitors and to helping audiences around the world learn about the treasures here in Norfolk.”

This year Mann will complete a Ph.D. in the history of art at Yale University. He holds a master’s degree in the history of art from Yale, as well as a bachelor’s degree in art history and religious studies from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lectured at Yale, Princeton University, Brown University, The University of Pennsylvania, and at international conferences and symposia in New York, Richmond, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Rome.

Mann comes to the Chrysler Museum following two years of curatorial work at the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. He also served as a guest lecturer and critic for a variety of studio courses and organized exhibitions for the museum’s Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, including Changing Poses: The Artist’s Model and the upcoming show Pilgrims of Beauty: Art and Inspiration in 19th-Century Italy that opens in Providence February 3, 2012.