INDIANAPOLIS, IN.- The Indianapolis Museum of Art announced that Dr. Annette D. Schlagenhauff, the IMA’s associate curator for research, has been promoted to a newly created position indicative of the Museum’s commitment to exhibitions and projects focused on disseminating new findings based on research of the permanent collection. In her new role as curator of special projects, Dr. Schlagenhauff will give the IMA an enhanced capability to share this research with the public by coordinating cross-disciplinary projects across multiple departments and curatorial areas.

“I had the pleasure to work with Dr. Schlagenhauff early in my career and have always been impressed by her intellectual prowess and research capabilities,” said Dr. Charles L. Venable, the IMA’s Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO. “During her years here in Indianapolis she has done exceptional work and I am confident that her new full-curatorial role will enhance her ability to positively impact our research and public programming activities.”

In her new role, Dr. Schlagenhauff will continue to conduct in-depth research of the Museum’s permanent collection, including the history of the Clowes Collection of Old Masters at the Museum. Reflective of the position’s strong focus on collaboration, she will serve as co-curator for the IMA’s Indiana Bicentennial exhibition in 2016, which will include works from many different areas of the Museum’s permanent collection. Schlagenhauff is also curating the upcoming exhibition, Revved Up: Cars in Art, opening April 30. The exhibition will showcase automobile inspired artworks from the IMA’s collection and will be on display in conjunction with Dream Cars: Innovative Design, Visionary Ideas, which opens at the Museum on May 3.

Dr. Schlagenhauff will also continue to oversee the IMA’s WWII-era provenance research project. She was the first staff member in IMA history whose role specialized in systematic research of this area. Her work in this field is reflected in the Museum’s current exhibition, Continuing the Work of the Monuments Men.

Dr. Schlagenhauff joined the IMA in 2003 as the assistant curator of European paintings and sculpture 1800-1945. In 2005, she was appointed to assistant curator of prints, drawings and photographs, and was promoted to associate curator in 2006. In 2009, she became associate curator for research. During her time at the IMA, Dr. Schlagenhauff has worked on a wide variety of exhibitions and installations including The Other Side of the Mirror: Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 (2006), German Expressionist Era Prints (2007), Gifts of the Gamboliers (2008), and The Viewing Project (2008-2011). She was actively involved in researching the archival holdings that accompanied the Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana, when the IMA acquired the historic estate in 2009.

Dr. Schlagenhauff received her master’s degree from Columbia University in New York, and her doctorate from Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Previously, she worked at Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University, and in a research capacity at the National Gallery of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art.

“I look forward to bringing a strong commitment to research to this newly created position, while continuing to work interdepartmentally to engage our audiences by focusing their attention on the superb art collection that can be seen here at the IMA,” Dr. Schlagenhauff said.