Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum Hires a New Curator — an American Art Boost

Michaela Haffner Brings Fresh Perspective To Timeless Carter Collections

BY Courtney Dabney // 12.13.23

Michaela Haffner is the Carter Museum's new assistant curator of paintings, sculpture and works on paper. (Photo courtesy of Amon Carter Museum of American Art)

William J. McCloskey (1859-1941); Wrapped Oranges; 1889; Oil on canvas; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Acquisition in memory of Katrine Deakins, Trustee, Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum of American Art (The Carter) has hired Michaela Haffner as the museum’s assistant curator of paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. Haffner, who is currently a PhD candidate in the History of Art at Yale University, will assume the post beginning January 22.

“As stewards of a robust and growing American art collection and steadfast partners to living artists, our curators are grounded in deep knowledge and a belief in the power of this work — traits that Michaela exemplifies,” Amon Carter executive director Andrew J. Walker says in a statement. “We look forward to benefitting from her passion for American art, commitment to scholarship, and zest for our mission.”

This will be a return to the Carter for Haffner in a coveted new role. She previously served as her team’s sole junior staff member and curated five exhibitions. The Carter, with its extensive collection of 19th and 20th century American art. should prove to be a treasure trove of artistic traditions, mediums and time periods for Haffner to continue to explore and showcase.

Carter – Wrapped Oranges by William J. McCloskey part of the Carter’s impressive collections. — William J. McCloskey (1859-1941); Wrapped Oranges; 1889; Oil on canvas; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Acquisition in memory of Katrine Deakins, Trustee, Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Haffner’s dissertation examines the ways in which artists represented nature and landscape as therapeutic. She utilized several works from The Carter’s collection in her work ― including those by Laura Gilpin, John Frederick Kensett and William J. McCloskey.

“I am honored to be joining the Carter, the institution where I first began my career as a curatorial assistant,” Haffner says in a statement. “Knowing the breadth of the museum’s collection, as well as its role in expressing and shaping American creativity, I am thrilled to take on this role and to explore painting, sculpture and works on paper as vehicles for the varied and evolving histories told by American artists.

“I’m excited to be joining the Carter team in the new year and look forward to working alongside the curatorial staff and the community to bring these stories to the museum’s audiences.”

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Fort Worth museums like The Carter are world class, and now this local treasure has added a fresh new perspective to help tell the stories of its vast collections.