{{Short description|American art historian and curator (born 1984)}} {{Infobox person | name = Adam Eaker | image = Adam Eaker in the video 'The Body of the Maharani – Portraiture, Gender and Empire at the Royal Academy 1791–1865'.png | caption = Speaking at the Paul Mellon Centre in 2024 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}} | alma_mater = Yale University, Columbia University | occupation = curator, art historian, professor }}
'''Adam Eaker''' (born 1985) is an American art historian and curator currently serving as the Howard Marks Curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.<ref>{{cite news |title=Brandon George & Adam Eaker's Wedding |work=The New York Times |date=November 5, 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/style/brandon-george-adam-eaker-wedding.html |access-date=August 8, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media | people = Adam Eaker | title = Building a Flemish Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAJNfQ0R3X0 | publisher = Frick Collection | date = November 20, 2019 | access-date = August 9, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Met curator Adam Eaker GSAS ’16 on Dutch and Flemish art |website=Columbia Daily Spectator |date=12 October 2025 |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/arts-and-culture/2025/10/12/met-curator-adam-eaker-gsas-16-on-dutch-and-flemish-art/ |access-date=26 February 2026}}</ref> His curatorial work has significantly impacted the presentation and understanding of Northern European, and specifically English art, in North America.<ref>{{cite web |author-last=Smith |author-first=Roberta |title=Van Dyck at the Frick: Documenting Aristocracy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/arts/design/van-dyck-at-the-frick-documenting-aristocracy.html |website=The New York Times |date=March 10, 2016 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Van Dyck: Old Masters, Mitchell and Monet at Paris's Fondation Louis Vuitton; Tudors at the Met Museum in New York |author=Ben Luke |date=7 October 2022 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/10/07/van-dyck-old-masters-mitchell-monet-paris-fondation-louis-vuitton-tudors-tudor-royals-met-museum-new-york |website=The Art Newspaper |access-date=August 8, 2024 |last2=Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall}}</ref>
==Education== Eaker received his PhD from Columbia University in 2016, with a specialization in British painting, and particularly the work of Anthony van Dyck produced in England.<ref>{{cite web |title=PhD in Art History and Archaeology Alumnae |url=https://arthistory.columbia.edu/content/phd-art-history-and-archaeology-alumniae |access-date=August 10, 2024 |website=Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University}}</ref> He is considered an authority on the work of the painter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Upcoming Release: Van Dyck and the Making of English Portraiture |author=Sotheby's |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/upcoming-release-van-dyck-and-the-making-of-english-portraiture |date=August 10, 2022 |access-date=August 10, 2024 |website=Sotheby's}}</ref> He was supervised for his dissertation by David Freedberg.
== Career == Earlier in his career, Eaker was a fellow at the Rubenianum Research Institute for Flemish Art in Antwerp.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frick Perspectives: Lessons from the Dutch "Golden Age" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xDkwLIWxeM |author=Adam Eaker |website=The Frick Collection (YouTube) |date=August 31, 2021 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref> While at the Frick he curated an exhibition organized around the six paintings by Van Dyck in the museum's collection.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/america-and-the-art-of-flanders-collecting-paintings-by-rubens-van-dyck-and-their-circles-the-frick-collection-studies-in-the-history-of-art-collecting-in-america-5/ |title=America and the Art of Flanders. Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Their Circles (The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America, 5) |author=Anne-Marie Logan |date=December 2021 |website=Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews |publisher=Historians of Netherlandish Art |access-date=August 10, 2024}}</ref>
Eaker joined The Metropolitan Museum after serving as an Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow and guest curator at the Frick Collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Adam Eaker |work=CODART |url=https://www.codart.nl/guide/curators/adam-eaker/ |access-date=August 8, 2024}}</ref> Since starting at The Metropolitan Museum, he has continued to focus on the study and presentation of European painting through research, exhibition planning, and managing the Dutch and Flemish art during gallery renovations, enhancing the museum's collection.
He is a member of CODART.<ref>{{cite web |title=Curator in the Spotlight: Adam Eaker |url=https://www.codart.nl/spotlights/adam-eaker-2/ |website=CODART |date=October 2017 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>
The Metropolitan Museum has acquired several notable artworks guided by Eaker's curatorial work, including a painting by Francesco Renaldi of an eighteenth-century Mughal woman that was previously in a private collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=What's so special about Francesco Renaldi's 18th century Mughal painting |author=Akanksha Kamath |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/whats-so-special-about-francesco-renaldis-18th-century-mughal-painting-sothebys-auction/ |date=December 4, 2023 |access-date=August 10, 2024 |website=Architectural Digest India}}</ref> The work was acquired from Sotheby's of London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrait of a Mughal Lady Seated in an Interior |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/old-master-19th-century-paintings-evening-auction-2/portrait-of-a-mughal-lady-seated-in-an-interior?locale=en |date=2023 |access-date=August 10, 2024 |website=Sotheby's}}</ref>
In addition to his curatorial work, Eaker has contributed to various art history anthologies and exhibition catalogs, offering new insights into the interpretation of seventeenth-century Flemish and English paintings.<ref>{{cite web |title=In the Lives of the Tudors, Hints of the Present-Day Monarchy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/arts/design/tudors-metropolitan-museum.html |author=James Barron |website=The New York Times |date=October 21, 2022 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref> His lectures and presentations at academic conferences, have also played a key role in advancing the scholarly discourse surrounding Northern European painting.<ref>{{cite web |title=Adam Eaker: New Approaches to British Portraiture at the Met |work=Department of the History of Art, Yale University |url=https://arthistory.yale.edu/event/adam-eaker-new-approaches-british-portraiture-met |access-date=August 8, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Eaker | first = Adam | title = The American Van Dyck | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AChIhiKRQcI | publisher = Frick Collection | date = November 20, 2019 | access-date = August 9, 2024 }}</ref>
Since July 2023, Eaker has been affiliated with the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art as the seventeenth-century Flemish area editor for the journal's reviews section.<ref>{{cite web |title=Adam Eaker is Appointed HNAR Editor |url=https://hnanews.org/adam-eaker-is-appointed-hnar-editor/ |website=Historians of Netherlandish Art |date=July 4, 2023 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>
Eaker is an adjunct associate lecturer of art history at Barnard College.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barnard Courses: Welcome to Class With Professor Adam Eaker |url=https://barnard.edu/news/barnard-courses-welcome-class-professor-adam-eaker |website=Barnard College |date=May 28, 2024 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>
== Books == * ''Van Dyck'', with Stijn Alsteens (Frick Collection, 2016)<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Eaker |editor-first=Adam |editor2-last=Alsteens |editor2-first=Stijn |title=Van Dyck |publisher=Frick Collection |location=New York |year=2016 |isbn=9780300212051 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ULOCwAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Van Dyck and the Making of English Portraiture (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) |url=https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/van-dyck-and-the-making-of-english-painting-paul-mellon-centre-for-studies-in-british-art/ |author=Erin Griffey |website=Historians of Netherlandish Art |date=October 2023 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref> * ''Van Dyck and the Making of English Portraiture'' (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2022)<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Eaker |author-first=Adam |title=Van Dyck and the Making of English Portraiture |publisher=Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art |location=London |year=2022 |isbn=9781913107345 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYACzwEACAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How Van Dyck made his mark on English portraiture |author=Christopher Baker |date=26 September 2022 |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/van-dyck-english-portraiture-adam-eaker/ |website=Apollo Magazine |access-date=August 8, 2024}}</ref> * ''Gesina Ter Borch'' (Getty Publications, 2024)<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Eaker |author-first=Adam |title=Van Dyck |publisher=Getty Publications |location=Los Angeles |year=2024 |isbn=9781606069462 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVq40AEACAAJ}}</ref>
== Exhibitions == Eaker has organized and curated several notable exhibitions, also authoring their publications, including:
* ''Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture'' (2016) * ''In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at the Met'' * ''The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England'' (2022–2023)<ref>{{cite web |title=Renaissance Rules: The Unexpected Connection Between 'The Tudors' and the 2022 Runways |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/renaissance-rules-the-unexpected-connection-between-the-tudors-and-the-2022-runways |author=Laird Borrelli-Persson |website=Vogue |date=October 18, 2022 |access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life== He is married to American flutist Brandon Patrick George.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brandon George and Adam Eaker Wedding |website=The New York Times |date=5 November 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/style/brandon-george-adam-eaker-wedding.html |access-date=26 February 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaker, Adam}} Category:American art historians Category:American art curators Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Columbia University alumni