SMU’s Meadows Museum Names New Director
SMU has named Amanda W. Dotseth Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair at Meadows School of the Arts. Dotseth, who will be the first female director of the Meadows Museum, served as the director ad interim and curator of the Museum since the passing of its previous director, Mark A. Roglán, in 2021.
DALLAS (SMU) - SMU has named Amanda W. Dotseth Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair at Meadows School of the Arts. Dotseth, who will be the first female director of the Meadows Museum, served as the director ad interim and curator of the Museum since the passing of its previous director, Mark A. Roglán, in 2021.
Dotseth assumes the role March 1, 2023.
“As a scholar, collaborator and arts leader, Amanda Dotseth brings a unique understanding of the important mission and role of the Meadows Museum,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “In addition, her many years as curator, then interim director has prepared her to position the Museum for the future while understanding its legacy.”
In her combined 19 years of experience with the Museum, Dotseth published extensively on Spanish art, contributed to and curated more than 30 exhibitions and oversaw the acquisition of major additions to the Meadows collection.
Notably, Dotseth was an instrumental participant in the early development of the historic partnership between the Meadows Museum and Madrid’s Museo Nacional del Prado in 2009, in which the Prado loaned three major paintings and exchanged curatorial fellows between the institutions. She played an integral role in the pioneering collaboration with Fundación ARCO in 2019 as well. By initiating and cultivating partnerships with international art institutions from the Rijksmuseum and National Gallery of Ireland to the Museo del Traje in Madrid and the Museo del Arte Abstracto Español (Fundación Juan March), Dotseth has expanded the reach and profile of the Meadows Museum and of SMU. Dotseth’s existing partnerships with academic and art institutions around the world, including the Spanish National Research Council, will be a tremendous asset for the Museum as she continues its mission to advance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts and culture of Spain in the US.
photo by Guy Rogers III
In addition to her nearly two decades with the Museum, Dotseth is also an alumna of SMU Meadows School of the Arts, receiving her master’s degree in art history from the University in 2006. She later completed her Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute of Art (University of London) in medieval Spanish art in 2015.
“After an extensive international search, I am thrilled that the best person to serve as the next director of the Meadows Museum is an extremely accomplished member of the SMU Meadows community,” said Samuel S. Holland, Algur H. Meadows Dean for SMU Meadows School of the Arts. “I look forward to seeing the new directions in which Dr. Dotseth will take the Museum, through her collaborative and innovative leadership, and strong curatorial voice.”
“The Meadows Museum has been a part of my professional DNA for two decades; to now be at the helm of the institution as the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director during the next phase of the museum's life is a great honor,” said Dotseth. “I look forward to building upon and expanding the Museum’s existing strengths as we reach out to the next generation of scholars, students, and museum-goers.”
SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and more than 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.
The Meadows Museum is the leading U.S. institution focused on the study and presentation of the art of Spain. In 1962, Dallas businessman and philanthropist Algur H. Meadows donated his private collection of Spanish paintings, as well as funds to start a museum, to Southern Methodist University. The museum opened to the public in 1965, marking the first step in fulfilling Meadows’s vision to create “a small Prado for Texas.” Today, the Meadows is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The collection spans from the 10th to the 21st centuries and includes medieval objects, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, and major paintings by Golden Age and modern masters.