Charles L. Venable

Dr. Charles L. Venable (born 1 March 1960) is the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.^[1]

Venable was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He received a B.A., cum laude, in Art History and History from Rice University in 1982 and a master's degree from the University of Delaware's Winterthur Program in Early American Culture in 1986 and a PhD from Boston University in American Studies in 1993.^[2]

From 1986 to 2002, he was at the Dallas Museum of Art, rising from rank of Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts to deputy director and built the museum’s holdings of American decorative art. Venable also served five years (2002–2007) as deputy director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and then five years as the Director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY.^[3]

Publications

Venable has edited and written several scholarly publications. His book, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection (1989), was awarded the Charles F. Montgomery Award of the Decorative Arts Society (DAS). His 1994 publication, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, received the DAS's Montgomery Prize. In 2000 he co-authored, China and Glass in America, 1880-1980.

References