SAM Curator Ishikawa Gets Knighted By France

From the Seattle Art Museum: The Seattle Art Museum announced that Dr. Chiyo Ishikawa, SAM’s Susan Brotman Deputy Director for Art and Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, has been awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Minister of Culture. In receiving this—one of France’s most distinguished titles—Ishikawa joins a prestigious group of artists, writers, scholars, and producers recognized for fostering French arts and culture.

The award was presented in a ceremony at the museum on January 17th, 2018, and was bestowed by Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, Consul General of France based in San Francisco. “This award recognizes eminent artists and writers, and those who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world,” says Lebrun-Damiens. “Chiyo Ishikawa could not be more deserving of the title.”

The presentation preceded a SAM member event, Conversations with Curators, at which Ishikawa gave a lecture on a significant maritime painting recently acquired by the museum, Shipwreck off the Coast of Alaska, by French artist Louis-Philippe Crépin (1772–1851).

Ishikawa has been with the museum since 1990. In 2004, she co-curated Spain in the Age of Exploration 1492-1819, for which His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain awarded her the Order of Isabel la Católica, often called the Royal American Order of Isabella the Catholic. She was SAM’s curator for notable exhibitions related to French art and culture, including Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums; Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris; Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise; and Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style.

Dr. Ishikawa is an adjunct professor in the Department of History of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle. Previously, she worked in the Department of European Painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and in the Department of Paintings Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has a Ph.D. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

Photo credits: Scott Areman, Natali Wiseman