George Rickey Foundation welcomes Marin R. Sullivan as Director of Research and Programs
Marin R. Sullivan will join the George Rickey Foundation, Inc. as Director of Research and Programs, a newly created position that will support the Foundation’s mission to advance the appreciation and understanding of the life and work of the artist George Rickey. In this role, she will lead work on the first-ever catalogue raisonné of George Rickey‘s sculpture as well as other research and program initiatives. Sullivan’s appointment is the result of an international search, and she will start at the Foundation in September 2025.
“We have worked towards this moment for the past few years, and we are confident Marin will guide us through the completion of George Rickey’s long hoped for goal of a catalogue raisonné of his sculpture,” said Diane Frankel, President of the Foundation's Board of Directors.
The Foundation’s Executive Director Richard Benefield stated, “We are pleased to welcome Dr. Sullivan to this critical role. Her wealth of experience in the field of sculpture will be invaluable as we continue work on Rickey‘s catalogue raisonné, a vital tool for research and study about one of the great kinetic sculptors.”
As Director of Research and Programs, Sullivan will develop research initiatives and implement public programs aimed at encouraging greater engagement with the legacy of George Rickey. She will pursue new partnerships with universities, museums, and other arts institutions and create more opportunities for scholars, students, curators, and critics to produce new scholarship about the artist’s life and work. In support of these efforts, Sullivan will also focus on the further development and publication of the catalogue raisonné of George Rickey’s sculpture, which will serve as the definitive resource for information about Rickey’s sculptural output. Additionally, Sullivan will conduct new archival research into key, yet understudied, aspects of Rickey’s career, and ensure that information and resources about the artist are made more accessible to researchers and the general public.
“I have long admired George Rickey’s work and it is an honor to help steward his legacy,” said Sullivan. “I look forward to working with the staff and board of the George Rickey Foundation to develop further research opportunities and resources, including the publication of a catalogue raisonné, to help more people appreciate the substantial impact he had on modern sculpture and to facilitate new lines of scholarly inquiry and ways of thinking about his work.”
Sullivan is a Chicago-based art historian, curator, consultant, educator, and writer, specializing in the histories of modern and contemporary sculpture. She is the author of Alloys: American Sculpture and Architecture at Midcentury (Princeton, 2022) and Sculptural Materiality in the Age of Conceptualism (Routledge, 2017) and is currently at work on the first-ever biography of the artist Claire Falkenstein. Sullivan has edited and contributed to numerous exhibition catalogues and scholarly volumes as well as authored articles in publications including American Art, Art History, History of Photography, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Public Art Dialogue, and Sculpture Journal.
Sullivan is currently co-curating Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer,” which will open at the High Museum of Art in April 2026. Other recent projects have included Edgar Miller: Anti-Modern, 1917-1967 (DePaul Art Museum, 2025), Harry Bertoia: Sculpture for Living (Bruce Museum, 2023), Richard Hunt: Monumental (KANEKO, 2022), and Harry Bertoia: Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life (Nasher Sculpture Center, 2022). Sullivan was also the Curator of Modern & Contemporary Sculpture for the Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, where she helped steward the refurbishment of the Ann & Monroe Carell Family Sculpture Trail, which includes Rickey’s One Line Horizontal Floating (1994), and the acquisition of Pars pro Toto (2020) by Alicja Kwade. In this position she also curated COLORSCAPES (2022), a major indoor and outdoor site-specific presentation by the Chicago-based artists Luftwerk and The Sculpture of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments, and Stonework (2021), which was supported by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
Before joining the George Rickey Foundation, Sullivan was the Director of Research at the Harry Bertoia Foundation. In this role she spearheaded the publication of the Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné and oversaw theFoundation’s archives and research projects. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at DePaul University and previously was Assistant Professor of Art History at Keene State College in New Hampshire and a Henry Moore Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Leeds. Sullivan was also a George Gurney Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a Tyson Scholar at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. She earned a PhD in the history of art from the University of Michigan and holds a MA in art history from Southern Methodist University and a BA in Art from the University of Florida.
The George Rickey Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1993 by George and Edith Rickey. The Foundation works to maintain, enhance, and increase the global reputation of artist George Rickey, one of the most important kinetic sculptors of the twentieth century. It promotes the artist through exhibitions by sharing its collection of more than 700 of his works. The Foundation’s extensive archives, which document Rickey’s life and work, support scholarly publications, its digital presence, and the conservation of his sculptures. The Foundation is governed by an international board of directors that includes President Diane Frankel (San Francisco), Treasurer Debra Balken (Providence), Joseph Becherer (Notre Dame, IN), Clare Lilley (U.K.), Allison Whiting (New York), and Loretta Würtenberger (Germany). Richard Benefield had been its executive director since January 2020. Kasmin Gallery (New York) is the worldwide exclusive representative of works from the George Rickey Foundation and the George Rickey Estate.
