Fellowships
Fellowships based at the Research Center offer an exceptional opportunity to conduct research on an independent project in the field of modern art, while contributing to the activities and programs of the Research Center.
We use the term ‘modern art’ inclusively to refer to architecture, drawing, design (including exhibition, graphic, interior and stage design), film, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles in the period from the last third of the nineteenth century through to the 1960s, from any country region or culture.
Fellowship Types
The Mid-Career Fellowship (formally Senior Fellowship) is for established scholars with an appropriate record of research/publication for the maximum duration of one year in the period from early September to the end of August. The annual stipend is $70,000, a research allowance of $6,000, plus return travel to New York and health insurance. A Mid-Career Fellow will mentor Pre-and Post-Doctoral Fellows in the Center in partnership with the Head of Center and the Distinguished Scholar. Later in the fellowship they will lead a closed seminar of invited early-career scholars from a range of university/college/museum contexts, including Leonard A. Lauder Fellows, on a theme to be agreed with the Head of Center. They will also give a public lecture on their work in the later stages of the Fellowship.
A one- or two-year fellowship at the Research Center for a post-doctoral scholar at an early career stage. Fellows will receive a stipend of $60,000, an annual research travel fund of $6,000, as well as health insurance. The Post-Doctoral Fellow will participate in and benefit from the activities of the Center and engage with the wider fellowship community at The Met.
A two-year fellowship at the Research Center for Ph.D. students working on a dissertation. Fellows will receive a stipend of $50,000, an annual research travel fund of $6,000, as well as health insurance. The Pre-doctoral Fellow will participate in and benefit from the activities of the Center and engage with the wider fellowship community The Met.
The Experience
Writing Workshop
Led by the Distinguished Scholar or the Head of Center, these workshops give our pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows the chance to have detailed feedback on a piece of writing related to their current research project (usually a PhD or a book project). Discussion often focuses on writing challenges that are shared, and issues of concern in developing new areas of study in art history. The atmosphere is friendly, supportive and the discussion is always rigorous.
Works In Progress
These regular meetings allow research fellows to present an overview of their project, and to discuss research problems, working with archives or other materials, ways of approaching works of art, or just difficulty with structure. Such events also provide a platform to invite early career researchers from outside the Research Center or The Met to present a project and test out their plans for future research.
Gallery Walks
Every fortnight the Research Center fellows and staff spend several hours in the galleries of The Met when they are closed to the public. On each occasion, one member of the group chooses a work or works that are of special interest or in some other way compelling and opens a discussion in front of the artefacts. Research Fellows from other Departments often join in these events and present on works they have chosen. Looking in depth and for a long time produces surprising and exciting insights, and feeds back into research and writing.
Our Fellows
Learn about our current and past cohorts of pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, and senior Fellows and their work while in residence in the Research Center.