Ellen MacFarlane

Background

About Ellen MacFarlane

I am an art historian and collector of American art. My professional background includes twenty years of experience in the arts. After working for the Macfarlane Collection as a teenager, I began my first job at Bonhams auctioneers and later co-managed Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Art Program. Later, I moved into museum work and academia. During my doctoral work at Princeton University, I completed research fellowships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Henry Luce Foundation, The Huntington Library, and The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona. After earning my PhD in modern art with specializations in American art and the history of photography, I completed a multi-year Andrew Mellon Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in visual studies at the University of Southern California. I am the Director of the Macfarlane Collection, which actively buys 19th and 20th century American fine art. In fall 2023, I will begin a new position as Assistant Professor of American Art History in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Denver.