The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is accepting applications for a 2-Year Post-Graduate Fellowship in Paintings Conservation in the museum’s Lunder Conservation Center. The fellowship will focus on paintings by women artists from the 1930’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in preparation for a traveling exhibition. The paintings are from SAAM’s vast collection of WPA artworks and include an array of substrates and painting mediums. Many have never been exhibited before and will require both structural and aesthetic treatments. Conservation research will be a vitalcomponent of the post-graduate fellowship, as it will broaden knowledge of the artistic techniques, materials and methods employed by these underrepresented female artists and will provide essential guidelines for exhibition display as well as
preventive care and framing.
The fellow will collaborate with SAAM Painting Conservators, Curators, and Curatorial Research Assistance for the conservation treatments, preservation, and analytical and historical research on the artworks. They will also collaborate with SAAM’s registration department to perform condition exams on exhibition works, along with researchers at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) for the research and analysis of materials with the intention of contributing to an exhibition catalog. Professional opportunities will also be available to contribute to collection care, and examination support for loans, rotations, and acquisitions in support of SAAM’s painting conservation work.
The fellowship is open to post-graduate paintings conservators with a Master’s degree in paintings conservation from a recognized conservation training program. Candidates must have completed their graduate degree by September 2026 and be no more than three years in post-graduate practice. One of the missions of the Lunder Conservation Center is to serve our professional and public communities through outreach and educational programming. Candidates with experience or interest in public programming are encouraged to apply. The fellowship includes an annual stipend of $47,000, with additional annual allotment of $2,000 in research/travel expenses. The fellowship begins in October 2026 and is for a term of 24 months. SAAM fellowships are open to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, parental status, marital status, or sexual orientation.
To apply, please submit a statement of interest, a C.V., and the names and contact information for two references by email to DWRCLunder@si.edu, with “2026 Paintings Fellowship Application” in the subject line. The deadline for application submissions is close-of-business April 13, 2026. Interviews will be conducted by phone in late April with a final decision anticipated by May 1st.
