Curator of Photography

Guggenheim curator since 2002

Jennifer Blessing joined the curatorial staff in 2002, after previously working at the museum from 1989–97. She recently organized Catherine Opie: American Photographer, which opened in September 2008. Prior to this project, she curated two exhibitions for the Deutsche Guggenheim: True North and Jeff Wall: Exposure. In addition to organizing photo-based exhibitions, she is responsible for developing the museum's photography collection.

During her tenure with the museum she has curated the touring exhibitions Family Pictures; Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection; and Rrose is a Rrose is a Rrose: Gender Performance in Photography. She has contributed to numerous other museum exhibitions and catalogues, including Marina Abramović’s performance series Seven Easy Pieces; Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition; Premises: Invested Spaces in Visual Arts, Architecture & Design from France, 1958–1998; The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943–1968; Art of This Century; and Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z.

Blessing holds an MA in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Her current exhibition is Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, which will appear at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, beginning March 2010.