About

Deborah Goodman Davis is an independent curator and art advisor specializing in modern and contemporary art. For more than three decades, she has worked with artists, collectors, museums, galleries, corporations, and cultural institutions, developing exhibitions, building collections, and creating meaningful connections between art and audiences.

Photo by Jeannette Montgomery Barron

Her curatorial projects include The Grass Has So Little to Do (2026), Boundless Color (2025), Golden Veins: The Art of Kintsugi and Transformation (2024–25), Mosaics (2023), TEXTiles: The Woven Word (2021), and the ongoing Visual Arts Program at New York City Center, where she has served as curator since 2017, overseeing exhibitions and commissions by leading contemporary artists.

In addition to organizing exhibitions, Deborah develops permanent and corporate art collections, including the Pharmascience Collection and contemporary art collections for Archer Hotels.

Earlier in her career, Deborah held positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and Sotheby’s London. She also served as Curatorial Coordinator for the internationally touring exhibition Post Human, organized by Jeffrey Deitch.

In addition to her curatorial practice, Deborah advises a select group of private collectors, corporations, and institutions, helping them build collections distinguished by artistic quality and enduring value.

Deborah is President of American Friends of Batsheva Dance Company and Vice Chair of the Board of New York City Center. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Judaica Acquisitions Committee at The Jewish Museum; Chair of the Friends of Photography Acquisitions Committee at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University; and Chair of the Jewish Book Council Visual Arts Prize.

She is the author of the award-winning children’s book Speeding Down the Spiral: An Artful Adventure and editor of PhotoRX: Pharmacy in Photography Since 1850.

Deborah received her B.A. in Art History from Cornell University and her M.A. from the University of Chicago. She also pursued graduate study in art history at Yale University and completed Sotheby’s Works of Art Course in London.

Thomas Struth
Paradise 34, The Big Island (Hawaiian Islands), 2006
C-print mounted on UV Plexiglas