Kevin W. Tucker is the High Museum of Art’s Chief Curator. With more than three decades of curatorial and museum leadership experience, he directs the High’s curatorial program across its eight departments and oversees the research and development of the museum’s collections and exhibitions. Since his arrival in 2017, he has led a comprehensive reinstallation of the museum’s galleries, worked with colleagues to develop new department plans emphasizing increased diversity and strategic growth, and fostered national and international connections and dialogue through the High’s series of touring exhibitions, loans, and acquisitions. His current efforts include preparations for the High’s 2026 centennial anniversary, including serving as editor for an associated handbook of highlights of the collection.
A scholar of late nineteenth and early twentieth century design, prior to joining the High, Tucker served as the founding director of the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida. From 2003 to 2015 Tucker served as the Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA). Tucker led numerous national and international collaborations, realizing a series of major acquisitions, publications, and exhibitions including Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design (2005), Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement (2010), and Modern Opulence in Vienna: The Wittgenstein Vitrine (2015).
Prior to joining the DMA, Tucker served as chief curator and deputy director of the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina, where he had previously been the curator of decorative arts. Tucker earned a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of South Carolina and was the recipient of a 2007 Winterthur Research Fellowship. He has served on committees for various regional and national professional organizations, including the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC), the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC).