Johanna Burton
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1971 or 1972 (age 54–55)
Johanna Burton | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Johanna Burton in 2017 | |
| Born | Johanna Beth Burton 1971 or 1972 (age 54–55) Reno, Nevada, United States |
| Occupations | Art historian, critic, curator, museum director |
| Employer | Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia |
| Spouse | Tim Griffin |
Johanna Beth Burton is an American art historian, art critic, and curator who is serving as director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. Burton was director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from 2021 to 2025 and Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts from 2018 to 2021.
Johanna Beth Burton was born in 1971 or 1972,[1][2] and she grew up in Lemmon Valley, Nevada, near Reno.[3] She was named after the Bob Dylan song "Visions of Johanna".[3] She recalls growing up in a "pretty unconventional family" in a relatively low-income area.[3] Her parents were both artists—her father was a musician and her mother was a painter—and they owned horses and dogs.[3] She spent her childhood horseback riding with her mother along with certain activities suited for adults, such as learning to install drywall or work with plumbing, and also expressed an early curiosity in feminist ideas, especially feminist art.[3]
Burton studied at Hug High School in Reno.[4][better source needed] She obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1997, becoming the first student from the school to graduate with a degree in art history.[2][5] She then moved to New York to study at SUNY Stony Brook.[3] She earned master's degrees from SUNY Stony Brook, New York University, and Princeton University.[6][3] At Princeton, she studied with art critic Hal Foster.[5] She wrote art criticism through her studies and early roles in intern and adjunct positions.[3]
