About this template
The Art Gallery template reads like a catalogue raisonné: Cormorant italic display, large roman numerals, hairline rules and generous margins. This is not an ATS-safe CV — it is a portfolio-grade application document built for a human reader, the kind who opens the PDF between two private views. The typography itself signals fluency with the codes of criticism and fine-art publishing; a generic parser would miss it entirely, which is precisely the point.
Who is it for?
For curators, assistant curators, gallery directors, art handlers, conservators and art historians applying to Tate Modern, the Royal Academy, the Whitechapel Gallery, the V&A, the Serpentine, the Hayward, MoMA, the Whitney, Dia Beacon, as well as galleries such as Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, Gagosian, White Cube, Marian Goodman, and auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips. Suited to alumni of the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths Curating MA, the Courtauld Institute, Bard Graduate Center, Yale School of Art and Whitney ISP — and to residents of ISCP Brooklyn, Skowhegan and the Banff Centre.
How to use it
Lead the header with a sober portfolio URL — personal domain, curated Are.na page or pro Vimeo account rather than a generic Behance. In the Exhibitions section, distinguish « curated » from « contributed to » and cite the institution, the exact exhibition title, the year and the lead curator's name. For works or projects under NDA (private collection acquisitions, confidential commissions), keep it generic (« curated a solo exhibition for a European private foundation ») — selection committees read that discretion as a marker of method. Visual coherence between CV and portfolio is expected: do not pair a radical sans-serif portfolio site with a Cormorant CV. Long-tail: « art curator CV Tate », « assistant curator portfolio Whitechapel », « gallery director CV Hauser & Wirth », « art handler CV Christie's », « ISCP residency CV ».
Frequently asked questions
Should I name the private collections where my works or projects have been acquired?
Only with the explicit consent of the collector or where the acquisition has been publicly announced (specialist press, public collection databases, museum archives). For confidential acquisitions, keep the wording generic (« acquired by a European private collection », « entered a North American institutional collection »). Curators and gallerists immediately recognise a candidate who respects the discretion convention of the field — it is a stronger seniority marker than an exhaustive list.
Will the template pass an ATS at a major institution such as Tate or MoMA?
No, and that is not the goal. Tate, MoMA and most large public institutions use administrative recruitment platforms where the CV is re-keyed into a structured form — layout matters little. For direct applications to assistant director roles, private galleries and foundations (Cartier, LUMA Arles, Fondation Beyeler, the Aspen Art Museum), this template speaks the visual code of the profession and moves the CV to the top of the pile.
How do I include a personal artistic practice alongside an institutional career?
Create a distinct « Artistic practice » section with 2-3 marquee solo or group exhibitions, the venue and the year. Avoid mixing curating and practice in the same section — it blurs positioning. For curator-artists (a tradition assumed since Harald Szeemann), the dual stance is legible if it is named explicitly in the header. For a curator who practises privately, prefer to omit — private practice only becomes a positive signal beyond a certain level of public visibility.
