Preparator, Artist, Author, and Diorama Historian (Retired)

Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University 

 

Kevin J. Avery is a senior research scholar at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was an assistant and an associate curator in the American Wing from 1988 to 2008.  Dr. Avery received his B.A. in art history from Fordham University and his M.A. and PhD. from Columbia University, completing a dissertation on the effect of the panorama on American landscape painting.  At the Metropolitan he specialized in the landscapes of the Hudson River School and in American drawings and watercolors, mounting several exhibitions and preparing the accompanying catalogues.   He has lectured widely on American landscape painting, including several presentations on the links between the fine arts and the natural history habitat diorama.