Ureña, Leslie J.
Former Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery
Ureña, Leslie J.
Former Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery
Leslie Ureña’s areas of scholarly interest include the history of photography and modern art, with a focus on the visual representation of identity. Her current projects two exhibitions scheduled for 2019: In Mid-Sentence and One Life: Marian Anderson.
Positions
- Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery 2020 -
- Associate Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery 2018 - 2020
- Assistant Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery 2016 - 2018
- Curatorial Research Associate, Department of Photographs, National Gallery of Art 2014 - 2016
Geographic Focus
- United States of America Country
Background And Education
Education And Training
- Ph.D. in Art History, Northwestern University , Art History, "Lewis Hine at Ellis Island: The Photography of Immigration and Race, 1904–1926" 2002 - 2009
- M.A. in Art History, Northwestern University , Art History 2002 - 2003
- B.A. in History of Art, Yale University , History of Art 1995 - 1999
Awards And Honors
- Weinberg Dissertation and Research Fellowship , conferred by Northwestern University, 2088
- National Committee of the History of Art, Travel Grant, conferred by National Committee of the History of Art, 2008
- Walters Art Museum, Department of European Art, Curatorial Research Fellowship, conferred by Walters Art Museum, 2007
- National Gallery of Art, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Predoctoral Fellowship for Historians of American Art to Travel Abroad, conferred by National Gallery of Art, 2005
Research And Grants
Investigator On
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Ureña, Leslie. 2020. "Portraying Race beyond Ellis Island: The Case of Lewis Hine." International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity 8 (1):13-37. https://doi.org/10.1163/22130624-00801006 2020
- Urena, Leslie. 2015. "Essays on Uta Barth, Binh Danh, Susan Meiselas, Mikhael Subotsky, Patrick Waterhouse, Idris Khan, David Maisel, and Hiroshi Sugimoto." in The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, edited by Greenough, Sarah and Nelson, Andrea., National Gallery of Art ; Thames and Hudson. 2015
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Blog Posting
- Urena, Leslie. 2017. "Enter Paul Robeson." Face to Face Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. April 7. http://npg.si.edu/blog/enter-paul-robeson. 2017
- Ureña, Leslie. 2017. "Starting at the Source: Lewis Hine and Labor." Face-to-Face http://npg.si.edu/blog/starting-source-lewis-hine-and-labor. 2017
- Urena, Leslie. 2017. "W. E. B. Du Bois: Nevertheless, Men Strive to Know." Face to Face Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. February 22. http://npg.si.edu/blog/w-e-b-du-bois-nevertheless-men-strive-know. 2017
- Ureña, Leslie. 2017. "Welcome to the Neighborhood, Mr. Rogers." Face-to-Face http://npg.si.edu/blog/welcome-neighborhood-mr-rogers. 2017
- Urena, Leslie. 2016. "Rosa Parks: Tired of Giving In." Face to Face Washington D.C.: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. December 1. http://npg.si.edu/blog/tired-giving. 2016
- Ureña, Leslie. 2016. "Testing the Law: Minoru Yasui's Centenary." Face-to-Face Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Oct 26, 2016. http://npg.si.edu/blog/testing-law-minoru-yasui%E2%80%99s-centenary. 2016
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Book
- Caragol-Barreto, Taina B., Urena, Leslie, and Sajet, Kim. 2022. The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today [Exhibition catalog] Washington, DC. 2022
- Eye to I: Self-Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery.. Ed. Fortune, Brandon. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2018. Photography, Migration and Cultural Encounters in America Institute of Art, Design & Technology. University of Leuven Press. 2018
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Chapter
- Ureña, Leslie. 2022. "Mapping Lee Mingwei's Transnational Art Practice; Lim, Michelle; Pyun, Kyunghee." In American Art in Asia. 1 ed. 139–151. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003130284-12. 2022
- Ureña, Leslie. 2021. "Photographing migrants and positionality: an interview with Leslie Ureña." In Art and migration: Revisioning the borders of community. Miyamoto, Bénédicte and Ruiz, Marie, editors. 2021
- Urena, Leslie. 2016. "Essays on Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Richard Avedon and Vik Muniz." in Photography Reinvented: The Collection of Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker, edited by Greenough, Sarah, Brookman, Philip, Nelson, Andrea, Urena, Leslie, and Waggoner, Diane., National Gallery of Art. 2016
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Conference Paper
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2012. "Photography in Transition." (Taipai) 2012
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2009. "Teaching Race: Lewis Hine at Ellis Island." College Art Association Annual Conference (Los Angeles, California) 2009. 2009
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Information Content Entity
- Ureña, Leslie. 2021. "One Life: Marian Anderson." Given at May 6, 2021. https://youtu.be/LJ7vuGkDCBE. 2021
- Ureña, Leslie, Lee, Mingwei, and Poulsen, Birita. 2020. "IDENTIFY: Lee Mingwei and Birita Poulsen with Leslie Ureña." Given at The Greenberg Steinhauser Forum in American Portraiture Conversation Series, September 1, 2020. https://youtu.be/D4lhJp3T6Mg. 2020
- Ureña, Leslie. 2020. "One Life: Marian Anderson." Given at Activism Through Photography: How Photographers Capture Social Movements and Contribute to National Dialogues, . https://www.photola.com/programming-virtual. 2020
- Ureña, Leslie. 2020. "Shifting Curatorial Practice Across Borders." Given at Association of Art Museum Curators Annual Conference, May 1, 2020. https://youtu.be/Vhcnj7LQtTk. 2020
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. ""One Life: Marian Anderson" and "In Mid-Sentence"." Given at July 30, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. ""One Life: Marian Anderson" and "In Mid-Sentence"." Given at September 19, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. ""One Life: Marian Anderson”." Given at September 28, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. "Curating "One Life: Marian Anderson"." Given at September 26, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. "In Mid-Sentence." Given at August 11, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. "Marian Anderson: A New Look at an Iconic Life." Given at August 8, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. "One Life: Marian Anderson." Given at August 14, 2019. 2019
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2019. "Remembering Marian Anderson." (7), 2019
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2019. "The World of Marian Anderson: A Turning the Tables Playlist." 2019
- Ureña, Leslie. 2017. ""Portraying Race beyond Ellis Island," on the panel "ARRIVALS?" at the conference "Encounters: Handling, Placing, and Looking at Photographs in Relation to Migration," International Conference organized by the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, Italy." Given at . 2017
- Ureña, Leslie and Clisson, James. 2015. "Crowds in American Imagination." Given at College Art Association Annual Conference, February 13, 2015. 2015
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2011. "Taiwanese Art Beyond Taiwan: A Conversation with Richard Vine and Manray Hsu." Given at . 2011
- Ureña, Leslie J. 2007. "Lewis Hine at Ellis Island: The Photography of Immigration and Race, 1904-1926 (Workshop)." Given at . 2007
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Webpage
- Ureña, Leslie. 2019. "Remembering Robert Frank Through the Portraits Others Took of Him." The Atlantic 2019-09-18. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/09/robert-frank-national-portrait-gallery/598234/. 2019
Presentations
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Exhibit
- Ureña, Leslie (Curator). 2019. "In Mid-Sentence." Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, 2019-05-03 to 2020-03-08..
- Ureña, Leslie (Curator). 2019. "One Life: Marian Anderson." Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, 2019-06-28 to 2020-05-17..
- Ureña, Leslie and Caragol-Barreto, Taina (Curators). 2022. "The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today." : 2022-04-30 to 2023-02-26..
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Presentation
- Ureña, Leslie, Farmer, Sharon, MacDonnell, Kate, Raab, Susana, and Gordon, Sarah. 2021. Our City, Ourselves: Women Photograph Washington [presentation]. March 30, 2021.
- Caragol, Taína and Ureña, Leslie. 2021. The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition: History and Process [presentation]. March 22, 2021.
Affiliation
Member Of
- Association of Art Museum Curators Member, Governance & Nominating Committee 2017 -
- College Art Association Member
Contact
Location
- National Portrait Gallery Department
