Whether you are planning to attend our April 20th program at VMHC or not, you can join us next door at VMFA following the program for a look at the Schlumberger Collection with Dr. Sylvain Cordier, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art at VMFA. The collection, a result of a planned gift, is the largest and most comprehensive public collection of the work of Jean Schlumberger, one of the most talented fashion designers of the 20th century. (See more details below.) 

Dr. Sylvain Cordier is the Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art. Born and raised in Paris, France, he received his PhD in art history from the Paris-Sorbonne University in 2009. Originally a specialist of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century decorative arts, he has expanded research in the dialogue between decorative and visual arts, the relationship between artistic creation and discourses of power, and the art of portraiture in pre-contemporary Europe.

Before joining VMFA, Cordier held several positions in academia and museums in Europe and North America. He began as a curatorial assistant at Musée Gustave Moreau and later assistant curator at the Castle of Versailles before becoming a lecturer at Sorbonne University. After completing his PhD, he was received as Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow at the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2010-2011 he was granted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Getty Research Institute. Cordier joined the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts as curator of early decorative arts in 2013. In Montreal, he cocurated "Fabulous Fabergé", the local venue of VMFA’s travelling exhibition of the Pratt collection of Fabergé jewelry, and an exhibition focused on Rodin’s studio that was received by VMFA in 2015. He was the organizing curator of the critically acclaimed international exhibition "Napoleon: The Imperial Household", which was presented at VMFA in 2018 under the title "Napoleon. Power and Splendor". Cordier joined VMFA in November 2019.

This is free for all members and guests, but advance registration is required.