The Athens of America: The Arts of Philadelphia from Colonial to Colonial Revival

Alexandra Kirtley

A native of Baltimore, Alexandra Kirtley graduated from Hamilton College with honors in the history of art and received an M.A. from the University of Delaware (Winterthur Program). Since 2001, she has been the Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she has orchestrated major acquisitions through gifts and purchases. In addition to smaller exhibitions, she curated “Colonial Philadelphia Porcelain: The Art of Bonnin & Morris” (2008), “Classical Splendor: Painted Furniture for a Grand Philadelphia House” (with conservator Peggy Olley, 2016), and reinstallations of the galleries of American art, 1650 to 1840 (opened in 2021) and 1840 to 1960 (opened in 2026). Most recently, she co-curated the special exhibition "A Nation of Artists," which opened on April 12, 2026.

A frequent presenter at scholarly conferences and symposia and an author of multiple publications, Kirtley is “known for her innovative art historical approach” to decorative arts. She wrote the first-ever catalogue of the PMA’s preeminent collection of early American furniture: "American Furniture 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art" (2020; 2nd printing, 2021). Then-director Timothy Rub described the catalogue as “a daunting undertaking.”

Kirtley has been an appointee of the United States Senate’s Commission on Art since 2003. She serves on the boards of the Decorative Arts Trust (officer), The Andalusia Foundation (which oversees the Biddle family’s Delaware River estate) and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.