William Helfrecht

Collections Curator

William joined the National Gallery in January 2019, where he is responsible for supporting the Chief Curator in the administration, care and academic interpretation of the National Collection, as well as the development and installation of exhibitions. He received his BA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, specialising in modern and contemporary art, before pursuing a curatorial internship at Tate Modern in London (2008-9), where he helped organise exhibitions and performances for Tate’s Live Art and Unilever event series.

William completed his master’s degree in Art History and Curatorial Studies at Columbia University in New York, as well as further studies in Art History at CUNY Graduate Center. His professional background includes experience in the commercial art world, at Luhring Augustine gallery in New York, and in the non-profit sector with No Longer Empty— an organisation specialising in site-responsive and community-centred exhibitions in unique spaces throughout New York City. From 2009-10 he worked as a Mellon Foundation curatorial fellow for the Walker Art Center, where he undertook the cataloguing of the Merce Cunningham art collection on behalf of the Walker, helping the institution to acquire this significant collection. This experience spurred his interest in archival work and led to a curatorial internship at the Dwan Gallery archives, where he was involved in organising gallerist and art patron Virginia Dwan’s personal collection of exhibition materials and rare photographs for a major retrospective at the National Gallery in Washington D.C and LACMA (Los Angeles).

William’s academic interests include post-war American art, Caymanian visual culture and contemporary art of the Caribbean and its wider diaspora, alongside exhibition strategies that embrace community participation and inclusion. He is excited to be part of the NGCI team and to help showcase Caymanian art to the National Gallery’s diverse audiences.