Sharon Hecker is an art historian and curator who specializes in modern and contemporary Italian art. She is a leading international authority on Medardo Rosso, and has written on other key twentieth-century Italian artists such as Lucio Fontana, Luciano Fabro, Francesco Lo Savio, Giuseppe Penone and Marisa Merz.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. History of Art – University of California at Berkeley
M.A. History of Art – University of California at Berkeley
B.A. Renaissance Studies, cum laude – Yale University
Facoltà di Lettere – Middlebury College / Università degli Studi di Firenze
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Fall 2020 THE COOPER UNION, NEW YORK CITY. Visiting Professor
Summer 2018 HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art (SITSA), Visiting Professor
2006-2012 IES ABROAD MILAN / UNIVERSITÀ CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE, MILAN, ITALY
Academic Dean. Adjunct Professor
1999-2000 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY
Lecturer, Topics in Impressionism
Graduate Student Instructor, The Body in Nineteenth-century French Art
Teaching Assistant, Rodin’s Ascent – Professor Jacques de Caso
Teaching Assistant, Special Topics in Art History – Professor Svetlana Alpers
1991-1992 ARCHIVIO DI LUCIANO FABRO, MILAN, ITALY
Worked as liaison between Italian artist Luciano Fabro and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for artist’s first U.S. retrospective, translated catalogue and artist’s theoretical writings
1990-1991 GALLERIA CHRISTIAN STEIN, MILAN, ITALY
Worked with contemporary Italian artists of Arte Povera movement
1989-1990 U.S. PAVILION BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, VENICE, ITALY
Project Coordinator for the artist Jenny Holzer
Supervised installation of U.S. Pavilion, as well as ten public projects around the city of Venice, Winner of Venice “Leone d’oro” prize for best pavilion
1988-1991 PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION, VENICE, ITALY. Office of Deputy Director
Dr. Hecker is available for curatorial projects, research, lectures, workshops and consulting.
CURATING
Lucio Fontana’s Ceramics, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 2025.
Medardo Rosso: Sight Unseen and His Encounters with London, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, 2017 – 2018, with Julia Peyton-Jones.
Read more here or watch video.
Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 2016 – 2017, with Tamara S. Schenkenberg.
Read more or watch video.
Medardo Rosso: Second Impressions, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge MA; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; Saint Louis Art Museum; St. Louis, 2003 – 2004, with Harry Cooper. Read more. Review in the New York Times by Holland Cotter.
Medardo Rosso. Bambino ebreo, Peter Freeman, Inc., New York, 2014. Read more.
WRITING
Sharon Hecker has published on modern and contemporary Italian art. Her writings on artists such as Medardo Rosso, Lucio Fontana, Luciano Fabro, Francesco Lo Savio, Giuseppe Penone and Marisa Merz appear in books, edited volumes, scholarly journals and exhibition catalogues.
She also writes on cultural heritage and issues surrounding due diligence, expertise, authenticity and attribution, seeking to promote greater dialogue between art history, the art market and art law.
CONSULTING
Sharon Hecker provides consulting on due diligence for artworks, working with private collectors, foundations and public institutions according to The Hecker Standard®.
AWARDS
J.Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities (2002-2003)
Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Grant for Research in Italy (1997)
Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship and Regents Fellowship (1997)
Fulbright Scholarship Extension (1997)
Fulbright Scholarship (1995-1996)
Mellon Dissertation-Year Fellowship for Graduate Study (1995)
UC Berkeley Humanities Graduate Research Grant (1994)
UC Berkeley Dean’s Research Assistant Dissertation Fellowship (1994)
UC Berkeley Letters and Sciences Provost’s Fund Travel Grant (1993)