Christopher (Kit) Maxwell

Christopher (Kit) Maxwell is the Art Institute’s Samuel and M. Patricia Grober Curator, in the department of Applied Arts of Europe. Before joining the museum in 2022, he was at the Corning Museum of Glass, where, as curator of early modern glass, he was responsible for collections ranging in date from about 1250 to 1820. Before joining the Corning Museum, Kit worked in several different capacities at the Royal Collection Trust, and from 2005 to 2010 he held the position of assistant curator in the ceramics and glass section at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he participated in the reinstallation of the ceramics galleries.

Kit received his BA in history of art from the University of Cambridge, his MA in decorative arts from Birkbeck College, University of London, and his PhD from the University of Glasgow with a dissertation on the dispersal of the Hamilton Palace collection. His recent postdoctoral work includes an MPhil on Nazi-era provenance from the University of Glasgow and an MRes in Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick with a focus on the material culture of the colonized Caribbean during the 18th century.