A.J. Gianopoulos is a PhD student specializing in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American art, with a particular focus on artists of the Midwest. His interest in art began at age fifteen, when seeing the Sistine Chapel convinced him that art needed to be part of his life. Upon returning home to Evansville, Indiana, his mom took him to speak with family friend and Evansville Museum Director Emeritus John Streetman, who told him he should become a curator, and that is what he has wanted to do ever since.

Gianopoulos earned his B.A. in Art History from Ohio University and his M.A. in Art History from the University of Cincinnati. Over the past nine years, he has worked as a curator at museums, foundations, and galleries throughout West Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio, curating and designing more than forty exhibitions. These include Hoosier in Residence: T.C. Steele’s Franklin Hall Studio in Bloomington, Indiana, which brought together works from Indiana University, the Indiana State Museum, and private collections to recreate Steele’s former studio. At the Aline & Edgar Igleheart Foundation, he helped acquire more than $400,000 in artwork for the permanent collection, including Martha Walter’s portrait of Alice Schille and works by members of the Pissarro family, Luigi Lucioni, Édouard Cortès, and others.

His current research focuses on Midwestern artists who left the region to study in major American and European art centers before returning home and helping shape the artistic identities of their cities and states. He is also compiling and organizing the catalogue raisonné of Cincinnati artist Caroline A. Lord. Lord has a unique connection to Ohio State: both of her brothers were members of the university community, and the former Lord Hall was named for her brother Nathaniel Wright Lord.