Joseph Becherer

Joseph Antenucci Becherer, PhD is the Director of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. He also serves as Concurrent Professor of Art History and Curator of Sculpture. Prior, he was the Lena Meijer Professor in the History of Art at Aquinas College and the Vice President and founding Chief Curator of the world-renowned Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan – both from 1999-2019.

A scholar of Modern and Contemporary Sculpture, he has curated more than fifty exhibitions and authored more than 20 books and catalogues on artists ranging from Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore, Jim Dine and Beverly Pepper, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Jonathan Borofsky, Jenny Holzer and Ai Weiwei, among others. In 2022, he authored Gravitas on the work of sculptor Dietrich Klinge for the Diocese of Cologne, Germany. His latest book, Christ Among Us: Sculptures of Jesus Across the History of Art was published in 2023 by Eerdman’s Press.

A first-generation college student, he earned a BFA ‘87 and MFA ‘89, Summa Cum Laude, from Ohio University working with Marilyn Bradshaw and Judith Perani. He earned a PhD in the History of Art from Indiana University where he was a protégé of Bruce Cole – the longest serving director of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Antenucci Becherer has studied and lived extensively in Rome, London, Florence, and Perugia throughout his academic training.

He has been awarded the Cavaliere nell’ Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knighthood for contributions to culture) by the Republic of Italy, is a two-time recipient of the Governor’s Award for art and culture by the State of Michigan and the highest cultural honors by the Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

Antenucci Becherer and his wife, Lisa, have two grown sons: Joseph, an actor in New York, and Vincent, an artist in Michigan. Joe and Lisa live in downtown South Bend, Indiana.