Kevin Sharp is the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea Director of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, a position he has held since 2007. Prior to that he was Director of Visual Arts at Cedarhurst in Mt. Vernon, Illinois (2003-2007), Curator of American Art at the Norton Museum of Art, in West Palm Beach, Florida (1998-2003), and Research Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago (1988-1998).
With expertise in nineteenth-century French and American art, Sharp has organized or co-organized more than fifty exhibitions during his long career, including international retrospectives, thematic shows, and collection-based projects. He is a contributing essayist or the sole author of more than twenty-five books and exhibition catalogues.