Shelley Farmer graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in American Studies and Art History from Vassar College. She completed post-graduate study at Sotheby’s Institute, New York, and subsequently earned her certificate in Appraisal Studies from New York University.
Since joining the gallery in 1997, Shelley has worked in the Print Department and is now Director of Hirschl & Adler Modern, the gallery’s contemporary arm. In addition to curating and co-curating many gallery exhibitions, Shelley’s primary focus has been to build a stable of contemporary representational painters working at the very highest level to complement the gallery’s 18th, 19th, and early 20th-century holdings. Under her direction, Hirschl & Adler Modern annually presents about ten solo and group exhibitions of work by both established and emerging artists.
In addition to contemporary realist art, Shelley’s personal areas of interest include American and European Modernism and Post-War Art.