Kathleen Soriano

Kathleen Soriano was born in 1963 in London to parents Salvador Soriano and Kathleen O'Neill.[1] She studied at the University of Leicester from 1982 until 1985 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Honours in History of Art and English. In 1995 she married Peter Greenhough.[1]

Her first major role in the arts was with the Royal Academy of Arts where she worked until 1989.[2] In 1989 she joined the National Portrait Gallery, London as its Head of Exhibitions and Collections.[2] She remained with the Gallery until 2006.[2]

In 2004, Soriano became a Clore Fellow at the Clore Leadership Programme during its inaugural year. The Clore Fellowship is a programme that aims to develop cultural leaders.[3] She carried out her secondment at the South Bank Centre with Michael Lynch and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.[3][4]

In February 2006, she left the National Portrait Gallery and became the Director at Compton Verney in Warwickshire.[4] In 2007, Soriano became one of three judges who selected 238 works from 1600 entries from across the West Midlands for the Birmingham Open Art Exhibition.[5]

In late 2008, she was appointed the new director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, replacing the retiring Sir Norman Rosenthal who had held the post for 31 years.[6] This was a new position replacing the former Exhibitions Secretary post.[7] She took up the role in January 2009. During her time at the Royal Academy of Arts she developed exhibitions such as Bronze, David Hockney, Van Gogh, and Degas.[2] In 2013, she curated the exhibition Australia at the Royal Academy.[8] It featured both Aboriginal heritage and Australian art covering 200 years.[8] She left the Royal Academy in 2014 and was replaced by Tim Marlow.[9]

In 2013, Soriano joined the television show Sky Arts Artist of the Year as one of the three expert judges.[10] She is continuing in this the role in the 2023 series, alongside Kate Bryan and Tai-Shan Schierenberg.[11]

From April 2014, Soriano began working independently as an art curator and on other cultural projects.[2] She was one of five judges of the Place Prize for Choreography in 2008 when Adam Linder won the main prize.[12]

In October 2016, Soriano was appointed as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Liverpool Biennial, replacing Paula Ridley.[13]

During January 2018, she curated the London Art Fair's 30th Anniversary - Art of the Nation: Five Artists Choose.[14] In early 2019, she curated an exhibition of the works of Harald Sohlberg for the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the first exhibition of his works in the UK.[15]

Soriano was appointed chair of the Art UK charity in December 2022, replacing Charles Gregson.[16]

• Liz Rideal and Kathleen Soriano (16 April 2018). Madam and Eve: Women Portraying Women
• Tai-Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano, and Kate Bryan (6 November 2014). Portrait Artist of the Year: A Little Book of Portraits
• Richard Davey, Kathleen Soriano, Christian Weikop (29 September 2014). Anselm Kiefer
• Wally Caruana, Franchesca Cubillo, Anna Gray, Deborah Hart, Thomas Keneally, Ron Radford, Kathleen Soriano and Daniel Thomas (4 February 2014). Australia
• Kathleen Soriano, Emmanuel Cooper and Xavier Salomon (30 April 2010). Compton Verney