Claudia Kheel is a leading expert in Southern Regional Art. For ten years she was the Director of Paintings, Prints and Photography at Neal Auction Company, where she maintains a consultant position. Kheel has museum experience and has strong personal ties with both the museum community and private collectors. She was Curator of Fine Arts at the Indiana State Museum and Visual Arts Curator at the Louisiana State Museum. She earned a Master of Arts degree in American Art History from Newcomb College at Tulane University and a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University.

Kheel has presented lectures and panels for the St. Mary Parish Landmarks, Nineteenth North American Print Conference, The Mississippi River and Her People Symposium sponsored by the National Archives, the Natchitoches Historic Foundation, and the American Association of State and Local History. Recently she was keynote speaker for Texas Regional Art Symposium on Woman Artists of Texas at the Heard-Craig Center for the Arts.

As a contributing author, Kheel has written entries for the soon to be published revised New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture published by Center of Study of Southern Culture at University of Mississippi; “Morris Henry Hobbs: In Old New Orleans,” a chapter in the critically acclaimed book Printmaking in New Orleans published by The Historic New Orleans Collection; “Louisiana Art in the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century,” a chapter for the inaugural exhibition catalogue Collecting Passions: Highlights from the LSU Museum of Art Collection; and “Morris Henry Hobbs and Mardi Gras,” an article for Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide.

Starting in the summer of 2011, she will lecture on Louisiana and Southern art at Tulane University’s School of Continuing Studies.

Email:  paintings@nealauction.com