John Bezold (6 November, 1985) John Bezold (6 November 1985) is an American-Dutch scholar who studies how institutions construct and scale authority. His work examines art markets, collecting practices, and the structural systems through which cultural value is produced, organized, and circulated, using early-twentieth-century museums as a historical laboratory for institutional formation. In 2016 he held a research fellowship at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, engaging directly with curatorial practice and institutional history. He holds a BSc from the University of Cincinnati (2008) and an MA (2015) and Research MA (2017) from the University of Amsterdam, where he is finishing doctoral research on curatorial logic, publishing history, and institutional authorship. From 2019 to 2024 he served as an editor and Editorial Board member of Oud Holland, the Netherlands’ leading art historical journal, establishing its digial publishing era. Alongside his academic work, he has operated across media and tech since 2008, beginning at Frame magazine, where he entered at the moment digital platforms were reshaping editorial authority—and has since designed digital infrastructures that strengthen institutional positioning, growth, and long-term visibility.

Articles & Reviews
'The Frans Hals Exhibitions at London and Amsterdam', Renaissance Studies, 39, no. 2 (April 2025): 303-312.
'Frans Hals Connoisseurs and Exhibitions: From Thoré to Today', in Frans Hals: Iconography, Technique and Reputation, eds. Rudi Ekkart and Norbert Middelkoop (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024), 221-243.
'Frans Hals in America: Collectors, Scholars, and Connoisseurs', Oud Holland Reviews (Aug. 2023).
'Frans Hals: The Male Portrait', Early Modern Low Countries 6, no. 2 (Dec. 2022): 278-280.
'Gerard, Lina, & Jan Gratama als schilders en tekenaars', Eigenbouwer, no. 16 (Nov. 2022): 22-33.
'Van de Velde and Sons: Marine Painters', Oud Holland Reviews (Nov. 2022).
'The Frans Hals Family Portrait Exhibition', Oud Holland Reviews (Dec. 2020). 

Edited Books
Bezold, John (ed.). Basquiat: The Artist and His New York Scene (Heerlen: Schunck, 2019).
–––. Un-Conscious-City (New York City: Actar, 2019). 
–––. Ellen Kooi Above Rotterdam (New York City: Actar, 2016). 
–––. Wiel Arets—Bas Princen (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2015).

Edited Journals
Review Editor & Editorial Board Member, Oud Holland, 2019–2024. 
Published 60+ reviews over a five year period as the review editor.

• Established editorial guidelines, style guide, and publishing process for the journal.
• Managed commissioning, editing, and publishing of new exhibition and book reviews.
• Wrote announcement articles and other digital media messaging to promote new editions.
• Sourced and secured supporting imagery, along with the necessary copyright permissions.
• Supported the editor-in-chief and the managing editor, including at editorial board meetings.
• Within two years of launching the review section of the website, its online readership doubled.

Podcasts
Dutch Art & Design Today, 2022–
Frans Hals Paintings—The Podcast, 2022-

Conference Papers
'The Many Frans Hals Connoisseurs and Exhibitions: From Thoré to Today.' Frans Hals: A Survey of Current Research, Organized by the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, 8 January 2023.

Awards
Frits Duparc Thesis Award 2017, Honorable Mention: Contrasting Connoisseurs: Attributing the Family Portraiture of Frans Hals (MA 2015).

Fellowship
American Friends of the Mauritshuis Researcher, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, 2016.