Kara Lysandra Ross

Kara Lysandra Ross is the Co-Chair and Chief Operating Officer of the world-renowned Art Renewal Center (ARC), and one of its founding members. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Drew University, and has dedicated her career to the research, promotion, and education of representational art and 19th-century Academic painting.

As a scholar and author, Kara served as co-editor of the William Bouguereau Catalogue Raisonné and authored chapter 28 of its published second edition. She co-authored William Bouguereau: The Essential Works, and is accepted as the world authority on the British painter Edmund Blair Leighton, for whom she is currently researching and writing the catalogue raisonné, authenticating works for Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonham's. She has also been a contributing writer for Collections Magazine and Fine Art Connoisseur.

In her role at the ARC, Kara spearheaded the creation of the live exhibition component of the ARC Salon Competition, serving as its chief organiser and curator. This travelling exhibition has been hosted at prestigious international venues including Sotheby's New York, Sotheby's Los Angeles, the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, and the Salmagundi Club — bringing the work of the world's finest contemporary realist artists to audiences across the globe. She serves as an ARC Salon Juror, and has also judged competitions for the 2nd Velázquez Painting & Sculpture Competition (China), the South African Portrait Society, the International Guild of Realism, IX Arts, and the Ani Academy.