With her passion for perfume, Jessica Murphy uncovers the history and empowerment of scent. Jessica is a Scent and Art Historian and a Museum Professional. She’s always looking for new ways to connect art, fragrance, history and popular culture. Jessica shares the continuing results of her curiosity and research skills and along the way, she enriches the enjoyment of perfume.
Since 2006, Jessica has been a contributor for the leading perfume blog Now Smell This. And what better name for her website than ‘Perfume Professor‘. Since late 2015 Jessica has taught and lectured about the history and culture of fragrance at venues such as the Brooklyn Brainery, the Brooklyn Museum, The Institute for Art and Olfaction and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
Currently, Jessica is Manager of Visitor Engagement at the Brooklyn Museum. Before the pandemic, you could find Jessica offering the occasional scent-themed tours.
Prior to the Brooklyn Museum, Jessica worked as a Research Associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also worked as a Contractual Educator at the Met and as a Curatorial Assistant at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Jessica received her B.A. from Fordham University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Delaware.
A conversation with Jessica Murphy…
- The beginning – religion or incense
- Festivals and seduction
- Commercial use
- Luxury and class
- Studio 54
- That iconic fragrance
- Memories and scent