The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Stephanie D'Alessandro as the curator in charge for a research center in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. The announcement was made by Thomas P. Campbell, who had resigned from his position as the director and chief executive of the museum in February. The museum has been seen in poor light for quite some time and is now struggling to regain the confidence of its stakeholders and staff.
D'Alessandro replaces Rabinow
New York born D'Alessandro comes from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she had organized a series of major exhibitions.
She began her career at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, and she joined the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998 as a Mellon Fellow first, and then as Assistant Curator, Associate Curator, and as the Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of International modern art. She received her B.A. from Dickinson College, and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
At The Met, she will be replacing Rebecca Rabinow who was elected the Director of the Menil Collection in July 2016. The position was renamed as the Leonard A. Lauder Curator of Modern Art in honor of Leonard A. Lauder's gift to the Met of 78 Cubist masterpieces. The collection included 33 works by Picasso, 17 by Braque, 14 by Gris, and 14 by Léger.
The museum continued to establish a research center for modern art, serving as the center for scholarship on Cubism, with the help from the Trustees and Mr. Lauder.
On her new appointment
On a release from the Met, D'Alessandro was quoted as expressing her eagerness to work with her colleagues in a new chapter of "ground-breaking research, exhibitions, and publications." She has organized major exhibitions at the museum and expanded the Art Institute's collection with key acquisitions that included the only surviving object by Surrealist Claude Cahun, Object (1936).
The Leonardo A. Lauder Research Center is designed to become the model for international research center houses. Annually, the Center awards four two-year fellowships and invites artists for residencies.
