CENTER FOR CURATORIAL LEADERSHIP
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has named its new Leonard A. Lauder Curator of Modern Art: Stephanie D’Alessandro. She will start in May, in the wake of Rebecca Rabinow departing last July to become the director of Houston’s Menil Collection.
D’Alessandro comes from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was its Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of International Modern Art. She joined the museum’s staff in 1998, beginning as a Mellon Fellow before stints as an assistant curator and associate curator. At the Art Institute, she organized a number of major exhibitions, including an upcoming Tarsila do Amaral show, which is slated to open later this year.
D’Alessandro replaces Rabinow, who oversaw the Met’s modern art program at a critical moment. In 2013, the museum received a world-class promised gift of Cubist paintings from the collection of Leonard A. Lauder, transforming the Met’s modern holdings.
In a statement, Thomas P. Campbell, the outgoing director of the Met, said that D’Alessandro has “pioneered new ways of audience engagement with modern art, which is a cornerstone of the Met’s mission.”