Princeton University Art Museum Appoints Alexandra Foradas as Haskell Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Alexandra Foradas has been named the Haskell Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Princeton University Art Museum, where she will lead the Museum’s program in global modern and contemporary art. Foradas joins the Museum from MASS MoCA, where she specialized in modern and contemporary art with a particular interest in the intersections of visual art and performance. She will begin her new position in Princeton on March 10, 2025.

Foradas arrives in Princeton as the Museum prepares to open a bold new building in the fall of 2025, an ambitious project that will double the space for the exhibition, conservation, study, and interpretation of its globe-spanning collections, encompassing more than 117,000 works of art. As the new Haskell Curator, Foradas will work with Museum Director James Steward, Chief Curator Juliana Ochs Dweck, and a team of fifteen curators to activate the Museum’s collections in postwar art. She joins a collaborative curatorial team charged with originating exhibitions, strategizing acquisitions, and advancing research to engage the University community and Museum visitors alike. Foradas will also play an integral academic role on Princeton’s campus, supporting research and learning at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

The Museum began collecting modern art in the late 1940s, with gifts from artists—among them Sam Gilliam and Alice Neel—characterizing these early holdings. Over time, the collections grew with particular strengths in the areas of Pop art and postwar abstraction, including most recently a substantial bequest from the historian of American art John Wilmerding. In 1976 an endowment establishing the John B. Putnam Memorial Collection brought outdoor sculpture by the likes of Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson to the University’s campus. Since the 1990s the collections have evolved, becoming more global in scope, more diverse in material, and more engaged with the work of living artists. This pivotal curatorial position was endowed in 2010 through the generosity of Princeton alumnus Preston H. Haskell III, Class of 1960, an eminent collector of modern and contemporary art and a longtime member and former chair of the Museum’s Advisory Council. In 2022, Haskell made a major commitment of abstract paintings to the Museum that builds on his leadership gift to the construction of the new Museum, to be recognized with the naming of the new Haskell Education Center.

“We’re excited to have Allie join us during this moment of tremendous growth,” said James Steward, Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director. “Her expertise in modern and contemporary art, her deep commitment to collaborating with many of our time’s most important living artists, and her enthusiasm about connecting with artists, academics, students, and members of our wider communities as we prepare to open our new building and prepare new collections installations and exhibitions will make her a tremendous asset to our team.”

Foradas was selected through an international search process carried out with the support of Arts Consulting Group.

Foradas joined MASS MoCA in 2015, ahead of the opening of its Robert W. Wilson Building (B6). During her time there, she curated eighteen temporary exhibitions, including commissioning new work from more than thirty artists. In recent years, she has curated and cocurated exhibitions by artists including Osman Khan (Road to Hybridabad, 2024), Jason Moran (Black Stars: Writing in the Dark, 2022), EJ Hill (Brake Run Helix, 2022), Lady Pink (2022), and Annie Lennox (‘Now I Let You Go. . .’, 2019, cocurated with Joseph Thompson), among others. Foradas has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Hunter College and frequently serves as a guest lecturer or visiting critic at institutions such as the University of Michigan, Temple University, the Wassaic Project, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, and the Williams College Museum of Art. She holds an MA from Williams College and a BA from Bowdoin College.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to work alongside the team to help shape the future of the Princeton University Art Museum’s collections and programming at this exciting time of change,” said Foradas. “The Museum has long been committed to telling the stories of humanity through art. I believe passionately in the promise of academic museums—and especially of their curators—to foster programming and projects that offer spaces for community-making, questioning, and dreaming towards possible futures. I look forward to reimagining the Museum’s incredible collections in its new building and deepening opportunities for collaboration, education, and dialogue across the University and in our communities at large.” 

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About the Princeton University Art Museum 

With a collecting history that extends back to 1755, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, featuring collections that have grown to include more than 117,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the globe. Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Museum also serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world.

The main Museum building is currently closed for the construction of a bold and welcoming new building, slated to open in fall 2025.

Art@Bainbridge, a gallery project at 158 Nassau Street, is open daily. Admission is free.

Please visit the Museum’s website for digital access to the collections, a diverse portfolio of programs, and details on visiting Art@Bainbridge. The Museum Store in Palmer Square, located at 56 Nassau Street in downtown Princeton, is open daily, or shop online at www.princetonmuseumstore.org.