AIC Names New Modern Art Curator

Stephanie D'Alessandro was appointed Curator of Modern Art at the Art Institute of Chicago on January 15, 2008.

The Art Institute of Chicago announced on January 15, 2007 the appointment of Stephanie D'Alessandro to the position of Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern Art in the Department of Medieval through Modern European Painting and Sculpture.

Ms. D'Alessandro studied for her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago; her doctoral degree was conferred with honors in 1997. She was Assistant Curator (1991-1993) and Associate Curator (1993-1995) at the Smart Museum of Art. While a lecturer at the university, she also served as an exhibition assistant at Berlin's Deutsches Historisches Museum (1995-1998). She began her career at the AIC as an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow (1998).

Dr. D'Alessandro continues to prepare for the opening of the AIC's Modern Wing in 2009, a Herculean effort that involves research and conservation as well as co-authoring and editing a new three-volume catalogue of the museum's modern European paintings and sculptures. She's also co-curating with John Elderfield a special exhibition on the early years (1913-1917) of French Fauve artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954). The show is scheduled to debut at the Art Institute of Chicago in March 2010 and then open at New York's Museum of Modern Art the following July.