The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) revealed that Alexandra Letvin has been appointed senior curator and department head of European painting and sculpture, effective Nov. 9. Letvin arrives from the Princeton University Art Museum, where she currently serves as the Duane Wilder Curator of European Art.
Strong scholarly background
Letvin holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in art history from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Williams College. She is recognized for her scholarship on early modern Spain and has organized exhibitions spanning the medieval period to 1945.
Experience shaping museum spaces
At Princeton, Letvin oversaw the European painting and sculpture program and led the curatorial design of the new museum’s European galleries, emphasizing materiality, mobility and exchange. Her work highlighted European artworks as part of a global network of artistic production.
Previously, Letvin served as an assistant curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, where she organized shows such as “Mobility and Exchange, 1600–1800.” She has also held positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Meadows Museum.
Vision for the BMA
“Alexandra is an exceptional curator and scholar whose work pushes European art history in exciting new directions,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “Her focus on early modern Spain illuminates a vital yet often underexplored chapter of the field, positioning the BMA to lead important new conversations about cultural exchange, empire, and artistic innovation.”
Letvin will steward the BMA’s renowned collection of 15th‑ through 19th‑century European painting and sculpture, guide future gallery installations, and collaborate with curatorial staff across departments to reconceive the collection with fresh research and interpretive perspectives.
She previously worked at the BMA as a Carlson‑Cowart Fellow in the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs from 2011 to 2013 while completing graduate studies at Johns Hopkins.
Award‑winning scholar
Letvin’s scholarship has earned fellowships and awards from the Fulbright Program, the Getty Conserving Canvas Connoisseurship Workshop, and the Villa Albertine, among others. She has published extensively and is preparing a major exhibition and publication on how 19th‑century French ideas of race and identity shaped an Édouard Manet painting.
“I am honored to return to Baltimore and join the BMA at such an exciting moment in its history,” Letvin said. “The museum’s commitment to scholarship, community engagement and expanding the stories that art can tell is deeply inspiring. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across the institution to build on the strengths of the European collection, create exhibitions that invite new perspectives, and help audiences see European art as part of a larger global history.”
Original reporting: Baltimore Fishbowl — read the source article.
