MoMA Appoints Laura Hoptman as Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture

Laura Hoptman has been appointed Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, it was announced today by MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. In her new role, Ms. Hoptman will be involved in acquisitions, exhibitions, and collection display, with a primary focus on contemporary art. Reporting to Ann Temkin, The Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, she will begin her new position on November 1.

Ms. Hoptman was an Assistant Curator in MoMA's Department of Drawings from 1995 until 2001, when she was named Curator and Head of the Department of Contemporary Art at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 2006, she has served as Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.

"The Museum is pleased to welcome Laura Hoptman back to our curatorial team," said Mr. Lowry. "Her deep and extensive engagement with contemporary art and artists over the course of her career will be a significant asset to our programming and collection activities."

"Laura will add an important voice both within the Department of Painting and Sculpture, and among the broad group of curators focusing on contemporary art throughout the Museum," said Ms. Temkin. "Her record proves her to be a prescient, exacting, and devoted champion of contemporary artists and the work they do."

In her role at the New Museum, Ms. Hoptman most recently organized the much-acclaimed exhibition Brion Gysin: Dream Machine as well as Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, 1991-2008 and Tomma Abts, both in 2008, among others. She was responsible for developing programming, organizing exhibitions of contemporary art, conducting research, and representing the institution at national and international events. Additionally, she administered the museum's affiliate groups, including the Producer's Council, and supervised inter-museum cooperation programs, including a consortium effort with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

At the Carnegie Museum, she was responsible for exhibitions of contemporary art including the 2004-05 Carnegie International, an exhibition of contemporary art in all mediums from throughout the world.

As a curator in MoMA's Department of Drawings, she organized notable exhibitions such as Drawing Now: Eight Propositions (2002), a survey of contemporary drawing featuring the work of 26 contemporary artists from around the world; Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, 1958-68 (1998); and site-specific installations as part of the Museum's ongoing Projects series, including those featuring new work by Rirkrit Tiravanija, Elizabeth Peyton, John Currin, Luc Tuymans, Maurizio Cattelan, John Bock, and Ricci Albenda.

Ms. Hoptman has held teaching positions in the art history departments at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and at Kean College in New Jersey, and in the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York. She has contributed numerous essays to exhibition catalogues, scholarly journals, and magazines, and has lectured widely.

Ms. Hoptman holds a Master's degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a Bachelor's degree in History of Art, with Honors, from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass.