Bruce J. Altshuler
Clinical Professor Emeritus of Museums Studies
Director of the Program in Museum Studies from January 2001 through August 2021,
Bruce Altshuler currently focuses his research on the history of art exhibitions. Initially
trained in Philosophy (PhD, Harvard University), he taught the subject until moving to
work in museums and the artworld, holding positions at the New-York Historical Society,
Zabriskie Gallery, Christie’s Education, and as Director of the Isamu Noguchi Garden
Museum. He also has been a member of the graduate faculty of the Bard Center for
Curatorial Studies, and the Board of Directors of the International Association of Art
Critics/United States Section (AICA/USA). Bruce has published extensively and
lectured internationally about exhibition and curatorial history, the history of museums,
and modern and contemporary art. He is author of The Avant-Garde in Exhibition: New
Art in the 20 th Century (1994/1998), Isamu Noguchi (1994), Salon to Biennial:
Exhibitions that Made Art History, 1863-1959 (2008), Biennials and Beyond: Exhibitions
that Made Art History, 1962-2002 (2013), editor of Collecting the New: Museums and
Contemporary Art (2005), and co-editor of Isamu Noguchi: Essays and Conversations
(1994). He has been a Dedalus Foundation Senior Fellow, and received the Sir Banister
Fletcher Award for the best 2008 publication on art or architecture in the UK.
Full Profile
Flora E. S. Kaplan
Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, anthropologist, was a Professor Emerita, and a founding director (1978-99) of the Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University. She taught Anthropology as a Fulbright professor, (1983-85), University of Benin, Nigeria; and previously taught at Lehman College, CUNY (1970-1976), before arriving at New York University in 1976. She published widely on Benin (Nigeria) and on Mexico, museum politics, art, photography, religion and gender. She held degrees in anthropology from The Graduate Center, CUNY (Ph.D.), and Columbia University (M.A., archaeology). Dr. Kaplan was a former curator of The Brooklyn Museum, New York. She was a research associate at the Museum of the American Indian, (1977-87), and was an associate at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU. She co-edited the books series 'Museum Meanings' (Routledge) and was a Board member of the journal 'Museums & Society' (University of Leicester Press) from 2004 until her passing.
Bio Note from NMAI