Adelyn Breeskin: Curating a Legacy

Adelyn Breeskin: Curating a Legacy explores Adelyn Breeskin and her extraordinary career as BMA Director from 1942-1962 through archival materials and examples of the beloved works the Museum acquired under her curatorial vision and leadership. Throughout her 32-year career at the Museum, beginning with her tenure as the BMA’s first curator of prints in 1930 and, later, the museum director, Breeskin secured the renowned Cone Collection for the BMA and accomplished countless other achievements, including commissioning the U.S. Pavilion for the 1960 Venice Biennale.​

As the leading authority on American Impressionist Mary Cassatt, Breeskin introduced American audiences to the artist and published scholarship, including the artist’s catalogue raisonné, which remains central to scholars’ research today. Behind the scenes, Breeskin cultivated a great spirit of women supporting women and did so all while working in a male-dominated field and raising three daughters as a single parent.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website