Ethan W. Lasser

Ethan W. Lasser is the Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. Curator of American Art and the Head of the Division of European and American Art at the Harvard Art Museums. Lasser is responsible for the Museums’ collections of American paintings, sculpture, and decorative art to 1900, and he oversees the curatorial team responsible for the Medieval to 1900 collection of western art. Lasser’s 2017 exhibition The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet reassembled the extraordinary collection of works of art and teaching tools that Harvard College amassed in the late-eighteenth century. Other recent projects include the reinstallation of the Harvard Art Museums (2014), the Minding Making project (2013-ongoing), The Tool at Hand (2012) and To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter (2010). Lasser is currently at work on Silver: A Material History, an exhibition that will reach across the fine, industrial, and decorative arts.

Lasser graduated from Williams College and received a Ph.D. from Yale University. From 2007 to 2012, he served as Curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee.  In 2012, Lasser was awarded the Phillip and Patricia Frost Essay Award for excellent scholarship in the field of American art history.

Articles Related to Ethan W. Lasser

2017-11-01

Center for Curatorial Leadership Announces 2018 Fellows

Twelve Curators Selected for 2018 Leadership Training Program The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) has selected twelve curators to participate in its annual fellowship program for 2018. The incoming class of Fellows will join the organization in New York City in January for an initial two weeks of instruction, followed ... Read More >

2018-01-31

Program Highlights | 2018 Fellows Complete January Session of the CCL Fellowship

Highlights from the two-week January intensive of the Center for Curatorial Leadership annual leadership program This January, the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) welcomed its eleventh class of Fellows for a two-week leadership intensive in New York City. A group of twelve curators from institutions across the United States convened ... Read More >

2018-05-24

Program Highlights | 2018 CCL Fellowship Wraps Up in Houston

The 2018 Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) Fellowship concluded this May with a weeklong intensive in Houston, Texas. Over the course of the final convening, the Fellows expanded on their lessons from the five-month period of the program and explored various models of museum leadership. Through Houston’s rich cultural landscape ... Read More >

2019-06-24

Alumni Advancement: Ethan Lasser (CCL 2017) and Layla Bermeo (Seminar 2016) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Exciting news from Boston! The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has named Ethan Lasser (CCL 2018) chair of the department for Art of the Americas and promoted Layla Bermeo (Seminar 2016) to Associate Curator of Paintings.  Ethan will begin his post at the MFA Boston in September after serving as Head, Division of European ... Read More >

2019-08-20

Nora Burnett Abrams (CCL 2018) Named Director of the MCA Denver

Congratulations to Nora Burnett Abrams (CCL 2018) on her appointment to the Mark G. Falcone Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver! Most recently the Ellen Bruss Curator and Director of Planning, Abrams has been at the MCA Denver since 2010. She has curated 0ver 30 exhibitions while at the museum, including Tara ... Read More >

2021-03-11

Lauren Haynes (CCL 2018) Named Senior Curator at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Lauren Haynes (CCL 2018) has been named the Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Senior Curator at the Nasher Museum of Art!  Since 2016, Lauren has served as the curator of contempoary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in addition to serving, since 2020, as the Director of ... Read More >