Lillian Wies named Gregory and Maria Henderson Curatorial Fellow at the Harvard Art Museums

Lily Wies brings her expertise on 20th-century Japanese prints to bear in the East Asian Art museum

Lily Wies, who recently received her doctoral degree in Art History, has since February been serving as the Gregory and Maria Henderson Curatorial Fellow in East Asian Art at the Harvard Art Museums, a position she will hold until August 2025.

Dr. Wies' project during this fellowship will be to work on the Museums' print collection, focusing on 20th-century Japanese prints. She will bring her expertise on modern Japanese women artists - the subject of her successful and compelling dissertation recently defended - to the museum's growing collection of prints by women artists. As any wise curator does, Lily aims to expand her understanding of printmaking techniques and history. This fellowship position complements well Lily's recent work for the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, where she continues to help develop The Print Generation, an exhibition exploring mid-century sōsaku hanga (creative prints) that opens later this year (November).

The Curatorial Fellowship Program at the Harvard Art Museums is designed to broaden the experience of scholars embarking on professional careers in art history who are considering the museum profession. The Harvard Art Museums’ global collections encompass cultures across Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and the Americas from ancient times to today.

The Henderson Curatorial Fellow, working closely with the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art, conducts object-based research focused on the Museums’ East Asian art collections, with a preference for early modern and modern Japanese prints. The Fellow will also have the opportunity to carry out research on other areas of the Japanese, and potentially also the Korean collections.

The Curatorial Fellow participates in a broad range of other curatorial activities, including preparation of rotations and exhibitions, interpretive materials, cataloging of the permanent collection in the Art Museums’ database, assistance with new acquisitions, and donor cultivation. 

Foregrounding the museums’ teaching and research mission, the Curatorial Fellow helps provide content expertise and support for the Art Museums’ Art Study Center by supporting classes and individual appointments, attends a series of art handling workshops, and contributes to a rich offering of public and academic interpretive programs across various platforms.

The Curatorial Fellow will be an active member of the larger Art Museums Fellows’ cohort and will participate in regular cohort meetings and in the annual Fellows symposium at the end of the spring semester.

Many congratulations Lily on this most-deserved appointment!