Clark Art Names Inaugural Curator of its Aso O. Tavitian Collection
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute announced that Lara Yeager-Crasselt has been appointed to serve as the first Aso O. Tavitian Curator of Early Modern European Painting and Sculpture.
Yeager-Crasselt is currently the Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she oversees the museum's collection of fifteenth- through eighteenth-century painting and sculpture, including its research, exhibition, loans, acquisitions, and publication. Prior to her current role at the Baltimore Museum of Art, she held prestigious curatorial and research positions at The Leiden Collection in New York and at KU Leuven, Belgium, among others. From 2015–2017, Yeager-Crasselt served as the Clark's Interim Curator of Painting and Sculpture.
"We are delighted to welcome Lara Yeager-Crasselt back to the Clark and we feel incredibly fortunate to be able to entrust the Aso O. Tavitian Collection to her stewardship," said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. "She is an ideal person to manage this collection, and we feel confident that Lara will play a major role in shaping the many ways in which we share these remarkable works of art with our visitors in the years ahead."
Yeager-Crasselt's curatorial experience includes a rich array of international exhibitions including Watershed: Transforming the Landscape in Early Modern Dutch Art (Baltimore Museum of Art); Exchanging Words: Women and Letters in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting (Timken Museum of Art, San Diego); Rembrandt, Vermeer, and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre (Louvre Abu Dhabi); The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection (Pushkin Museum, Moscow and The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia), and Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado at the Clark.
"Lara is an exceptional scholar and curator and is well-regarded for her expertise in early modern painting and sculpture," said Esther Bell, the Clark's Deputy Director and Robert and Martha Berman Lipp Chief Curator. "Her deep knowledge and curatorial acumen will be a phenomenal addition to our team and will be so important to her research on the Tavitian Collection. Lara will also work with the Clark's full collection of fifteenth- through eighteenth-century paintings and sculpture, and I know that her prior experience with our existing collection will be particularly important as she integrates this transformative gift and develops the plan for its installation in the new Aso O. Tavitian Wing. I look forward to collaborating with Lara on our summer 2026 exhibition An Exquisite Eye: Introducing the Tavitian Collection, which will provide the first opportunity for our visitors to see some of the magnificent treasures in the Tavitian Collection."
An Exquisite Eye opens on June 13, 2026, and will showcase works by many of the most acclaimed artists of the early modern era—Jan van Eyck, Andrea della Robbia, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Antoine Watteau, and Jacques Louis David, among others. The exhibition will remain on view at the Clark through February 21, 2027.
The Aso O. Tavitian Collection was gifted to the Clark in 2024 from the foundation of the late collector, philanthropist, and connoisseur, Aso O. Tavitian. Between 2004 and 2020, Mr. Tavitian assembled the most significant private collection of European art assembled in North America in the twenty-first century. Representing one of the largest gifts in the Clark's history, the Tavitian gift includes 331 works of art from Mr. Tavitian's personal collection and more than $45 million to endow two new positions on the Clark's curatorial staff to oversee the collection; provide necessary support for its long-term care; and fund construction of the Aso O. Tavitian Wing at the Clark, which is slated to open in 2028. The gift of art includes 132 paintings, 130 sculptures, thirty-nine drawings, and thirty decorative arts objects, creating an important addition to the Clark's holdings and more than doubling the size of its sculpture collection.
"It is a tremendous honor to represent Aso O. Tavitian's collection and his legacy at the Clark, as well as a great privilege and joy to be able to care for these extraordinary objects in my new role," Yeager-Crasselt said. "I am truly thrilled to be returning to the Clark after these many years, and eager to join the team there in realizing the new Tavitian Wing and the first presentation of the collection this summer."
In addition to her curatorial activity, Yeager-Crasselt has published widely on the art of the Netherlands, particularly its cross-cultural and artistic exchange with Italy, among which are studies on Michael Sweerts and François Duquesnoy. She is also a dedicated teacher, having taught art history to students at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Vassar College; George Washington University, Washington, D.C., the University of Maryland, College Park; and The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. She holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Maryland and a bachelor of arts degree in History from Vassar College.
Yeager-Crasselt will begin work at the Clark in December 2025 and will immediately join the Institute's cross-departmental team planning the construction of the Tavitian Wing. Designed by Selldorf Architects, New York City, the building project will get underway in early 2027 and will provide a permanent home for the Tavitian Collection.
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