Sarah Meister

Sarah Meister is an American curator and author, currently serving as the executive director of Aperture. She joined the organization in May 2021 after spending over twenty-five years at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. ^[1]

Early life and education

Meister earned her AB in Art History from Princeton University. ^[2]

Career

Meister began her career at MoMA, where she curated numerous exhibitions focusing on photography and modernist movements. ^[3]

Meister has led efforts to reissue Robert Frank’s The Americans (1959) as an Aperture title, and, with editor in chief Michael Famighetti, oversaw a refresh of Aperture magazine’s design in summer 2024. ^{[4] [5] [6]} She played a key role in Aperture’s acquisition of its new headquarters. ^[7]

In addition to her curatorial work, Meister was the lead instructor for the online course “Seeing Through Photographs,” served as co-director of the August Sander Project, and is the founding host of the Aperture PhotoBook Club. ^{[8] [9]}

Selected exhibitions

Some of her notable exhibitions include:

• Fotoclubismo: Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1946–1964 (2021) ^[10]
• DorotheaLange: Words & Pictures (2020) ^[11]
• MakingSpace: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction (co-curator, 2017) ^[12]
• One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers (2016) ^[13]
• From Bauhaus to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola (co-curator, 2015) ^[14]
• Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light (2013) ^[15]

References

1. Greenberger, Alex (2021-01-28). "Longtime MoMA Photography Curator Departs to Direct Aperture Foundation". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
2. "Authors Sarah Meister | Art History Teaching Resources". arthistoryteachingresources.org. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
3. Lubow, Arthur (2021-01-28). "MoMA Photography Curator to Lead Aperture Foundation". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.
4. "Robert Frank's seminal photo series 'The Americans' to be reissued after $1m grant". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
5. Aperture, vol. 1, no. 1, 1952.
6. Aperture #255 - Summer 2024
7. Lubow, Arthur (2022-09-15). "Aperture Foundation Lands a New Headquarters". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.
8. "Reimagining Aperture: In conversation with Sarah Meister". PGH Photo Fair. 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
9. "Video Fridays: PhotoBook Club | Fine Books & Collections". www.finebooksmagazine.com. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
10. Woodward, Richard B. (2021-06-16). "'Fotoclubismo: Brazilian Modernist Photography, 1946-1964' Review: The São Paulo Style". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.
11. Luiselli, Valeria (2020-11-19). "Things as They Are". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 67, no. 18. ISSN   0028-7504 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.
12. Cotter, Holland (April 13, 2017). "At MoMA, Women at Play in the Fields of Abstraction". The New York Times.
13. Woodward, Richard B. (2016-12-20). "'One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers' Review: A Colorist's Black-and-Whites". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.
14. Budick, Ariella (2015-07-22). "From Bauhaus to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola, MoMA, New York — review". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
15. Smith, Roberta (2013-03-07). "A Camera Ravenous for Emotional Depth". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-04-16.