The statement said that Stacy C. Hollander, the deputy director for curatorial affairs, chief curator and director of exhibitions, “is leaving the museum to pursue independent curatorial work and writing projects.”
Jason T. Busch, the museum’s director, said in the statement: “Stacy Hollander is a curator with deep knowledge and boundless curiosity; her exhibitions have been critical in establishing the American Folk Art Museum as the leading institution of self-taught art.”
Hollander said in a telephone interview Wednesday that she had enjoyed her time at the museum, which she called a “wonderful, open and embracing” institution, and was looking forward to new projects.
She began working at the American Folk Art Museum 34 years ago and, the museum said, “expanded the collection in nearly every category” in which the institution collects. Last year she served as the museum’s interim actingdirector.
Among the exhibitions Hollander was curator for were “Harry Lieberman: A Journey of Remembrance” (1991), “The Seduction of Light: Ammi Phillips/Mark Rothko Compositions in Pink, Green, and Red” (2008), “Compass: Folk Art in Four Directions” (2012, at the South Street Seaport Museum) and “War and Pieced: The Annette Gero Collection of Quilts from Military Fabrics” (2017).
The American Folk Art Museum was founded in 1961. Its collection includes more than 7,000 artworks dating from the 18th century to the present, including portraits, books, quilts and other items.
As recently as 2011, the museum was in crisis, having defaulted on nearly $32 million in bonds use to finance a flagship building on West 53rd Street that opened in 2001. The museum sold that building to its neighbor, the Museum of Modern Art, and retreated to its branch space at 2 Lincoln Square.
Then, over the next few years, the museum balanced its budget, raised over $15 million from private donors and foundations, expanded the board of trustees and opened a collections and education center in Long Island City, Queens, consolidating its art holdings, archives, library and staff in one location for the first time.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.