David Breslin is the Leonard A. Lauder Curator in Charge of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He joined the Met in 2022 at a pivotal moment as it began planning and implementing the renovation of the Oscar L. and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art. Prior to the Met, Breslin served as the DeMartini Family Curator and Director of Curatorial Initiatives at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has also previously held positions at the Menil Drawing Institute and the Clark Art Institute. Breslin earned an BA from Amherst College, his MA from Williams College, and a Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University. At the Whitney, Breslin curated Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900-1960; An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940-2017; David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night; and the Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet As It’s Kept. He organized exhibitions including El Anatsui, Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith at the Clark and The Precarious and The Condition of Being Here: The Drawings of Jasper Johns at the Menil Collection. He has written essays on the work of Felix Gonzalez- Torres, Valentin Carron, Jenny Holzer, Cady Noland, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Thek, among others.
