(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Princeton University Art Museum has announced the appointment of Jun Nakamura as Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings. Nakamura joins the Museum from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he was the Suzanne Andrée Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. He began his appointment at Princeton on February 20.
At Princeton, Nakamura will work with the Museum’s extensive collections of more than 15,000 prints and drawings, comprising European, British, Latin American, and North American works from the fifteenth century to the present. In addition to organizing exhibitions and gallery installations, Nakamura will initiate scholarly and public programs, grow the collections, and cultivate new supporters.
“Jun brings to the Museum an unusually wide range of expertise and interests, from seventeenth-century Dutch art to twentieth-century American printmaking, to the techniques of printmaking themselves, affording a rare combination of depth and breadth,” said James Steward, the Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director. “We’re thrilled to have him join our Museum as we prepare for the launch of our new building and the first years of exhibitions and collections installations.”
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nakamura embraced an array of projects, including the boundary-crossing exhibition Macho Men: Hypermasculinity in Dutch and American Prints (2022–23), which draws on the institution’s rich holdings of Dutch mannerist and 1930s American prints. Prior to his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nakamura served as a Kress Foundation Institutional Fellow at Leiden University in The Netherlands, where he supported the University’s efforts to advance the history, conservation, and appreciation of European art. He was also previously a curatorial intern at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Nakamura earned a PhD in the history of art from the University of Michigan (2022), specializing in early modern Dutch art and the history of printmaking. His dissertation explored the meaning and application of standardized engraving styles in the seventeenth-century Netherlands and beyond. Other fields of interest include the histories of science, technology, and transoceanic exchange. He earned an MA in art history from Southern Methodist University, and a BFA in fashion design and art history from Washington University in St. Louis.
“I am honored to be joining the Princeton University Art Museum team at such an exciting time for the Museum,” Nakamura said. “I’m really looking forward to getting to know its remarkable collections, and I’m excited about all the possibilities for collaboration with truly wonderful colleagues within the Museum, across the University, and beyond.”
With a collecting history that extends back to 1755, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, with collections that have grown to include more than 114,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the globe. Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. The main Museum building is currently closed for the construction of a bold and welcoming new building, designed in partnership with Sir David Adjaye.
Art@Bainbridge is located in downtown Princeton at 158 Nassau Street. Art@Bainbridge hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:00am to 5:00pm; Thursday through Saturday, 11:00am to 7:00pm; and Sunday 11:00am to 4:00pm.
Art on Hulfish, the Museum’s photo-focused gallery located at 11 Hulfish Street in Palmer Square, also in downtown Princeton, is open daily.
Admission to both galleries is free.
Please visit the Museum’s website for digital access to the collections and a calendar of diverse live and on-demand programs. The Museum Store in Palmer Square, located at 56 Nassau Street in downtown Princeton, is open daily; or shop online at princetonmuseumstore.org.
