Alexandra Suda

Suda was born in 1981 in Toronto, Ontario,{{efn|Another source states that Suda was born in Orillia, Ontario.{{cite web |last1=Robb |first1=Peter |title=New director of the National Gallery is AGO curator Alexandra Suda |url=https://artsfile.ca/new-director-of-the-national-gallery-is-ago-curator-alexandra-suda/ |website=artsfile.ca |publisher=Artsfile |access-date=26 September 2023}}}} to parents who were immigrants from Czechoslovakia.{{cite web |title=Art and the Institution: Three Philadelphia Voices |url=https://thephiladelphiashow.com/lecture/ |website=thephiladelphiashow.com |publisher=The Philadelphia Show |access-date=25 September 2023}} She completed a BA at Princeton University, an MA at Williams College, before earning her PhD at The Institute of Fine Arts at New York University."[http://www.leadershipcanada.ca/suda-alexandra/ Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference]". Retrieved 12 December 2018 Suda's doctoral dissertation is entitled "The Making of Girona Martyrology and the Cult of Saints in Late Medieval Bohemia" and was published in 2016.{{cite web |title=Art History Dissertations and Abstracts from North American Institutions |url=https://openpublishing.psu.edu/ahd/content/making-girona-martyrology-and-cult-saints-late-medieval-bohemia |website=openpublishing.psu.edu |publisher=Penn State University Libraries |access-date=23 September 2023}}

Suda's career as an art historian started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She had a variety of roles at the museum, all in the Medieval Department, between 2003 and 2011.[http://www.jstor.org/stable/41756705 “Internships, Fellowships, and Professional Travel Grants.”] Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 141, 2010, pp. 33–37. JSTOR. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023.

In 2011, Suda became an assistant curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. She later became the Curator of European Art at the gallery."[https://www.codart.nl/guide/curators/alexandra-suda/ Dr. Alexandra Suda]". CODART. Retrieved 12 December 2018 According to the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference, her Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures exhibition, held in Ontario, New York and Amsterdam, "received extensive positive press for its high level of scholarship which is driven by the public's curiosity about these wondrous works of art." While at the gallery, Suda re-worked the European art collection and its presentation to better engage broad audiences.{{cite news |title=Philadelphia Museum of Art Appoints Sasha Suda as CEO |url=https://www.citybiz.co/article/275883/philadelphia-museum-of-art-appoints-sasha-suda-as-ceo/ |access-date=27 September 2023 |agency=citybiz.co |publisher=CityBiz |date=June 8, 2022}}

In April 2019, Suda was named director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. At the time of her appointment at age 38, she was the youngest person to hold this post at the gallery in more than a century.{{cite news |last1=Saxberg |first1=Lynn |title=Trailblazing Director and CEO, Sasha Suda leaving National Gallery after just 3 Years |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/trailblazing-director-and-ceo-leaving-national-gallery-after-just-3-years |access-date=27 September 2023 |agency=Ottawa Citizen |date=June 8, 2022}}

Critics have argued that Suda was relatively inexperienced for the position at the National Gallery, and did not speak French as well as English. Some of her actions (and those of her interim successor, Angela Cassie) in support of the strategic plan and “decolonization”,{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Andrew |title= National Gallery of Canada just can't quit anti-art 'decolonization' plan |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/andrew-cohen-national-gallery-of-canadas-woke-trustees-should-resign |work=National Post |date=Jun 29, 2023}} were described as being directed by "dogma".{{Cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Andrew |title= Canada's National Gallery has become a woke national disgrace |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadas-national-gallery-has-become-a-woke-national-disgrace |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=nationalpost |language=en-CA}}

Restructuring and significant staff dismissals were criticized as creating an unstable environment and losing key institutional knowledge from the institution.{{cite news |last1=Laucius |first1=Joanne |title=National Gallery 'never met any of the basic employment equity obligations,' says Interim Director |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/national-gallery-never-met-any-of-the-basic-employment-equity-obligations-says-interim-director |access-date=28 September 2023 |agency=Ottawa Citizen |date=October 14, 2022}}

In June 2022, the Philadelphia Museum of Art announced that Suda would assume the role of director at the Museum in September of that year.{{Cite web |last=Kinsella |first=Eileen |date=2022-06-07 |title=National Gallery of Ontario Director Sasha Suda Will Leave to Helm the Philadelphia Museum of Art |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/national-gallery-of-ontario-director-sasha-suda-will-leave-to-helm-the-philadelphia-museum-of-art-2126520 |access-date=2022-06-08 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}} The title of the position is the George D. Widener Director and CEO.{{cite news |title=Philadelphia Museum of Art names Sasha Suda as new director and CEO |url=https://www.trentonian.com/2022/06/27/philadelphia-museum-of-art-names-sasha-suda-as-new-director-and-ceo/ |access-date=24 September 2023 |agency=The Trentonian |date=June 27, 2022}}

In September 2022, workers at that museum held a strike over wages and working conditions{{Cite web |title=Art Museum workers continue strike into second week |url=https://whyy.org/articles/art-museum-workers-continue-strike-second-week/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=WHYY |language=en-US}} which lasted 19 days.{{cite news|url=https://hyperallergic.com/772436/philadelphia-museum-strikers-open-up-on-tense-return-to-work/|title=Philadelphia Museum Strikers Open Up on "Tense" Return to Work|last=Velie|first=Elaine|date=24 October 2022}} The strike started within days of Suda's being officially installed in the directorship, and the labor dispute had been ongoing well before Suda's time at the museum.{{cite news |last1=Stevens |first1=Matt |title=Philadelphia Museum of Art Reaches Tentative Deal to End Strike |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/arts/design/philadelphia-museum-of-art-strike-ends.html |access-date=28 September 2023 |agency=The New York Times |date=October 14, 2022}} She stayed publicly silent on the matter with a museum spokesperson saying she would not be part of the negotiations.{{cite news|url=https://whyy.org/articles/art-museum-workers-continue-strike-second-week/|title=

Art Museum workers continue strike into second week|last=Crimmins|first=Peter|date=3 October 2022|work=WHYY PBS}} Later, Suda stated that the labor settlement "laid a solid foundation."

In her previous position at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Suda had been a labor union member.{{cite news |last1=Crimmins |first1=Peter |title=Five Things You should Know about Philly Art Museum’s Incoming Director |url=https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-art-museum-incoming-director/ |access-date=23 September 2023 |agency=WHYY |date=June 10, 2022}}

{{external media

| width = 250px

| float = right

| title = External media

| topic = Media links for Alexandra (Sasha) Suda

| video1 = 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaqCHNJ7G5A overview of the Philadelphia Museum of Art] by Suda

| video2 =

| image1 =

| image2 =

| image3 =

| audio1 = 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQyfClCKI0&t=307s Suda interview] by novelist and journalist Alain Elkann

}}

{{refbegin}}

• Suda, Alexandra; Ellis, Lisa. "Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures". Art Gallery of Ontario, 2016.
• Suda, Alexandra, Boehm, Barbara Drake. "Handpicked: Collecting Boxwood Carvings from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries." In: Scholten, Frits (ed), "Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries". Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2016.
• "The Girona Martyrology: Belief in the guise of Violence and Beauty". Autopsia: Blut- und Augenzeugen, 2014

{{refend}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://deal.town/philadelphia-museum-of-art/from-the-director-celebrating-one-year-at-the-pma-F34FYX729 "From The Director: Celebrating One Year At The PMA"], newsletter from Suda on 7 September 2023
• [https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/in-the-spotlight/our-path-forward-as-an-institution-is-ankose Suda's description of Ankosé], as it relates to strategic change at the National Gallery of Canada

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suda, Alexandra}}

Category:Canadian art historians

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:Living people

Category:People from Orillia

Category:1981 births

Category:New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Directors of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Category:Museum directors