Julia Alexander

{{Short description|American art historian and curator (1967–2025)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Julia Alexander

| image = Julia Alexander (42875811351) (cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Alexander in 2018

| birth_name = Julia Mary Alexander

| birth_date = {{Birth year|1967}}

| birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|5|4|1967}}

| death_place = Towson, Maryland, U.S.

| death_cause =

| education = Wellesley College (BA)
New York University (MA)
Yale University (MA, PhD)

| occupation = {{hlist|Art historian|curator|museum director}}

| employer = Walters Art Museum (2013–2024)

| known_for =

| honors =

| spouse = {{marriage|John Marciari|1996|end=separated}}

| children = 2

| father = David Alexander

}}

Julia Alexander (1967 – May 4, 2025), formerly Julia Marciari-Alexander, was an American art historian and curator who was executive director of the Walters Art Museum in Maryland from 2013 to 2024. As director, she oversaw the completion of a seven-year endowment campaign as well as the renovation of the Hackerman House, which holds the museum's collection of Asian art.

Alexander began her career at the Yale Center for British Art, where she was assistant curator of paintings and sculpture and later an associate director of the museum. In 2008, she joined the San Diego Museum of Art as its head curator, and served as an interim director following the departure of the museum director in 2009.

Early life and education

Julia Mary Alexander was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1967,{{cite news |last1=McCauley |first1=Mary Carole |title=Walters Art Museum names new director, Julia Marciari-Alexander |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-walters-director-20130220-story.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=February 20, 2013}} the daughter of David and Catharine Alexander.{{cite news |title=Julia Alexander, John J. Marciari |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/18/style/julia-alexander-john-j-marciari.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=August 18, 1996}} Her father David was president of Pomona College and the American secretary of the Rhodes Trust.{{cite news |last1=Hevesi |first1=Dennis |title=David Alexander, Overseer of Rhodes Selection, Is Dead at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/education/31alexander.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=July 31, 2010}} Her mother worked at Pomona College as the coordinator of special events.

Alexander grew up in Claremont, California.{{cite magazine |last1=Antoniades |first1=Christina Breda |title=Chez Madame Musée |url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/homegarden/at-home-with-julia-marciari-alexander-of-walters-art-museum/ |access-date=April 11, 2021 |magazine=Baltimore |date=December 2015}} Her interest in art began in the sixth grade, when she attended Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on a trip to Rome and saw "how architecture and art and life can create these moments of wonder".{{cite news |last1=Wang |first1=Lia |title=Julia Marciari-Alexander sees a bright future for women in the art world |url=http://thewellesleynews.com/2016/04/08/julia-marciari-alexander-sees-a-bright-future-for-women-in-the-art-world/ |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The Wellesley News |date=April 8, 2016}} She attended Wellesley College, where she studied art history and French and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated magna cum laude in 1989. As part of a Théodore Rousseau Fellowship offered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she studied abroad at New York University in Paris and London and obtained a master's degree in French literature in 1992.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Sloane |title=Walters Museum director reveals her home collection |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/home/bs-lt-take-10-marciari-alexander-20150108-story.html |access-date=April 27, 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=January 9, 2015}} She then moved to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale University, where she earned a master's degree and PhD in art history in 1993 and 1999, respectively.

Career

= Yale Center for British Art =

Alexander began her career at the Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in 1996,{{cite news |last1=Ober |first1=Cara |title=A New Director and A New Era at the Walters Art Museum |url=https://bmoreart.com/2013/12/a-new-director-and-a-new-era-at-the-walters-art-museum.html |access-date=May 4, 2021 |work=BmoreArt |date=December 1, 2013}} first as an assistant curator of paintings and sculpture,{{cite news |last1=Boyle |first1=Katherine |title=Baltimore's Walters museum names Julia Marciari-Alexander as executive director |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/baltimores-walters-museum-names-julia-marciari-alexander-as-executive-director/2013/02/20/078813f4-7b9f-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 20, 2013}} and later its associate director of programmatic affairs and associate director for exhibitions and publication.{{cite news |title=Julia Marciari-Alexander '89: From Wellesley to the Walters |url=https://www.wellesley.edu/news/2016/june/node/91051 |access-date=May 4, 2021 |publisher=Wellesley College |date=June 27, 2016}} Her 2007 exhibition, Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1992-2007,{{cite news |last1=Chute |first1=James |title=Howard Hodgkin paints emotion on the canvas |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-howard-hodgkin-san-diego-museum-of-art-2011mar11-htmlstory.html |access-date=May 5, 2021 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=March 12, 2011 |quote=Marciari-Alexander, who co-curated "Howard Hodgkin: Paintings, 1992-2007" at the Yale Center for British Art}} was named one of Time magazine's ten top museum exhibitions of the year.{{cite magazine |last1=Lacayo |first1=Richard |title=Top 10 Museum Exhibits - Top 10 Everything of 2007 |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1686204_1686244_1691927,00.html |access-date=April 17, 2021 |magazine=Time |date=December 9, 2007}}

= San Diego Museum of Art =

In 2008, Alexander returned to California to become the San Diego Museum of Art's deputy director for curatorial affairs. After director Derrick Cartwright left the museum in 2009, Alexander served as one of four co-interim directors of the museum.{{cite news |last1=Chute |first1=James |title=Julia Marciari-Alexander leaving San Diego Museum of Art |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/visual-arts/sdut-san-diego-museum-of-art-marciari-alexander-2013feb20-story.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=February 20, 2013}} In 2011, the LA Times highlighted the museum's installation of Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman as one of the ten best California museum shows of the year.{{cite news |last1=Knight |first1=Christopher |author1-link=Christopher Knight (art critic) |title=2011 year in review: Best in art |url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/12/2011-year-in-review-best-in-art.html |access-date=April 26, 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 15, 2011}}

As deputy director, Alexander oversaw the reinstallation of all the museum's public galleries. She also managed a four-year partnership between Balboa Park and the Diamond Neighborhoods communities of San Diego, which resulted in the opening of a community gallery and performing space in 2012.

= Walters Art Museum =

File:Walters Art Museum Curiosities - Stierch.jpg

In 2013, Alexander succeeded {{Interlanguage link|Gary Vikan|qid=Q93430264}} as executive director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.{{cite news |title=New Director Takes Over At Walters Art Museum |url=https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/04/01/new-director-takes-over-at-walters-art-museum/ |access-date=April 16, 2021 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=CBS Baltimore |date=April 1, 2013}} She was the museum's fifth director and the first woman in the position. The museum is known for its collection of medieval art; Alexander, who had a scholarly background in British art, was also the museum's first non-medievalist director since 1965.{{cite news |last1=McCauley |first1=Mary Carole |title=Julia Marciari-Alexander draws out a new vision for the Walters |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-walters-director-20130706-story.html |access-date=April 19, 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=July 5, 2013}}

Under Alexander's tenure, in 2015, the museum completed a $30 million endowment campaign started just before the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008.{{cite news |last1=McCauley |first1=Mary Carole |title=Walters completes $30 million fundraising campaign |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-ae-walters-endowment-20150303-story.html |access-date=May 4, 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=March 3, 2015}} She later oversaw the restoration and "rethink" of the museum's Hackerman House, which holds its collection of Asian art.{{cite magazine |last1=Nicholson |first1=Louise |title=The museums putting Baltimore back on the cultural map |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/baltimore-walters-art-museums/ |access-date=April 16, 2021 |magazine=Apollo |date=August 17, 2019}}

Throughout 2021 and 2022, as a majority of museum staff signed union cards and signaled intention to form an all-inclusive trade union, Alexander refused to recognize the union or meet with the organizing employees.{{cite web |last1=Kirkman |first1=Rebekah |title=The Way Forward for Walter Workers United |url=https://bmoreart.com/2021/08/the-way-forward-for-walters-workers-united.html |website=Bmore Art |date=August 16, 2021 |access-date=March 24, 2022}} In October 2021, the Baltimore City Council and comptroller of Baltimore issued formal requests to allow for a neutral third-party election, inclusive of all staff.{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Emily |title=Walters Museum workers appeal to City Council members in union efforts |url=https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2021-10-14/walters-museum-workers-appeal-to-city-council-members-in-union-efforts |website=WYPR.org |date=October 14, 2021 |publisher=WYPR |access-date=March 24, 2022}} Under advisory from Shawe Rosenthal LLP, Alexander refused to acknowledge the union or meet with her employees.{{cite web |last1=Kirkman |first1=Rebekah |title=The Way Forward for Walter Workers United |url=https://bmoreart.com/2021/08/the-way-forward-for-walters-workers-united.html |website=Bmore Art |date=August 16, 2021 |access-date=March 24, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Marciari-Alexander |first1=Julia |url=https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/067/484/original/Walters_Art_Museum_Letter_to_Office_of_the_Comptroller_11.2.2021.pdf |title=Walters Art Museum Letter to Office of the Comptroller 11.2.2021 |website=Action Network |publisher=The Walters Art Museum |access-date=March 24, 2022}} In 2022, mayor of Baltimore Brandon Scott sent Alexander a letter requesting that she allow the employees to hold an independent union election.{{cite web |last1=Weigel |first1=Brandon |title=Mayor Scott Backs Union Vote For Walters Art Museum Workers |url=https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2022/06/21/mayor-scott-backs-union-vote-for-walters-art-museum-workers/ |website=CBS Baltimore |date=June 21, 2022 |publisher=CBS |access-date=June 29, 2022}}

Alexander left her position at the museum in the fall of 2024 to join the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York.{{cite news |last1=McCauley |first1=Mary Carole |title=Former Walters Art Museum Director Julia Alexander dies |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/05/05/julia-alexander-dies-walters-art-museum/ |access-date=May 5, 2025 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=May 5, 2025}}

Personal life and death

Alexander's former husband is {{Interlanguage link|John Marciari|qid=Q106464815}}; they married in 1996. As of 2018, Marciari headed the drawings and prints department at the Morgan Library & Museum. He previously worked with Alexander as a curator at the San Diego Museum of Art. The couple and their two children previously resided in the Homeland neighborhood of Baltimore.{{cite news |last1=Meehan |first1=Sarah |title=At home with Walters Art Museum's director, where meaningful decor fills her Homeland house |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/home/bs-mg-hm-julia-marciari-alexander-20170821-story.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=September 11, 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Sloane |title=Walters Museum director reveals her home collection |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/home/bs-lt-take-10-marciari-alexander-20150108-story.html |access-date=April 11, 2021 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=January 9, 2015}} In 2018, one of their children, then in the eighth grade, spoke to Yahoo Lifestyle about living with psoriatic arthritis and speaking at the United Nations on behalf of an organization, NCD Child, which focuses on the rights of youth with or at risk of non-communicable diseases.{{cite news |last1=Grumman Bender |first1=Rachel |title=What it's like to struggle with painful arthritis as a teenager: 'I had a time when I couldn't squeeze the toothpaste or brush my hair' |url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/like-struggle-painful-arthritis-teenager-time-couldnt-squeeze-toothpaste-brush-hair-things-took-gr-130019158.html |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=Yahoo Lifestyle |date=November 20, 2018}}