Susan M. Taylor
Former Director, Princeton University Art Museum
Susan Taylor has been a museum director for over twenty years, having led the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College for 12 years and the Princeton University Art Museum for eight years. She recently stepped down as director of Princeton’s museum ,, after instituting wide ranging innovations in collections development, planning, programming, and outreach. She has been deeply involved in the ongoing debate about collection ownership and cultural property issues.
Taylor served on the 2004 and 2008 task forces of the Association of Art Museum Directors that most recently produced new guidelines for the acquisition of archaeological materials and ancient art. During her tenure at Princeton, she was responsible for successfully resolving several ownership claims for works of art in the collection. Last year, Taylor completed an agreement with the Italian government that resolved the disputed ownership of ancient works of art that had become the subject of an Italian inquiry in 2004. The agreement not only returned several works to Italy but included new opportunities for collaboration between Italy and Princeton – establishing a strong framework for future research and scholarship.
During her time at Princeton, Taylor developed a comprehensive strategic plan for the museum as well as a master plan for museum expansion. She founded new curatorial departments in the areas of Education and Academic Programming, American art, and Modern and Contemporary Art (including securing program funds and establishing several endowed curatorships), strengthened the museum’s collections, and oversaw the development of an ambitious exhibition and education program that effectively reached campus, national and international audiences. She established a museum collection monograph series, and in 2008, published the first comprehensive collection handbook for which she served as editor. She also established the art in public places program on campus, commissioning artists to create new works for new campus buildings.
Taylor was formerly director of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. During her twelve-year tenure at Wellesley, an award-winning museum facility was built, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. She serves on boards and committees of many professional organizations and serves as chair of the visiting committee of the Frances Lehman Loeb Arts Center at Vassar College. She holds art history degrees from Vassar College and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.