Wolfsonian

Marianne Lamonaca Promoted To Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Education

In Her New Role, Lamonaca Will Continue Focus On Exhibition Development, Collections Growth, And Expand Connections With Educational Programs

and Publications

Miami Beach, FL – January 2006 – The Wolfsonian–Florida International University is pleased to announce the promotion of Marianne Lamonaca to Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Education. Lamonaca, who has been with the museum since 1993, has been vital in contributing to the growth and prestige of The Wolfsonian – first in the role of assistant curator, curator, and following a promotion in 2001, as Assistant Director for Exhibitions and Curatorial Affairs. As the chief curator, she has been responsible for overseeing the museum’s exhibitions program, advancing collections research and development, supervising publications, and has played a critical role in building the institution’s dynamic curatorial department.

“With her insightful mind and passion for the collection in all its forms, Marianne has been instrumental in carrying forward The Wolfsonian’s mission to use everyday objects to illustrate the influence of design,” said Cathy Leff, Director of The Wolfsonian. “Marianne’s knowledge of design, and its intellectual history, has helped create our most successful exhibitions. We feel privileged to have the continued benefit of her creativity and energy as The Wolfsonian enters its second decade of public service.”

In her role as curator, Lamonaca has developed some of The Wolfsonian’s original and provocative exhibitions and programs such as In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel and Print, Power, and Persuasion: Graphic Design in Germany, 1890-1945. With the enlarged scope of her new position, Lamonaca will oversee the strategic planning for the curatorial and education departments allowing the institution to forge stronger connections with the public through a variety of interpretive programs, from exhibitions and publications to web-based projects and public lectures. The education department, led by Kate Rawlinson, Assistant Director for Education and Public Programs, has developed many innovative projects including Artful Citizenship, a nationally-funded, $1 million pilot-program for teaching social studies through visual literacy. “Over the past few years we have assembled outstanding teams in both departments, and I am certain that a closer alliance will foster exceptional new programming for our audience,” said Lamonaca. She and Rawlinson will collaborate on integrating collections-based research with original programming to encourage the public to explore the active role design plays in shaping and reflecting human experience.

Other acclaimed exhibitions curated by Lamonaca at The Wolfsonian have included: Tokyo: The Imperial Capital; From Emperors to Hoi Polloi: Portraits of an Era, 1851–1945; Public Works; Pioneers of Modern Graphic Design; and Art and Design in the Modern Age: Selections from the Wolfsonian Collection, the museum’s current permanent collection galleries. Additionally, she served as curatorial coordinator for “Artful Truth – Healthy Propaganda Arts Project,” a 3-year, $2.4 million, state-wide arts educational project organized to use visual literacy and critical thinking to educate youth about tobacco and the influence of advertising.

Lamonaca has written and lectured on a variety of twentieth-century design topics. She is co-editor of the catalogue Grand Hotels of the Jazz Age: The Architecture of Schultze & Weaver (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005) and has contributed essays to numerous publications including Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Britain, and the United States (Yale University Press, 2005); A Paradigm for Progress: Art, Architecture, and the New Deal in South Florida (University Press of Florida, forthcoming); Josef Frank, Architect and Designer: An Alternative Vision of the Modern Home (Yale University Press, 1996) and Designing Modernity: The Arts of Reform and Persuasion, 1885–1945 (The Wolfsonian, 1995).

Prior to joining The Wolfsonian, she served as assistant curator of decorative arts at The Brooklyn Museum of Art. She also taught at Florida International University, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum/Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and Fashion Institute of Technology. Lamonaca earned an M.A. in the history of decorative arts from Parsons School of Design/Cooper-Hewitt Museum and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University

The Wolfsonian is a museum and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, political and technological changes that have transformed the world. The 100,000 artifacts that comprise The Wolfsonian’s collections range from fine art, graphic design and political propaganda to furniture, rare books and ephemeral materials such as postcards and travel brochures.

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children 6 -12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Thursday and Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org.

The Wolfsonian receives ongoing support from the State of Florida; Department of State; Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Arts Council; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs through the Cultural Affairs Council; the Mayor and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners; the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council; Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Dacra and the Miami Design District; Continental Airlines, the preferred airline of The Wolfsonian; the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation; Artécity, for inspired condo living; Carnival Foundation; and RBK Productions.