Dr Lena Fritsch
As the inaugural Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Ashmolean Museum, I work on exhibitions, displays and acquisitions of international art. Recent exhibitions include 'Tokyo: Art & Photography' (2021-22), 'Philip Guston: Locating the Image' (2019-20), 'A.R. Penck: I Think in Pictures' (2019) and ‘Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Sudanese Artist in Oxford’ (2018).
I have researched and published extensively on modern Japanese art and photography. In 2018 I published the first overview on Japanese photography in English: 'Ravens & Red Lipstick: Japanese Photography since 1945' (English version with Thames & Hudson, Japanese version with Seigensha). My PhD and book 'The Body as a Screen: Japanese Art Photography of the 1990s' (2011) examined the human body as a motif in Japanese photographic art of the 1990s, with particular reference to socio-cultural issues. In 2012, I translated Daido Moriyama’s photo book 'The Tales of Tono' into English, to coincide with a survey of the artist at Tate Modern. I have taught courses on Japanese art at the Art Academy Munster, V&A, etc., and also regularly teach at the University of Oxford.
Before joining the Ashmolean in 2017, I worked as Assistant Curator, International Art at Tate Modern. I co-curated the large-scale retrospective exhibitions ‘Giacometti’ (2017) and ‘Agnes Martin’ (2015), and curated displays of works by artists such as Ai Weiwei and Simryn Gill. Together with the Asian Pacific Acquisitions Committee I helped Tate acquire major works by artists from the Asia-Pacific region, including Japanese artists Anzai Shigeo, Haraguchi Noriyuki, Kusama Yayoi, Morimura Yasumasa and Yamashita Kikuji. Previously, I worked at the Directorate General, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum of Contemporary Art, Berlin. I hold a PhD in Art History from Bonn University, Germany and also studied at Keio University, Tokyo.
