PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) announced today the appointment of Tiffany Lambert as the Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Design. In this newly created position, endowed by PMA Trustees Lisa S. Roberts and David W. Seltzer, Lambert will lead on the museum’s growing commitment to design.

A curator, writer, and educator, Lambert has concentrated on overlooked and emerging voices combined with experimental exhibition design. She most recently served as Guest Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles where she curated Refashioning: CFGNY & Wataru Tominaga (2024), the Hammer’s first exhibition dedicated to fashion design. Prior, she worked as Curator and Interim Director of New York’s Japan Society Gallery where she developed critically acclaimed exhibitions including Out of Bounds: Japanese Women Artists in Fluxus (2023) and Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line (2022), the artist’s first institutional survey.

Lambert previously served as Assistant Director of Exhibitions at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and as Curatorial Assistant at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Pratt Institute, in addition to her editorial work as Managing Editor of PIN-UP Magazine. Lambert’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, Domus, TANK, Surface, and The Architectural Review, among others.

“I am thrilled to welcome Tiffany to the PMA and our team,” said Eleanor Nairne, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art. “She brings an expertise and passion for design that feels both timely and compelling, and I look forward to working together to bring her curatorial visions to life in Philadelphia. I also want to thank our Trustees Lisa S. Roberts and David W. Seltzer for generously establishing the endowment for this position.”

“I am honored and energized to join the PMA team as the inaugural Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Design,” said Lambert. “The institution’s significant site, collection, and exhibitions history have long been an intellectual touchstone for me. I have dedicated my career to design and its potential to both reflect and shape society. I look forward to extending design’s legacy at the PMA and connecting with the broader Philadelphian community while responding to important issues of the present and future.”

Lambert holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, a BFA in Art & Design and a BA in Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science with a minor in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.