Dr Alfred Haft

Alfred Haft is a Project Curator in the Japanese Section of the Department of Asia at the British Museum.  In 2010, he was awarded the first Anne van Biema Postdoctoral Fellowship, offered jointly by the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.  During the fellowship, he conducted research on the Pulverer Collection of pre-modern Japanese illustrated books, which now forms part of the Freer Gallery’s collection, added to the revisions of his dissertation for publication, and delivered a paper for the Freer’s Research-in-Progress series.  

Prior to leaving for the fellowship, he presented his research at the workshop held to celebrate the Sainsbury Institute’s tenth anniversary, and a separate paper at one of the workshops connected with the shunga project, which is scheduled to culminate in an exhibition at the British Museum in 2013.  He also researched and wrote the chapter on Japanese art for The Art Museum (forthcoming, Phaidon), and has since assisted in editing several volumes in the new Japanese Visual Culture series published by Brill.  

Over the next year, in addition to working on research and editing projects, he looks forward to contributing to the research, curatorial and collections activities of the British Museum’s Japanese Section.