Staff Profile
Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art
aysin_yoltar@harvard.edu / 617-495-3345
Ph.D., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts
M.A., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts
B.A., Hacettepe University
Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım’s research focuses on Ottoman and Persian manuscript paintings as well as the history of museum collections. Before joining the museums in 2022, she held curatorial and teaching positions as well as fellowships at several institutions in Türkiye and the United States. She is interested in bringing the museums’ Islamic and later Indian art collections to the attention of a wider public, particularly those who share a similar cultural background as the artworks.
Recent Publications
Yoltar-Yıldırım, Ayşin, and Joan Cummins. “New Galleries for South Asian and Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum.” Arts of Asia (Spring 2023): 58–71.
“The Question of Well-Rounded Artists of the Book at the Ottoman Court in the Early 16th Century.” In Zeren Tanındı Armağanı: İslam Dünyasında Kitap Sanatı ve Kültürü/Zeren Tanındı Festschrift: Art and Culture of Books in the Islamic World, ed. Aslıhan Erkmen and Şebnem Tamcan Parladır, 659–68. Istanbul: Lale Yayıncılık, 2022.
Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım, ed. Persian Manuscripts and Paintings from the Berenson Collection. Villa I Tatti Series: 35. Florence; Rome: I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, in collaboration with Officina Libraria, 2021.
“Behind an Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum: ‘Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a Century Apart.’” In Cultural Management and Policy Yearbook 2019: Forced Migration and Cultural Production. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University, 2019.