Co-curated with Stephen Vider

New York has long been a beacon for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender artists seeking freedom, acceptance, and community. Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York brought to life the queer creative networks that sprang up in the city across the 20th century—a series of artistic subcultures whose radical ideas had lasting effects on the mainstream. Peeling back the layers of New York’s LGBT life that thrived even in the shadows, this groundbreaking exhibition revealed an often-hidden side of the history of New York City and celebrated the power of artistic collaboration to transcend oppression. Visitors encountered well-known figures, from Mae West to Leonard Bernstein to Andy Warhol, and discovered lesser-known ones, such as feminist artist Harmony Hammond, painter and writer Richard Bruce Nugent, and transgender artist Greer Lankton. Surprising relationships emerged: Warhol and Mercedes de Acosta; Robert Mapplethorpe and Cecil Beaton; George Platt Lynes and Gertrude Stein. The exhibition featured the work of these artists, including paintings and photographs, as well as letters, snapshots, and ephemera that illuminated their personal bonds and revealed secrets that were scandal-provoking in their time and remained largely unknown until today. Accompanied by a 304-page catalog.

Mr. Albrecht conceived the idea for the show and, working with co-curator Stephen Vider, developed its themes, selected all artifacts, wrote exhibition text, identified and worked with the design team.

>See exhibition catalog

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Press
Coverage on National Public Radio and in the New York Times, New Yorker, Daily Beast, Slate, Guardian, Gay and Lesbian Review, and many other digital and print publications

“brilliantly curated”
Tim Teeman, Daily Beast, October 6, 2016

“The objects and artifacts …are gorgeous and fascinating.”
Blake Gopnik, artnet.com, November 10, 2016

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Credits
Exhibition designer: Joel Sanders Architect
Exhibition graphic designer: Pure+Applied
Catalogue design: Pure+Applied
Photographer: John Halpern

Designing Home was the first exhibition to look at the contribution of Jewish designers, architects, patrons, and merchants in the creation of a distinctly modern American domestic landscape. In the aftermath of World War II, the hub of world Jewry shifted from Europe to America. The exhibition examined the cultural context in which many Jewish émigré architects and designers from Europe in the 1930–40s were welcomed and embraced into the creative communities that sprang up around the US—including Black Mountain College, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and even in the Bay Area at Pond Farm in Guerneville. The story told in this exhibition gave remarkable insight into Jewish assimilation into American society. At the same time, Designing Home went beyond a simple exploration of physical Jewish contributions to the history of modern architecture and design—an impact that continues today—to examine broader cultural and social themes. Accompanied by a 184-page catalog.

Mr. Albrecht developed the idea of the show, selected all artifacts, wrote exhibition text, assembled the design team, and wrote the catalog’s primary essay.

>See exhibition catalog

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Press

Articles in the New York Times, Architectural Record,
Jewish Daily Forward, San Francisco Chronicle

“…already an instant classic.”
Pierluigi Serraino, Architect’s Newspaper, July 10, 2014

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Credits
Associate curator: Lily Siegel
Exhibition designers: Pure+Applied

Inaugurating the Museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, Gilded New York explored the city’s visual culture at the end of the 19th century, when its elite class flaunted their money as never before. In New York, this era was marked by the sudden rise of industrial and corporate wealth, amassed by such titans as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, who expressed their high status through extravagant fashions, architecture, and interior design. The exhibition presented a lavish display of some 100 works, including costumes, jewelry, portraits, and decorative objects, all created between the mid-1870s and the early 20th century. The dazzling works in the exhibition illuminated an era when members of the new American aristocracy often displayed their wealth in storied balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and hotels. It was a time when New York became the nation’s corporate headquarters and a popular Ladies’ Mile of luxury retail establishments and cultural institutions helped launch the city to global prominence.

Accompanied by a 240-page catalog.

Working with co-curators Jeannine Falino and Phyllis Magidson, Mr. Albrecht developed the idea of the show, selected artifacts, co-authored exhibition text, and co-edited and contributed to the catalog.

>See exhibition catalog

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Press

“The staggering sums spent on art at last week’s auctions were interpreted by dealers and critics alike as evidence of a new Gilded Age. At such a moment, it may be useful to take a hard look at the old one, the late-19th-century period defined by the aggressive buying sprees of a few newly minted industrialists.”
Karen Rosenberg, New York Times
November 21, 2013

“Some of the greatest homes ever built in New York exist now only in archived photographs and memory. These were palace-like structures where young Astors, Vanderbilts, and Fricks would play—and barons of industry would relax in portrait-lined salons and under frescoed ceilings. Thanks to a new book, Gilded New York, and parallel exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, newly resurrected images of these mansions are on display.”
Vanity Fair

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Credits
Co-curators: Jeannine Falino and Phyllis Magidson
Exhibition designer: William T. Georgis Architect
Exhibition graphic designer: Pure+Applied
Exhibition lighting designer: Anita Jorgensen
Installation photographer: Whitney Cox