Yve-Alain Bois

Yve-Alain Bois is a Professor of Art History at the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University. He also held the Joseph Pulitzer Professorship of Modern Art at Harvard University (1991–2005) and served as Chair of Harvard’s Department of History of Art and Architecture. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bois earned his PhD from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris, 1977) and M.A. from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris, 1973), both under Roland Barthes. He previously worked at Johns Hopkins University and the French CNRS before moving to Harvard.

His research focuses on 20th-century European and American art, with expertise in modernist and postmodernist movements. He co-curated major exhibitions like Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry (1999) and Piet Mondrian, A Retrospective (1994–95). He co-founded Macula magazine (1976) and has edited October since 1991.

Key awards include the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (2002), Alfred H. Barr Award (2001), and Prix Pierre Daix (2015). He was appointed Chun-tu Hsueh Chair Professor at Nanjing University (2018). His work bridges art criticism, theory, and curatorial practice.