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25psychology always fascinate me,”she continues.As a curator for the Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, her scopehas widened. The Third Mind:American Artists Contemplate Asia,1860-1989, another landmarkexhibition of hers, which was presentedin 2009, was highly acclaimed forhighlighting the dynamic andcomplex impact and infl uence ofAsia on modern and contemporaryAmerican art movements, includingpostwar Abstract Expressionismand Minimalism.Munroe observes, “I want toeliminate the barriers built byEuropean and U.S.-centric perspectivesto art and culture, and strengthenother histories beyond the Westerncanon. I have this passionateconviction, which is a powerfuldriving force of my career.”While still a graduate student in arthistory, she organized Yayoi Kusama:A Retrospective (1989) and JapaneseArt After 1945: Scream Against the Sky(1994). In 1998, she was appointedDirector of Japan Society Gallery, andorganized Yes Yoko Ono (2000), whichwas presented across the U.S. and inAsia. To Japan Society, she broughtTakashi Murakami’s Little Boy: The Artsof Japan’s Exploding Subculture (2005),which won the Best Thematic Showaward from the International Associationof Art Critics in America. Since 2006,Munroe has served as SamsungSenior Curator, Asian Art, and SeniorAdvisor, Global Arts, at the Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum. In 2017, shereceived the Japan Foundation Awardfor making signifi cant contributions topromoting mutual understanding andfriendship between Japan and the U.S.through art.Alexandra MunroeAlexandra Munroe and Ushio Shinohara in front ofthe Boxing Painting, The Poppy Field, 2009Photo by Noriko ShinoharaUNITED STATESOF AMERICAJAPAN