Alexandra Zoë Dostal

Zoë Dostal specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art and visual culture with a focus on institutions and gender. Her dissertation is titled “Rope, Linen, Thread: Gender, Labor, and the Textile Industry in Eighteenth-Century British Art.” This project has been supported by the Huntington Library, the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. From 2022 to 2024, she will be the Kress Institutional Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Warburg Institute, London. 

While at Columbia, Zoë founded the Art History and Archaeology Graduate Association and co-organized the Art X Social Justice graduate initiative. For these activities, Zoë received the 2022 GSAS Dr. Devon T. Wade Mentorship, Service, and Advocacy Award. She has also completed a graduate certificate with the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender. 

Prior to pursuing a PhD, Zoë earned an MA with distinction from The Courtauld Institute of Art in 2016 and a BA with honors from Vassar College in 2013. She has held curatorial internships at the Courtauld Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.