Glenn D. Lowry
Encyclopedia
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(MoMA) in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He became the sixth director of the Museum in 1995 and heads a staff of around 750 people. His major initiatives in the past 14 years include guiding MoMA’s $900 million capital campaign for the renovation, expansion, and endowment of the Museum, and strengthening MoMA’s contemporary art program.
Born in 1954 in New York City and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Lowry received a B.A. degree (1976) magna cum laude from Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Williamstown, and M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in the history of art from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
A strong advocate of contemporary art, he, along with Alanna Heiss
Alanna Heiss
Alanna Heiss is the Director of AIR, Art International Radio, an Internet-based art radio station operating out of the Clocktower Gallery in Lower Manhattan, New York. She founded and was the Director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center from 1976–2008 and is one of the originators of the alternative...
, former director of the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, conceived and initiated the merger of their two organizations, which was announced in February 1999. He has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics.
Lowry is a board member of the Association of Art Museum Directors
Association of Art Museum Directors
The Association of Art Museum Directors is an organisation of art museums in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.Established in 1916 by the directors of twelve American museums, the Association formally incorporated in 1969. At that time the Association also hired an employee, and increased the...
(AAMD) and of the Donald Judd
Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism . In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy...
Foundation. He is a member of the Williams College Board of Trustees, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the advisory council of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He is also a Steering Committee Member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In 2004, the French government honored Mr. Lowry with the title of Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
A noted scholar of Islamic arts and architecture, Lowry was previously Director of the Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
(1990-95), and Curator of Near Eastern Art at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery joins the Freer Gallery of Art to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Sackler celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012....
and Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
The Freer Gallery of Art joins the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Freer contains art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant collection of...
(1984-90).
Publications
The Museum of Modern Art in This Century. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. 2009.Designing the New Museum of Modern Art. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. 2004.
MOMA Highlights: 325 Works from The Museum of Modern Art. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. 2002.
with Michael Brand, eds., Fatehpur-Sikri: A Sourcebook. Cambridge, MA: The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1985.
"Time Magazine:" November 1989, Pg. 36. "Hello World."
See also
- List of Williams College people
- Muscarelle Museum of ArtMuscarelle Museum of ArtThe Muscarelle Museum of Art at The College of William & Mary is an art museum in Williamsburg, Virginia right on the College’s campus. It sits adjacent to the Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall on Jamestown Road. The museum was given to the College as a gift from alumni and friends and first opened its...
- Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...