Anne Hawley (born November 3, 1943) was the ''Norma Jean Calderwood'' Director of the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
from 1989 until 2015. Founded in 1903 and one of Boston's most important cultural institutions, the museum is a highly unique installation of Gardner’s private collection, considered to be a work of art in totality. Hawley stepped down from the position at the end of 2015 with plans to continue working with artists and the artistic community.
She has been named a Resident Fellow at
Harvard's Institute of Politics
The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, as well as to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politi ...
, beginning in spring 2016.
Background and education
Anne Hawley was born on November 3, 1943 in Iowa City and raised on a family farm near
West Liberty, Iowa
West Liberty is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,858 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Muscatine micropolitan area.
West Liberty is located five miles south of Interstate 80 on Historic High ...
. She studied vocal music for many years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
Iowa and a Master of Arts from
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
. She also attended the Senior Executive Program at
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
. Early in her career, Hawley worked as a research associate with the National Urban League and then with the Ford Foundation Study in Leadership in Public Education. She then moved to Massachusetts, where she became the founding executive director of the Cultural Education Collaborative in 1974. In 1977, Hawley became executive director of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities where she served until her appointment to the Gardner in 1989. She holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Williams College,
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...
,
Emmanuel College, Emerson College,
Lesley University, and
Montserrat College of Art.
Career
Gardner Museum
In 1989, Hawley became the fourth museum director of
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts.
Hawley made it her mission to ensure that the institution would not only preserve
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual cur ...
’s extraordinary collection, but also serve as a dynamic cultural resource for artists, musicians, scholars, visitors, and the Greater Boston community, just as it did in Mrs. Gardner’s day. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, the galleries surround a verdant courtyard and are home to paintings, sculptures, textiles, furniture, books, journals and letters, that seek to inspire generations of artists and visitors. Included in the collection are masterpieces by
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
,
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
,
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
,
Whistler, and
Sargent
Sargent or Sargents may refer to:
People
* Sargent (name), includes a list of people with the name
Places
*Sargent, California
*Sargents, Colorado
*Sargent, Georgia
* Sargent, Scott County, Missouri
* Sargent, Texas County, Missouri
*Sargent, Ne ...
.
Hawley expanded the Museum’s staff and board of trustees; created curatorial positions and a board of overseers; mounted scholarly exhibitions centered on the art from the collection; established an Artist-in-Residency program and showcased the artists’ work; launched new programs in music, education, and landscape; spearheaded the modernization of crucial infrastructure improvements in the historic palace; completed several full–gallery restorations and led successful fundraising efforts to give the Museum a solid endowment.
As part of a $180 million capital campaign, she oversaw the effort to build an addition designed by
Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...
-winning architect
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (20 ...
. The new wing, opened in January 2012, helps to preserve the historic palace and provides space for programming and services relevant to today’s museum visitors. Hawley’s book, ''Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Daring by Design'', published in 2014, describes the Museum’s unique history and the process of designing the new addition with Piano.
On March 18, 1990, within 6 months of Hawley taking the director position, two thieves, dressed as Boston police officers, talked their way into the Museum and
stole 13 masterpieces valued at $500 million, including works by
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
,
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
,
Manet, and
Degas.
It is the largest art theft in the world and still remains unsolved. In conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the investigation is active and focused on recovering the art. In 1994 at Hawley’s urging, Senator
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
helped pass legislation that made art theft a federal crime and increased the statute of limitations from five to fifteen years.
As a result of her 26-year leadership, the legacy of the museum’s founder in patronage and innovation continues to thrive in programs that explore new ideas and thinking across all the arts – including the widely celebrated Artist-in-Residence program and the popular classical music Sunday Series – and serves as the basis for scholarly exhibitions and symposia, school and community partnerships and a wide array of public and family programs.
In December 2015, Hawley stepped down as the museum director.
Other activities
Hawley serves as a trustee on the boards of
Save Venice Inc.
Save Venice Inc. is a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of art and architecture and the preservation of cultural heritage sites in Venice, Italy. Headquartered in New York City, it has an office in Venice, a chapter in Bos ...
, Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co., and Fenway Alliance. Board service previously included the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation’s National Arts Stabilization Fund,
Old Sturbridge Village
Old Sturbridge Village is a living museum located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts which recreates life in rural New England during the 1790s through 1830s. It is the largest living museum in New England, covering more than 200 acres (81 hectares). T ...
, Massachusetts Woman’s Forum, and Citizen’s Bank. Prior to her appointment to the Gardner Museum, she served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, a state agency, and was instrumental in the passage of new laws supporting cultural life in Massachusetts, including the Cultural Education Act. Early in her career she founded the Cultural Education Committee, an organization dedicated to stimulating arts public policy and arts education.
As Director of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities from 1978 to 1989, she pioneered new initiatives to advance the arts in the public interest. Through a New Works program that funded artistic commissions, she engaged museums and performing arts organizations to commission and present the works of living artists from around the world. A statewide design program funded rural planning initiatives to protect public land and small town commons; bridge design workshops for the Department of Public Works introduced state engineers to internationally renowned designers including Christian Menn who was later commissioned to design the Zakim Bridge in Boston. Legislation was passed enabling the culture sector to participate in borrowing from the state bonding agencies that continues to assist in the financing of capital projects today. Under her leadership, the state arts agency grew to the second largest arts council in the country ($23 million annually) and administered the widest array of public programs from finance to international exchange.
Awards and honors
Anne Hawley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Emmanuel College, Boston, at their Commencement on May 12, 2012, where Ms. Hawley was Commencement speaker. She was also awarded Honorary Doctorates by Williams College, Babson College, Leslie College, and the Montserrat College of Art.
She has also received the Lyman Ziegler Award for Outstanding Service to the Commonwealth, 1988; Boston Society of Architects Award for Outstanding Contribution to Architecture in Boston, 1989; Fulbright Fellowship, Argentina, 1986; Polaroid Travel Grant to study arts policy and programs in France, 1987; Fund for Mutual Understanding, Travel Grant to USSR, 1988; Women’s Travel Club, Travel Grant to study Italian design, 1982; Wheaton College Distinguished Fellow; Reginald Townsend Award, New England Society in the City of New York; the Pinnacle Award, 2013; the Godine Award for Service to the Community by Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2012; and Women in Design Award from the Boston Society of Architects, 2015.
Personal life
Hawley's husband is Urs P. Gauchat, an architect and Dean Emeritus of College of Architecture and Design at
New Jersey Institute of Technology
{{Infobox university
, name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology
, image = New Jersey IT seal.svg
, image_upright = 0.9
, former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...
.
References
Additional sources
* ''Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Daring By Design'' 2014 (Skira Rizzoli).
* Cotter, Holland. "Despite Devastating Losses, the Gardner Museum Is Rebounding." ''The New York Times''. 31 March 1997
Available online.Retrieved 22 March 2008.
* Goldfarb, Hilliard. ''The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum''. Yale University Press, 1995.
External links
Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumA look at the expanded Gardner museum , Boston Globe Arts*
ttps://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/4/12/anne-hawley-residency/ Anne Hawley at thecrimson.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Anne
1943 births
Living people
Directors of museums in the United States
Women museum directors
People from Boston
University of Iowa alumni
George Washington University alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
People from Muscatine County, Iowa