Glenn David Lowry (born September 28, 1954) is an American art historian and director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

(MoMA) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

since 1995. His initiatives there include strengthening MoMA's contemporary art program, significantly developing the collection holdings in all media, and guiding two major campaigns for the renovation, expansion, and endowment of the museum. He has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics.

Early years

Lowry was born in 1954 in New York City and raised in

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropol ...

. He graduated from the

Holderness School , established = 1879 , type = Private high school , locale = , religion = Episcopal , image = , grades =9-12, PG , head_name = Headmaster , head = R. Phillip Peck , city = Holderness , state = New Hampshire , country = USA , student ...

in 1972 and later received a B.A. degree (1976) magna cum laude from

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...

, Williamstown, and M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) degree in the history of art from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, and honorary degrees from the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(2000), the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William ...

(2009), and

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

(2017).

Career

Lowry began his career as curator of Oriental art at the

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

in 1981. Lowry was appointed in 1983 as the first director of the

Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a por ...

at the College of William and Mary; he later became curator of Near Eastern Art at the Smithsonian Institution's

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. Th ...

and

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and S ...

(1984–1990). He was director of the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

from 1990 to 1995. He was appointed director of the Museum of Modern Art in 1995. In February 1999, Lowry and

Alanna Heiss Alanna Heiss (born May 13, 1943, in Louisville, Kentucky) is the Founder and Director of Clocktower Productions, a non profit arts organization, online radio station, and program partnership with six cultural institutions in three boroughs in Ne ...

, former director of the

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, t ...

, initiated the merger of their two organizations.MoMA Director Glenn Lowry to Discuss Sculptures at Spring Neighborhood Day Tomorrow
, a May 18, 2001, article from The

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

News Lowry guided MoMA's 2004 expansion and accompanying capital campaign—raising $450 million for the new building and over $450 million for the endowment and other related expenses. He and architect

Yoshio Taniguchi Yoshio Taniguchi (谷口吉生, ''Taniguchi Yoshio''; born 1937) is a Japanese architect best known for his redesign of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, which was reopened November 20, 2004. Critics have emphasized Taniguchi's fusion ...

unveiled the new museum on November 20, 2004. In 2018, Lowry and the MoMA board agreed to an extension of his role as the David Rockefeller Director of the Museum of Modern Art through 2025, which will make him the longest-serving director since the museum opened in 1929. Lowry led MoMA's 2019 renovation and expansion, developed with architects

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Diller has several uses including: People with the surname *Barry Diller (b. 1942), American businessman *Burgoyne Diller Burgoyne A. Diller (January 13, 1906 – January 30, 1965) was an American abstract painter. Many of his best-known w ...

in collaboration with

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...

, to add more than 40,000 square feet of new gallery space and offer a deep rethinking of MoMA's collection, and, by extension, of the history of art for the past century and a half.

Other roles

Lowry is a board member of the New Art Trust, the Creative Arts Council at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

, the

Association of Art Museum Directors The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is an organization of art museum directors from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The AAMD was established in 1916 by the directors of twelve American museums and was formally incorporated in 1969 ...

(AAMD), and the

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

Foundation and is a former board member of Judd Foundation and

. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, and serves on the advisory council of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 2005, the French government honored Lowry with the title of Chevalier dans l' Ordre ''national'' du Merité.

Personal life

Lowry is married to the former Susan Chambers, with whom he has three children. His daughter, Alexis Lowry, is a curator for the Dia Art Foundation. His son, Willy Lowry, is a correspondent at '' The National News''. Between 1995 and 2003, the New York Fine Arts Support Trust paid Lowry $5.35 million in addition to compensation supplied by the museum, which in 2005 consisted of salary, bonus and benefits of $1.28 million; the trust had been created by MoMA as part of the effort to recruit Lowry to take over the museum in 1995.New York Times, 2007: Donors Sweetened Director's Pay At MoMA
a February 2007 article from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' The trust fund was created by

David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...

and

Agnes Gund Agnes Gund (born 1938) is an American philanthropist and arts patron, collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. She is President Emerita and Life Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chair ...

, who made the payments "at the request of and for the benefit of the museum"; Lowry and his wife Susan, a Montreal-born landscape architect, live rent-free in a $6-million apartment located in MoMA's residential tower and purchased by the New York Fine Arts Support Trust in 2004.

Publications

*With Quentin Bajac, Christophe Cherix, Stuart Comer, Rajendra Roy, Martino Stierli and Ann Temkin, ''MoMA Now: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York''. 2019. *''How contemporary art can change the world'', CNN. September 8, 2017. *With Jan Postma. ''The Museum of Modern Art in This Century''. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. 2009. *''Oil and Sugar: Contemporary Art and Islamic Culture''. The Royal Ontario Museum, 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. *"Hello World". ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

''. November 1989, Pg. 36. *With Thomas W. Lentz. ''Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century''. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. *Glenn D. Lowry, et al. ''Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection''. University of Washington Press, 1988. *Glenn D. Lowry, et al. ''Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: The Inaugural Gift''. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987. *Glenn D. Lowry, et al. ''From Concept to Context: Approaches to Asian and Islamic Calligraphy''. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. *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.

Footnotes

External links

MoMA website"Q&A: Glenn Lowry, MoMA Director"
'' Time Out New York''. 2008.
"It's Good to be the MoMA Director"
''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

''. February 16, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Glenn D. Directors of museums in the United States Historians of Islamic art American art historians People associated with the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Williams College alumni Harvard University alumni Living people 1954 births Writers from New York City People from Williamstown, Massachusetts Smithsonian Institution people Holderness School alumni Historians from Massachusetts Members of the American Philosophical Society Historians from New York (state)