Kenworth W. Moffett (born 1934 in East Orange, New Jersey – June 21, 2016) was an American art curator, museum director and author. Moffett took a degree in art history 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 ...

, where he studied with

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...

and Philip Pouncey, and graduated in 1960. He then pursued graduate work at

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 high ...

, earning a Ph.D. in 1968. His dissertation on German art critic

Julius Meier-Graefe , ro, Reșița), Resicabánya Dist., Krassó-Szörény Co, Bánság, Royal Hungary, Imperial and Royal Austria(now Romania) , death_date = , death_place = Vevey, VD, Switzerland , nationality = German, Hungarian Ge ...

served as the foundation for his first book, ''Meier-Graefe as Art Critic'' (1973). A champion of Color Field painting, he wrote critical essays and reviews for major art periodicals including ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'' and ''

Art International ''Art International'' known as ''Art International Magazine'', was an art journal based in Switzerland and issued 10 times per year. James A. Fitzsimmons was the magazine's chief editor and publisher. History and profile ''Art International'' ma ...

'' throughout the late '60s and 1970s. From 1968 to 1979, Moffett was a full professor of art history at Wellesley College. In 1971, he was made founding curator of twentieth-century art at the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, where he organized exhibitions of sculptor

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moor ...

, painters

Jules Olitski Jevel Demikovski (March 27, 1922 – February 4, 2007), known professionally as Jules Olitski, was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Early life Olitski was born Jevel Demikovsky in Snovsk, in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ...

, Barnet Newman,

Friedel Dzubas Friedel Dzubas (April 20, 1915 in Berlin, German Empire, Germany – December 10, 1994 in Auburndale, Massachusetts) was a German-born American abstract painter. Life and work Friedel Dzubas studied art in his native land before fleeing Na ...

, and the first museum show of the realist

Albert York Albert York (1928–2009) was an American painter. He lived and worked in New York from 1952 until his death in 2009. He has been represented exclusively by Davis & Langdale Company, Inc. in New York since 1963. York painted the beauty he saw, on ...

. Moffett co-authored a monograph on

Fairfield Porter Fairfield Porter (June 10, 1907 – September 18, 1975) was an American painter and art critic. He was the fourth of five children of James Porter, an architect, and Ruth Furness Porter, a poet from a literary family. He was the brother of photo ...

, ''A Realist Painter in the Age of Abstraction'' with John Ashbery among others to accompany the 1983 Porter retrospective. In 1981, Moffett and colleague Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., organized the first show of American art to travel to China following the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. During his 13 years at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he oversaw the bequest of 26 paintings by

Morris Louis Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D. ...

, as well as acquisitions of over one hundred artworks, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, and Helen Frankenthaler. In 1989, he was appointed director of the

Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is an art museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originating in 1958 as the ''Fort Lauderdale Art Center'', the museum is now located in an modernist building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes. The current buildin ...

, where he remained until 1997. He departed the museum in order to promote the work of a group of abstract artists he called the " New New Painters". Lucy Baker, Steve Brent, Joseph Drapell, John Gittins, Roy Lerner, Anne Low, Marjorie Minkin, Irene Neal, Gérard Paire, Graham Peacock, Bruce Piermarini and Jerald Webster were among the artists Moffett included in exhibitions of the New New Painters. With Marcel Paquet, Moffett wrote a monograph on the group in 1992. The following year they were the subject of a large exhibition at the Museé d’Art Modern et d’Art Contemporian in Nice. Moffett authored several books including monographs on

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

, and

. He died of complications from heart disease in Stamford, CT on June 21, 2016.

References

External links

*Moffett's Artletter 2.0 -

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffett, Kenworth 1934 births 2016 deaths Directors of museums in the United States American art curators Wellesley College faculty Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni