Terence Riley (November 6, 1954 – May 17, 2021) was an American architect and museum curator. He was the chief curator of architecture and design at 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 ...

from 1992 to 2006.

Early life and education

Riley was born in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

, son of Philip Riley a printer, and Mary Jo (Lundberg) Riley, a homemaker. He grew up in

Woodstock, Illinois Woodstock is a city in (and the county seat of) McHenry County, Illinois, McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It is located 45 miles northwest of Chicago, making it one of the city's outer-most suburbs. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

, and graduated from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

with a

B.Arch The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world. Australia Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...

in 1978, followed by an

M.Arch The “Master of Architecture”(M.Arch or MArch) or a “Bachelor of Architecture” is a professional degree in architecture, qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that resu ...

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 1982.

Career

In 1984, Riley formed the firm Keenen/Riley in 1984 with John Keenen. In 1990, he opened the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at Columbia, and was recruited by

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...

a year later to work at the Museum of Modern Art, becoming Philip Johnson Chief Curator for architecture and design in 1992. He helped to found the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program. In 2006 he became director of the

Miami Art Museum Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

, stepping down in 2009 to return to architectural practice in Miami.

References

1954 births 2021 deaths American architecture critics People associated with the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Directors of museums in the United States University of Notre Dame alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Exhibition designers American architectural historians {{US-architect-stub