# Glenn D. Lowry

Glenn David Lowry (born September 28, 1954) is an American art historian and director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City 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 life and education

Lowry was born in 1954 in New York City and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Holderness School in 1972 and received a B.A. degree (1976), magna cum laude, from Williams College. He also obtained M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in the history of art from Harvard University, as well as honorary degrees from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (2000), the College of William and Mary (2009), and Florida Southern College (2017).

## Career

Lowry began his career as curator of Oriental art at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in 1981. Lowry was appointed in 1983 as the first director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary; he later became curator of Near Eastern Art at the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art (1984–1990). He was director of the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. He was appointed director of the Museum of Modern Art in 1995.
In February 1999, Lowry and Alanna Heiss, former director of the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, initiated the merger of their two organizations.
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 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 in collaboration with Gensler, 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. In September 2024, Lowry announced that he would retire in September 2025.

## Other roles

Lowry is a board member of the Clark Art Institute, New Art Trust, the Creative Arts Council at Brown University, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and is a former board member of Judd Foundation and Williams College. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and serves on the advisory council of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. 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. The trust fund was created by David Rockefeller and Agnes Gund, 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. 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

* ↑ U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
* ↑ Burns, Charlotte. "Authority and Anxiety with MoMA director Glenn Lowry". In Other Words. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* 1 2 3 4 MoMA Director Glenn Lowry to Discuss Sculptures at Spring Neighborhood Day Tomorrow Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, a May 18, 2001, article from The Rockefeller University News
* ↑ Art Gallery of Ontario (June 5, 2011). "Glenn D. Lowry and Matthew Teitelbaum in Conversation". Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ The College of William and Mary (January 8, 2009). "Sen. Jim Webb to Speak at Charter Day Ceremony". The College of William and Mary. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Florida Southern College (May 2017). "Honorary Chancellors - Florida Southern College". Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Art Gallery New South Wales (June 6, 2018). "Directors in conversation: Glenn D Lowry and Michael Brand". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ "Glenn Lowry". Charlie Rose. May 25, 2001. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
* ↑ D'arcy, David (December 1, 1994). "Glenn Lowry appointed Director of the MoMA". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Lange, Alexandra (October 8, 2004). "The Making of the New MoMA". New York. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ The Museum of Modern Art (November 15, 2004). "The Museum of Modern Art Reopens On November 20, 2004 in Expanded and Renovated New Building Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 6, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Farago, Jason (November 16, 2018). "Glenn Lowry, MoMA Director, Will Continue Through 2025". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Schjeldahl, Peter (October 14, 2019). "The Exuberance of MoMA's Expansion". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Goldstein, Andrew (October 15, 2019). "So, Is MoMA Woke Now? Not Quite. A Q&A With Director Glenn Lowry on Why 'You Can Never Be Comprehensive in Some Absolute Way'". Artnet. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Pogrebin, Robin (September 10, 2024). "Glenn Lowry, Longtime MoMA Director, Will Step Down Next Year". The New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
* ↑ Holland, Oscar (September 11, 2024). "MoMA director Glenn Lowry to step down after 30 years". CNN. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
* ↑ Artforum (January 12, 2007). "New Art Trust Receives Works from Kramlich Collection". Artforum. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. "Trustees". Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
* ↑ Donnedieu de Vabres, Renaud (2016). "Discours, éditoriaux, préfaces et tribunes de Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, ministre de la Culture et de la communication de 2004 à 2007". Archive Nationales. France. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* ↑ Gregory, Mary (August 25, 2016). "Dia's Alexis Lowry Illuminates the Dan Flavin Art Institute". Long Island Pulse. New York. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
* ↑ The National News. "Willy Lowry". Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
* 1 2 3 New York Times, 2007: Donors Sweetened Director's Pay At MoMA Archived November 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, a February 2007 article from The New York Times
* ↑ Commune plus one Archived December 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, a December 2011 article by James Panero from The New Criterion
* ↑ Abramovitch, Ingrid (May 17, 2011). "Shortlist: Glenn D. Lowry - 12 things MoMA's director can't live without". Elle Decor. New York. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
* ↑ CNN (September 8, 2017). "How contemporary art can change the world". CNN. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)