| 1 | Name: | Dr. Glenn D. Lowry | |
| Institution: | Museum of Modern Art | ||
| Year Elected: | 2010 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1954 | ||
Glenn Lowry is the remarkably accomplished director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He became the director at the age of 40, bringing to his new task solid credentials as a historian of Moghul art, curator, and director of two smaller museums. He faced a complex situation. From the start, he had to plunge into preparations for an expansion of the museum's space that would be unprecedented in scope, with all that involved in terms of planning for acquisition of land, negotiations over zoning, selection of a design and architectural team and raising the necessary financing (about $700 million). At the same time he had to face the challenges and opportunities resulting from a changing of the guard at MoMA as a new group of brilliant curators came to the fore. He handled both the expansion of the museum and the internal challenges masterfully, drawing on his skill as an administrator and fund raiser and on his solid background as a scholar who understands what curators do but has no desire to supplant them. The result is an astonishing success story. MoMA's expansion – really the construction of a new museum – was completed on time and within budget, and the museum continues to do extremely well, as evidenced by record numbers of visitors and a range of special exhibitions. He is the author of: Storm Across Asia: Genghis Khan and the Mongols, (1981); (with M. Brand) Akbar's India, Art From the Mughal City of Victory, (1985); (with F. Shen, A. Yonemura) From Concept to Context: Approaches to Asian and Islamic Calligraphy, (1986); A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection, (1986); (with T. Lentz) Timur and the Princely Vision, (1989); and Designing the New Museum of Modern Art, (2004). He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences since 2005, and was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2010. | |||