The American arts philanthropist Agnes Gund has died, aged 87. Gund was a number one determine within the artwork world who was broadly celebrated for her vital contributions to cultural establishments and her efforts to make use of artwork as vessel for social change, together with in training and prison justice reform. Gund’s demise was first reported by The New York Occasions, which didn’t state a reason for demise. She is survived by 4 youngsters.
Gund was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1938. Her father, George Gund II, was a banker and philanthropist, and her mom, Jessica Roesler, instilled Gund with an appreciation for artwork and tradition from an early age. Gund credited her publicity to artwork, together with frequent visits to the Cleveland Museum of Artwork (CMA), as foundational experiences that formed her lifelong work.
“Agnes Gund was a tireless advocate for artwork and artists, and he or she was a cherished buddy all through my years on the Getty, the Morgan Library and the Cleveland Museum of Artwork,” says the director of the CMA, William Griswold, in a press release. “As a proud Cleveland native and a CMA Trustee, she helped rework the museum and had a profound influence on our contemporary-art assortment. Her legacy will encourage generations to come back.”
Gund attended the distinguished Miss Porter’s Faculty in Connecticut, and in 2019 co-chaired a Sotheby’s public sale to assist the college, promoting Carmen Herrera’s portray Blanco y Verde (1966‑67) for a report $2.9m. Gund earned a level in historical past from Smith School in 1960 and obtained a masters diploma in artwork historical past in 1962 from Harvard College by way of its Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the place she labored carefully with the Fogg Artwork Museum.
Gund joined the board of the Museum of Trendy Artwork (MoMA) in New York in 1976, marking the start of a five-decade relationship with the museum. She served as its president from 1991 to 2002 and helped broaden the museum’s academic programmes and improve its dedication to accessibility and variety. Throughout her tenure, she notably pushed for the acquisition of works by ladies and artists of color, who remained underrepresented within the assortment.
Gund had an instrumental position in serving to elevate funds for MoMA’s $858m enlargement, which was designed by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi and accomplished in 2004. After stepping down as president, she turned president emerita of MoMA in 2005 and held the title till her demise. Over her lifetime, she donated round 100 works to MoMA, together with items by Philip Guston, Eva Hesse, Richard Serra and others. Gund moreover helped oversee the launch of MoMA PS1 in Queens, which turned formally affiliated with MoMA in 2000 following a merger with the PS1 Modern Artwork Heart.
“Aggie’s influence on our museums is immeasurable,” Christophe Cherix, MoMA’s director, stated in a press release offered to The Artwork Newspaper. “A devoted and visionary chief, her generosity and keenness helped form MoMA and MoMA PS1 into the establishments they’re immediately. She was a tireless champion of artists and a fierce believer within the energy of artwork to vary the world. Her heat, spark and unwavering dedication to what’s proper will probably be profoundly missed. We’re all deeply grateful for her unbelievable legacy and the numerous methods she enriched our lives.”
Studio In A Faculty artist-instructor Suzanne Stroebe with Agnes Gund, visiting artist Jeff Koons and college students at PS145 on the Higher West Aspect Mindy Finest
Gund’s philanthropic and cultural contributions weren’t restricted to MoMA. She based the Studio in a Faculty in 1977 to supply artwork training to New York Metropolis public faculty youngsters after price range cuts eliminated arts programmes. The non-profit organisation stays one Gund’s most enduring tasks. It really works to carry up to date artists—together with Jeff Koons, Julie Mehretu, Ursula von Rydingsvard and others—to lecture rooms. The programme has reached 1000’s of kids because it was established.
In 2011, she launched the Gund Gallery at Kenyon School in Gambier, Ohio, one other training initiative to assist scholar engagement with up to date artwork and curatorial practices. The museum was launched with a seeded present of 80 works from Gund’s assortment, together with items by Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland, Pablo Picasso and others. The museum started gathering work in 2015 and now holds practically 500 works. It obtained accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums earlier this yr.
Gund made headlines when she bought Roy Lichtenstein’s portray Masterpiece (1962) in 2017 to make use of the proceeds to ascertain the Artwork for Justice Fund, an initiative geared toward addressing the harms attributable to mass incarceration within the US. The work was bought by collector Steve Cohen for $165m, with Gund committing roughly $100m from the sale to launch the fund. The fund, which was conceived in partnership with the Ford Basis and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, awarded grants to organisations and artists working with prison justice reform till it shuttered in 2023.
In 2020, Gund was the topic of the documentary Aggie, which was directed by her daughter, Catherine Gund, and explored her activism and legacy within the arts. The movie targeted on Gund’s upbringing and the beginnings of her artwork assortment and management in museums, and on her activism. Some notable figures who seem within the movie embrace the film-maker John Waters, the Studio Museum in Harlem’s director Thelma Golden and the artist Glenn Ligon.
In 2022, Gund’s basis bought one other work by Lichtenstein to assist reproductive rights organisations.
In her lifetime, Gund amassed an in depth artwork assortment together with works by Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Robert Rauschenberg and others. However she emphasised that the gathering was not a personal asset and that she collected with the intention of putting the works in public establishments.
In a earlier interview with The Artwork Newspaper, Gund stated she purchased her first main work, a sculpture by Henry Moore, in 1966. However she “began to have nightmares” about spending a big sum of cash on the work, and it was then she determined to start donating works to varied museums to “assuage the guilt” of gathering.
All through her life, Gund served on numerous non-profits’ boards, together with the Artwork Institute of Chicago, the Nationwide Council on Arts, the Basis for Artwork and Preservation in Embassies. She was a trustee on the CMA, a life trustee on the Morgan Library and Museum and an emeritus director on the Museum of Modern Artwork Cleveland.
Gund was awarded the Nationwide Medal of Arts by President Invoice Clinton in 1997, the very best honour given to artists and humanities patrons by the US authorities. She additionally obtained quite a few honorary levels and distinctions recognising her contributions and philanthropic work, together with from Harvard College, Columbia College and Brown College.
