MAJOR GIFT ESTABLISHES ENDOWED FUND TO SUPPORT CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Deborah Martin Kao Appointed Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography
Cambridge, MA – February 23, 2000 – Deborah Martin Kao was recently appointed the first Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. A longtime friend and supporter of the Harvard University Art Museums, Mr. Menschel has given $2 million to establish an endowed fund, permanently supporting a curator of photography.
"Deborah Kao is a thoughtful and diligent curator, an engaging and inspiring teacher, and a thought-provoking colleague whose insight into the nature of museums and collecting has proved invaluable time and again," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "I am positive that, as the Richard L. Menschel Curator, Debi will direct her energy toward ever more interesting programming and her scholarship and expertise toward the growth of the photograph collection for many years to come."
Mr. Menschel’s generous funding of the curatorship helped the Art Museums create the unique exhibition, Ben Shahn’s New York: The Photography of Modern Times. Dr. Kao was the lead curator for this significant project that recently opened at Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Drawn from the Fogg Art Museum’s extensive collection of Ben Shahn’s photographs, the exhibition showcases the artist’s experimentation with and contributions to the social documentary tradition as it developed in the United States in the 1930s.
"Scholars such as Deborah Kao allow Harvard to continue making great progress in the study and collection of photographs," said Mr. Menschel. "It is exciting to be able to support the study of the history and practice of photography at the Art Museums. With this curatorship, Harvard has demonstrated a commitment to use its vast photographic resources as a tool for teaching and scholarship in this century and beyond."
Over the course of thirty years, Mr. Menschel’s own collection of photographs has developed along a broad and eclectic path, with an interest in artists ranging from William Henry Fox Talbot to Harry Callahan. In 1978 Mr. Menschel gave sixty vintage photographic prints by Aaron Siskind to the Art Museums, helping to form the core of the Fogg’s outstanding collection of this important mid-twentieth-century photographer’s work. In 1996 Mr. Menschel became a member of the Art Museums’ Collections Committee for Photography, thus continuing to play an important role in the support of fine art photography at Harvard.
Deborah Martin Kao came to the Fogg Art Museum in 1994 as an assistant curator for photographs. From the beginning her dedication to the Fogg’s collection of photographs has been surpassed only by her commitment to the many students of photography who come to view and study the collection each year. Among her innovations are several new public programs, including the very successful "Light Conversations: Seminars with Contemporary Photographers." Dr. Kao has expanded the scope of the photography collection acquiring many significant works of art. She has also increased access to the collection, and has spearheaded several exciting digital initiatives including a searchable database of images and descriptive text for the over 5000 photographs that comprise the Fogg’s Ben Shahn collection (accessible at www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/shahn/).
Deborah Martin Kao has spent most of her career in the Boston area, receiving her B.A. in art history from Tufts University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Boston University. A specialist in mid-twentieth-century American art, she has organized exhibitions and published on a wide array of topics and has taught at Boston College, Boston University, and Brown University.
Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions
in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and
depth of its collections and its groundbreaking exhibitions and original
research. For more than a century it has been the nation's premier training
ground for museum professionals and scholars, and is renowned for its
seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history
in this country.
The three Harvard University Art Museums – the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum – are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art. The 150,000 objects in the Art Museums' collections range in date from ancient times to the present, and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each Museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its respective areas of focus.
As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the Art Museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension both to their specific areas of study and to their lives at and after Harvard. The Art Museums welcome members of the public to experience its collections and special exhibitions, as well as to enjoy its lectures, symposia, and other programs.
The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas (Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs) and are comprehensive and encyclopedic within their areas. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are unique in their breadth and quality, and are enhanced continually through gifts and acquisitions. Together, they comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.