Harvard Provost Appoints 40-Year Veteran of the Fogg Art Museum as Acting Director of the Harvard University Art Museums

Advisory Committee to be Selected in Search for New Director of the Art Museums

CAMBRIDGE, MA (August 7, 2002)-Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman today announced the appointment of Marjorie B. Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints at the Fogg Art Museum, to serve as acting director of the Harvard University Art Museums until a permanent successor to James Cuno is determined and installed. Cuno, director since 1991, will be leaving at the end of December to head London's Courtauld Institute of Art.

"I believe that the Harvard University Art Museums are critically important-as a center of teaching and research, as an aesthetic resource, and as a repository for our shared cultural and artistic heritage," Provost Hyman said. "The Art Museums and the work of their curators and conservators are important not only to the students and scholars of this University, but also to the broader scholarly community and to the general public."

Prior to Cuno's arrival, Cohn served ably as acting director and will again oversee the Art Museums during this period of transition. She will be assisted by Deputy Director Richard Benefield, who will continue to manage the Museums' administrative and fiscal operations.

"The coming year will be an eventful one in the history of the Art Museums," said Cohn. "We shall be developing many exciting exhibitions and focusing our attention on our facilities; in addition, the Busch-Reisinger Museum will be celebrating its centennial. I look forward to both celebrations and challenges."

The Provost's office has initiated consultations over the past few weeks with curators, faculty members, students, members of the Visiting Committee, alumni, and other friends of the Art Museums to begin the process of identifying a successor to James Cuno. This September the Provost will convene an advisory group of curators and faculty members to advise him on the search.

Marjorie (Jerry) Cohn has worked at the Harvard University Art Museums for 40 years, serving as a conservator and as director of the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies (now the Straus Center for Conservation) before becoming curator of prints. She is also senior lecturer in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and currently serves as president of the Print Council of America, the North American organization of curators of prints, drawings, and photographs.

About the Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums are one of the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, and the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an excavation project in western Turkey.

The Harvard University Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. As an integral part of the Harvard community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

For more than a century, the Harvard University Art Museums have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and are renowned for their role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

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For more information on this appointment or the Harvard University Art Museums, please contact:

Matthew Barone
Harvard University Art Museums
tel 617-495-2397; fax 617-496-9762
mbarone@fas.harvard.edu

or

Kim Gilbert/Allison Derusha
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
tel 212-671-5157; fax 212-595-8354
kgilbert@resnicowschroeder.com
aderusha@resnicowschroeder.com