RICHARD OLDENBURG

OLDENBURG--Richard E.

The Trustees and staff of The Museum of Modern Art mourn the loss of Richard E. Oldenburg. Dick served as MoMA's Director from 1972 to 1994, having previously been Acting Director of the Museum and, before that, Director of the Museum's Department of Publications. Dick led the Museum with distinction and imagination throughout his 22-year tenure, with programming and staff significantly increasing. He played an instrumental role in a major 1984 expansion that greatly enlarged the size of MoMA's galleries. He also grew both the Museum's endowment and attendance, as well as greatly enhancing the collection with major acquisitions that solidified the Museum's reputation as the foremost museum of modern art in the world. Major exhibitions during his leadership included Cezanne: The Late Work (1977) and Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism (1989), as well as retrospectives of Picasso (1980) and Matisse (1992). In addition to being Director Emeritus, Dick had been an Honorary Member of the Board of Trustees since 1995 and a very active member in MoMA's International Council. He was Chairman of Sotheby's from 1995 to 2006 and President of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002. During his tenure at MoMA he served as both Vice President (1986-1987) and President (1987-1988) of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Mary Ellen, and his brother, Claes. The Board of Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art