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home > pressroom > press releases > malcolm rogers biography 2009
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1/26/2009
MALCOLM ROGERS
ANN AND GRAHAM GUND DIRECTOR
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
Biography
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Malcolm Rogers assumed the role of Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), in September 1994. During the past 15 years, he has expanded the Museum’s encyclopedic collection, presented a variety of innovative exhibitions and publications, enhanced arts education programs, enlarged the MFA’s campus, and welcomed new audiences. Approximately one million visitors each year are exposed to the infinite possibilities for education and inspiration at the Museum.
Rogers’ community initiatives have reflected his philosophy of “opening doors” and making the MFA a more inviting place. During his tenure, this has included renovating and reopening both of the Museum’s historic entrances—on Huntington Avenue (the Avenue of the Arts) and the MFA’s State Street Corporation Fenway Entrance overlooking the Back Bay Fens. In addition, Rogers has eliminated admission fees for children 17 and younger, extended the Museum’s hours—the longest of any major museum in America, and instituted a series of free community days. The programs Rogers has implemented are motivated by the MFA’s mission to serve a wide variety of people through direct encounters with works of art.
Under Rogers’ leadership, the Museum embarked on a transformative Building Project. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Foster + Partners (London), the Building Project will enrich the ways in which visitors experience the MFA’s works of art by improving navigation through its galleries and enhancing and increasing space for its encyclopedic collection of more than 450,000 objects, educational programs, and special exhibitions. Highlights of the project are its American Wing and the soaring glass Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard, which together encompass more than 130,000 square feet; the new Ann and Graham Gund Gallery for rotating exhibitions; the enlarged Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Visitor Center; and additional galleries, educational spaces, and conservation labs. The new building, which will open to the public in November 2010, is supported by a major capital campaign that also provides for the endowment of programs and positions in perpetuity and critical annual operations. Other developments at the Museum include the creation of new galleries devoted to contemporary art in the Linde Family Wing, its former West Wing (expected to be complete in 2011), and the purchase (in 2007) of the nearby Forsyth Institute building, which will enable further expansion of the Museum’s campus in future years.
Rogers’ vision for the Museum includes creating new opportunities to share the MFA’s encyclopedic collection on the world stage. Scholarly associations with internationally renowned arts institutions, such as the Royal Academy and National Gallery, both in London, and the Musée du Louvre in Paris have led to the organization of acclaimed exhibitions, including Monet in the 20th Century (1998), Americans in Paris, 1869–1900 (2006), and Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice (2009). Other global initiatives range from strengthening the Museum’s traveling exhibition program, to overseeing the 10-year partnership between the MFA and its sister museum in Japan, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Rogers also has played a key role in fostering a relationship with the Italian government that has resulted in an ongoing cultural exchange in the areas of exhibitions, scholarship, and conservation, as well as the creation of guidelines to protect antiquities at institutions around the globe.
Outreach to an international audience during Rogers’ tenure has spurred the development of the MFA’s searchable online collections database of approximately 350,000 works of art, accompanied by more than 160,000 images. The Museum’s database at www.mfa.org is one of the largest online art museum collections in the world—accessible at all times and updated daily. MFA Publications also extends the Museum’s sphere of influence with scholarly publications featuring its collections and exhibitions. In the past decade, MFA Publications has published more than 100 new titles, including award-winning exhibition catalogues, albums and the MFA Highlights series focusing on specific Museum collections, and biographies and autobiographies of, and collaborations with, major artists.
In his 15 years at the Museum, Rogers has overseen the creation of more than 260 exhibitions at the MFA, which have ranged from old masters (Rembrandt’s Journey: Painter–Draftsman–Etcher, 2003–04) to masters of photography (Ansel Adams, 2005–06), from musical instruments (Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar, 2000–01) to Egyptian treasures (Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen, 1999–2000). In some cases, he has redefined “fine art” with shows that have highlighted the artistry of design, such as Speed, Style and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection (2005), which illustrated the evolution of car design as seen in European automobiles created between the 1930s and 1990s. (Please see separate 1994–2009 exhibitions list.)
During his tenure, Rogers has built upon the collection with more than 40,000 important acquisitions representing most of the world’s civilizations, from ancient to modern times. Included in these works of art are Henri Matisse’s Reclining Nude (1946); Edgar Degas’ Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla (about 1876); Vessel in the form of a hare, about 6400-5900 BC, possibly the oldest work of art in the MFA’s collection; a massive silver Cistern and Fountain (1708–09) marked by David Willaume I (British, about 1658–1741); Garrowby Hill (1998), a landscape painting by David Hockney; Head of a nobleman (“The Josephson Head”) (about 1878–1841 BC), one of the finest non-royal sculptures of the late Middle Kingdom; and one of the Museum’s most notable examples of Colonial craftsmanship, View of Boston Common (about 1750 ), an embroidery by Hannah Otis. The MFA also has become the recipient of many important collections during Rogers’ directorship, among them the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection of English Silver, the Leonard A. Lauder Collection of Japanese Postcards, the Kiyi and Edward M. Pflueger Collection of European ceramics, the Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Collection of contemporary crafts, the Daphne Farago Collection of 20th-century studio jewelry, and archives of contemporary artists Michael Mazur and Jim Dine, and fashion designer Arnold Scaasi. (Please see separate acquisitions document for further information.)
Rogers’ contributions to the international cultural community have garnered him numerous awards, among them:
~ 2003: Commander, Order of the British Empire (CBE), by HM The Queen in recognition of his services to the arts in both the UK and the United States;
~ 2007: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters), awarded by the Ambassador of France to the United States, H.E. Pierre Vimont. The award, from France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, recognizes significant contribution to furthering the arts and letters in France and throughout the world.
~ 2009: Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Commander of the Order to the Merit of the Italian Republic), one of the highest honors presented by the President of the Italian Republic, which was given to Rogers for fostering cultural cooperation between the MFA and Italy by the Italian Ambassador to the USA, His Excellency Giovanni Castellaneta.
Rogers was educated at Oxford University, where he received both a BA (1st class Honors) in English Language and Literature and a D.Phil. Prior to his arrival at the MFA, he served as Deputy
Director (from 1983) and Deputy Keeper (from 1985) at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Rogers is an authority on 16th, 17th, and early 18th-century portraits, and has written extensively on Van Dyck’s English period.
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