J. Carter Brown

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the book collector, see
John Carter Brown II
.
John Carter Brown III
Earl Alexander Powell III
Personal details
Born(1934-10-08)October 8, 1934
Boston, Massachusetts
, US
Spouses
Constance Mellon Byers
​
​
(m. 1971; div. 1973)​
Pamela Braga Drexel
​
​
(m. 1976; div. 1991)​
Children2
Parent(s)John Nicholas Brown II
Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown
EducationGroton School
Alma materHarvard University
Harvard Business School
New York University
OccupationArts administrator
AwardsNational Medal of Arts, Honor Award

John Carter Brown III (October 8, 1934 – June 17, 2002) was the director of the

United States, if not the world. He was known as a champion of the arts and public access to art at a time of decreased public spending on the humanities.[1]

Early life

Brown was born in

Nightingale-Brown House
.

As a boy, he attended the

Florence, Italy. He then enrolled at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. After completing his master's degree, he decided not to complete a Ph.D. in art history.[5]

National Gallery

In 1961, Brown was hired by the National Gallery of Art as an assistant to the Director, John Walker. He was soon groomed to be Walker's successor and appointed assistant director in 1964. In this capacity he supervised the construction of the museum's East Building, designed by American architect I. M. Pei. In 1969, at the age of 34, Brown became director of the National Gallery. He would become the longest serving director in the National Gallery's history.[5]

One of Brown's ambitions as director was to attract larger crowds to the nation's art museum. He was known for bringing "blockbuster" exhibitions to the museum. The National Gallery became a rival of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for exhibitions and donations. During his 23 years as director of the National Gallery, he added over 20,000 works to the collection. As many museums and cultural institutions lost public funding, Brown worked with Congress to increase the Gallery's operating budget year after year. He inherited a budget of $3 million in 1969 and increased that to $52 million when he retired in 1992. During the same period, the Gallery's endowment grew from $34 million to $186 million.[6]

Through his high-profile leadership of the National Gallery, Brown became one of the leading public intellectuals in American and the champion of American art. His contacts in Washington politics and New York society aided him in his work at the museum. He also served as a trustee of the

Iwo Jima Memorial as "kitsch," comparing the monument to "a great piece of Ivory Soap carved."[5]

In 1991, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[9] Brown retired in 1992, after the National Gallery's 50th anniversary.[5]

Retirement

After leaving the National Gallery in 1992, Brown became chairman of Ovation, a cable television arts network that furthered his ambition to "bring the arts into people's living rooms." He remained involved in many cultural organizations, including the

Pritzker Prize, the leading award for architecture. He became a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and 1993, respectively.[10][11] In 1993 he was presented with the Honor Award by the National Building Museum at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.[12] In 2001, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member and operatic soprano Kathleen Battle.[13][14][15]

Personal life

In 1971, Brown married Constance Barber (

née Mellon) Byers (1941–1983),[16] a daughter of Richard King Mellon,[17] granddaughter of Richard B. Mellon, and the former wife of William Russell Grace Byers.[18] She was also a niece of Paul Mellon, chairman of the National Gallery's Board of Trustees and a major donor.[19][20] They divorced in 1973.[1]

In 1976, he married Pamela Braga Drexel (1947–2005) in Westminster Abbey, London. She was the daughter of B. Rionda Braga, a Cuban who was involved in the sugar business,[21] and was the former wife of John R. Drexel IV (b. 1945).[22] Before their divorce in 1991, they were the parents of two children:[23]

  • John Carter Brown IV (born 1977)
  • Elissa Lucinda Rionda Brown (born 1983).[24]

In August 2000, Carter was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal blood cancer, which was treated with an autologous stem cell transplant. Brown resumed his normal life until May 2002, when he was rehospitalized. He died six weeks later.[25]

Near the end of his life, he became engaged to marry Anne Hawley of Brookline, Massachusetts, Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He had also begun writing a book about his life and his father's life.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Kimmelman, Michael (19 June 2002). "J. Carter Brown, 67, Is Dead; Transformed Museum World". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  2. ISBN 978-0-9615476-0-8
    . Retrieved 2011-04-22. John Carter Brown III was born on 8 October 1934 in Providence, RI, a descendant of both the state's founder Roger Williams and the manufacturer/philanthropist who endowed Brown University. ...
  3. Brown Alumni Magazine
    . Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  4. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  5. ^
    Washington Post
    . Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  6. ^ "J Carter Brown". The Telegraph. 20 June 2002. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  7. ^ "U.S. Commission of Fine Arts". Cfa.gov. 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  8. ^ Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 540.
  9. ^ "Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts". Nea.gov. Archived from the original on April 11, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  10. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  11. ^ "John Carter Brown". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  12. ^ "Honor Award". Nbm.org. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  13. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  14. ^ "J. Carter Brown Biography Photo". 2001. 2001: Awards Council member and soprano Kathleen Battle presents the Golden Plate Award to J. Carter Brown during the American Academy of Achievement's Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies in San Antonio, Texas.
  15. ^ "Jeffrey P. Bezos Biography Photo". 2001. Seated from left to right: Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak, nautical archaeologist Dr. George Bass, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics Gary S. Becker, CEO of Hearst Corporation Frank A. Bennack, Jr., CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos, and director of the National Gallery of Art J. Carter Brown at the honoree reception prior to the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies during the American Academy of Achievement's 2001 Summit held in San Antonio.
  16. ^ "Constance Barber Mellon, 41, Prominent Patron of the Arts". The New York Times. 4 January 1983. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  17. ^ "Richard K. Mellon, Financier, Is Dead". The New York Times. 4 June 1970. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  18. ^ "Constance Mellon Married Here; Banker's Daughter Wed to William R.G. Byers". The New York Times. 27 July 1962. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  19. ^ "J. C. Brown to Marry Mrs. Byers". The New York Times. 24 February 1971. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  20. ^ "Mrs. Byers Wed to J. C. Brown". The New York Times. 18 June 1971. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  21. ^ "B. RIONDA BRAGA". The New York Times. 25 July 1986. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Notes on People | Director of National Art Gallery to Wed". The New York Times. 24 September 1976. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  23. ^ Mayhew, Augustus (9 January 2014). "Resort Life, Chapter XXXII: Summer 1967". New York Social Diary. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  24. Baltimore Sun
    . March 17, 1991. Retrieved 2011-04-22. Born: Oct. 8, 1934, Providence, R.I. Home: Georgetown in Washington. Family: Separated from second wife, Pamela Drexel Brown. Children: [John Carter Brown IV], 13, and Elissa Lucinda Rionda Brown, 7. Education: B.A., Harvard, 1956; M.B.A., Harvard, 1958; European studies, 1958-1960; M.A., New York University, 1961. Professional: National Gallery of Art, assistant to the director, 1961-'63; assistant director, 1964-'68; deputy director, 1968-'69; director, 1969-present. His favorite painting at the gallery: "I will quote a Baltimore relation, a great-uncle, who used to say about women, 'I love them all, but I adore the one I'm with.' It's very hard to choose between your children."
  25. ^ Kilian, Michael (June 27, 2002). "Brown left monumental accomplishments". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 November 2017.

Further reading

  • Neil Harris, Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J._Carter_Brown&oldid=1215603357"