Jere Abbott
Jere Abbott | |
---|---|
Born | Museum director | October 5, 1897
Parent(s) | Arthur Preston Abbott Flora Shaw Parkman |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Bowdoin College Princeton University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Museum of Modern Art Smith College Museum of Art |
Jere Abbott (October 5, 1897– July 9, 1982) was an American
Career
Born in
In 1929, Abbott helped to establish the Department of Fine Arts at Wesleyan University, and began working at the founding associate director of the Museum of Modern Art under its director, Barr.[3] Abbott would hold the latter post until 1932. In that year, he was named director of the Smith College Museum of Art, where he also taught courses in modern art. Abbott became instrumental in shifting the museum focus toward the collecting of modern works such as Table, Guitar, and Bottle by Pablo Picasso (1919).
In 1946, Abbott retired from Smith to return to the family business as treasurer of Amos Abbott Woolen Manufacturing Company, based in his hometown of Dexter. For a span of thirty-five years, he would also serve as a trustee of the local Abbott Memorial Library.
In 1970, Abbott was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Colby College. Upon his death in 1982, he left the college a $4.3-million acquisition fund to the Colby College Museum of Art. In 2002, those funds helped the school purchase the Seven Walls sculpture made by Sol LeWitt. The personal papers of Abbott are now held in the archives of both Bowdoin and Smith College, respectively.
See also
References
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
- ^ "Collection: Jere Abbott papers | Smith College Finding Aids". findingaids.smith.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-21. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.
- ^ "Guide to the Jere Abbott Papers, 1879-1934". library.bowdoin.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-21.