Brian Kennedy (gallery Director)
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Brian Patrick Kennedy (born 5 November 1961) is an Irish-born art museum director who has worked in Ireland and Australia, and now lives and works in the United States. He was the director of the
Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...
in Salem for 17 months, resigning December 31, 2020. He was the director of the
Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
in Ohio from 2010 to 2019. He was the director of the Hood Museum of Art from 2005 to 2010, and the
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
(
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
) from 1997 to 2004.


Career

Brian Kennedy currently lives and works in the United States after leaving Australia in 2005 to direct the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. In October 2010 he became the ninth Director of the Toledo Museum of Art. On 1 July 2019, he succeeded Dan Monroe as the executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum.


Early life and career in Ireland

Kennedy was born in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
and attended
Clonkeen College Clonkeen College is a Congregation of Christian Brothers, Christian Brothers secondary school for boys in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South County Dublin. History The Ordnance Survey Ireland map 1837–1842 shows ''Clonkeen School Ho se', loc ...
. He received B.A. (1982), M.A. (1985) and PhD (1989) degrees from University College-Dublin, where he studied both art history and history. He worked in the Irish Department of Education (1982), the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
,
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
(1983), and in Ireland at the
Chester Beatty Library The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1953, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...
(1983–85), Government Publications Office (1985–86), and Department of Finance (1986–89). He married Mary Fiona Carlin in 1988. He was Assistant Director at the
National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...
in Dublin from 1989 to 1997. He was Chair of the Irish Association of Art Historians from 1996 to 1997, and of the Council of Australian Art Museum Directors from 2001 to 2003. In September 1997 he became Director of the
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
.


National Gallery of Australia (NGA)

Kennedy expanded the traveling exhibitions and loans program throughout
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, arranged for several major shows of Australian art abroad, increased the number of exhibitions at the museum itself and oversaw the development of an extensive multi-media site. Although he oversaw several years of the museum's highest ever annual visitation, he discontinued the emphasis of his predecessor,
Betty Churcher Elizabeth Ann Dewar Churcher (''née'' Cameron; 11 January 193131 March 2015) was an Australian arts administrator, best known as director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997. She was also a painter in her own right e ...
, on showing "blockbuster" exhibitions. During his directorship, the NGA gained government support for improving the building and significant private donations and corporate sponsorship. However, the initial design for the building proved controversial generating a public dispute with the original architect on moral rights grounds. As a result, the project was not delivered during Dr Kennedy's tenure, with a significantly altered design completed some years later. Private funding supported two acquisitions of British art, including
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...
's '' A Bigger Grand Canyon'' in 1999, and
Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...
's '' After Cézanne'' in 2001. Kennedy built on the established collections at the museum by acquiring the Holmgren-Spertus collection of Indonesian textiles; the Kenneth Tyler collection of editioned prints, screens, multiples and unique proofs; and the Australian Print Workshop Archive. He was also notable for campaigning for the construction of a new "front" entrance to the Gallery, facing King Edward Terrace, which was completed in 2010 (see reference to the building project above). Kennedy's cancellation of the "
Sensation exhibition ''Sensation'' was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British Artists (YBAs), which first took place 18 September – 28 December 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts in Londo ...
" (scheduled at the NGA from 2 June 2000 to 13 August 2000) was controversial, and seen by some as censorship. He claimed that the decision was due to the exhibition being "too close to the market" implying that a national cultural institution cannot exhibit the private collection of a speculative art investor. However, there were other exhibitions at the NGA during his tenure, which could have raised similar concerns. The exhibition featured the privately owned
Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...
works belonging to
Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi ( ; ; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest advertising agency in the 19 ...
and attracted large attendances in London and Brooklyn. Its most controversial work was
Chris Ofili Christopher Ofili, (born 10 October 1968) is a British painter who is best known for his paintings incorporating elephant dung. He was Turner Prize-winner and one of the Young British Artists. Since 2005, Ofili has been living and working in ...
's ''
The Holy Virgin Mary ''The Holy Virgin Mary'' is a mixed media painting created by Chris Ofili in 1996 that utilizes elephant dung and pornographic images. It was one of the works included in the '' Sensation'' exhibition in London, Berlin and New York in 1997– ...
'', a painting which used elephant dung and was accused of being blasphemous. The then-mayor of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
,
Rudolph Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General fr ...
, campaigned against the exhibition, claiming it was "Catholic-bashing" and an "aggressive, vicious, disgusting attack on religion." In November 1999, Kennedy cancelled the exhibition and stated that the events in New York had "obscured discussion of the artistic merit of the works of art". He has said that it "was the toughest decision of my professional life, so far." Kennedy was also repeatedly questioned on his management of a range of issues during the Australian Government's Senate Estimates process - particularly on the NGA's occupational health and safety record and concerns about the NGA's twenty-year-old air-conditioning system. The air-conditioning was finally renovated in 2003. Kennedy announced in 2002 that he would not seek extension of his contract beyond 2004, accepting a seven-year term as had his two predecessors. He became a joint Irish-Australian citizen in 2003.


Toledo Museum of Art

The Toledo Museum of Art is known for its exceptional collections of European and American paintings and sculpture, glass, antiquities, artist books, Japanese prints and netsuke. The museum offers free admission and is recognized for its historical leadership in the field of art education. During his tenure, Kennedy has focused the museum's art education efforts on visual literacy, which he defines as "learning to read, understand and write visual language." Initiatives have included baby and toddler tours, specialized training for all staff, docents, volunteers and the launch of a website, . In November 2014, the museum hosted the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) conference, the first Museum to do so. Kennedy has been a frequent speaker on the topic, including 2010 and 2013 TEDx talks on visual and sensory literacy. Kennedy has expressed an interest in expanding the museum's collection of contemporary art and art by indigenous peoples. Works by Frank Stella, Sean Scully, Jaume Plensa, Ravinder Reddy and Mary Sibande have been acquired. In addition, the museum has made major acquisitions of Old Master paintings by Frans Hals and Luca Giordano. During his tenure the Toledo Museum of Art has announced the return of several objects from its collection due to claims the objects were stolen and/or illegally exported prior being sold to the museum. In 2011 a Meissen sweetmeat stand was returned to Germany followed by an Etruscan Kalpis or water jug to Italy (2013), an Indian sculpture of Ganesha (2014) and an astrological compendium to Germany in 2015.


Hood Museum of Art

Kennedy became Director of the Hood Museum of Art in July 2005. During his tenure, he implemented a series of large and small-scale exhibitions and oversaw the production of more than 20 publications to bring greater public attention to the museum's remarkable collections of the arts of America, Europe, Africa, Papua New Guinea and the Polar regions. At 70,000 objects, the Hood has one of the largest collections on any American college of university campus. The exhibition, ''Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body'', toured several US venues. Kennedy increased campus curricular use of works of art, with thousands of objects pulled from storage for classes annually. Numerous acquisitions were made with the museum's generous endowments, and he curated several exhibitions: including ''Wenda Gu: Forest of Stone Steles: Retranslation and Rewriting Tang Dynasty Poetry'', ''Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe'', and ''Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons''.


Publications

Kennedy has written or edited a number of books on art, including: * '' Alfred Chester Beatty and Ireland 1950-1968'': A study in cultural politics, Glendale Press (1988), * ''Dreams and responsibilities: The state and arts in independent Ireland'',
Arts Council of Ireland The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts". About It was established in 1951 by the government of Ireland, to encourage interest in Irish art ( ...
(1990), * ''Jack B Yeats: Jack Butler Yeats, 1871-1957 (Lives of Irish Artists)'', ''Unipub'' (October 1991), * ''The Anatomy Lesson: Art and Medicine'' (with Davis Coakley),
National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...
(January 1992), * ''Ireland: Art into History'' (with Raymond Gillespie), Roberts Rinehart Publishers (1994), * ''Irish Painting'', Roberts Rinehart Publishers (November 1997), * ''Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe'', Hood Museum of Art (October 2008), * ''Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons, 1965-1966'', Hood Museum of Art (October 2010),


Honors and achievements

Kennedy was awarded the Australian
Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...
in 2001 for service to Australian Society and its art. He is a trustee and treasurer of the Association of Art Museum Directors, a peer reviewer for the American Association of Museums and a member of the International Association of Art Critics. In 2013 he was appointed inaugural eminent professor at the University of Toledo and received an honorary doctorate from Lourdes University. Most recently, Kennedy received the 2014 Northwest Region, Ohio Art Education Association award for distinguished educator for art education.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Brian 1961 births Living people Australian curators Directors of the National Gallery of Australia Dartmouth College faculty Museum people from Dublin (city) Irish emigrants to Australia Irish emigrants to the United States Alumni of University College Dublin American curators