Dwight Pierson Lanmon (born July 28, 1938) is an American art historian and retired curator and museum director. An expert in ceramics and glass, he served as director of the

Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning, New York in the United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works and currently has a collection of more than 50,000 glass obj ...

(1981–1992) and the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home o ...

(1992–1999). Lanmon holds a BA degree in physics from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

and an MA from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, jointly administered by Winterthur Museum and the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 m ...

Early life and education

Lanmon grew up in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Colorado. He worked as an aerospace engineer at Northrop and

TRW Inc TRW Inc., was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, electronics, automotive, and credit reporting.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TRW-Inc-Company-History.html TRW Inc. It was a pionee ...

and took night classes in art history, American history, and decorative arts at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. In 1966, he received a fellowship to attend the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, from which he received his master's degree in 1968. While at Winterthur, Lanmon met fellow graduate student, Ann Lorraine Welling, whom he married in 1970.

Career and retirement

Lanmon started his career in the arts as assistant curator (later promoted to associate curator) for ceramics and glass at the Winterthur Museum. In 1973, the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

recruited him to serve as chief curator and curator of pre-1900 European glass. He became deputy director of collections in 1976 and director in 1981. He also served as a trustee of the

Rockwell Museum The Rockwell Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum of American art located in the Southern Tier region of New York in downtown Corning, New York. Frommer's describes it as "one of the best-designed small museums in the Northeast." In 2015, The ...

from 1983 to 1992, serving as board president from 1988 to 1992 and acting director from 1986 to 1988. Lanmon returned to Winterthur Museum as director in 1992 and served until his retirement in 1999. During his tenure at Winterthur, he revitalized the museum's expansive gardens and made the collections more intellectually accessible. His tenure saw the opening of a new building, which permitted visitors to explore the museum's collections via rotating exhibitions. Before 1992, visitors had to make appointments to access the museum, which required guided tours and prohibited entrance to children under 12. In 1999, Lanmon retired to the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

, living in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

, and

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

, where he published four books on

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

pottery and served as a research associate at both the Indian Arts Research Center of the School for Advanced Research and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanmon, Dwight 1938 births Living people University of Colorado alumni University of Delaware alumni Directors of museums in the United States American nonprofit chief executives People associated with the Corning Museum of Glass People associated with Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library American art historians People from Denver American art curators