Elizabeth "Betsy" Broun (born December 15, 1946, in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

) is an American

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. Broun served as the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

from 1989 to 2016, and is the longest-serving female director in the history of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Career

Born in Kansas City, but raised in

Independence, Kansas Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,548. It was named in commemoration of the ...

, Broun completed all of her degrees from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

: a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in French and art history in 1968, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in art history in 1969, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in art history in 1976. Her doctoral dissertation examined American sculptures and paintings at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in 1893. In the early 1970s, Broun began her career in

museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

as a Ford Foundation Curatorial Fellow at the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

. After completing her doctorate, she remained at the University of Kansas as Assistant Professor of Art History, as well as the Curator of Prints and Drawings at the

Spencer Museum of Art The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum operated by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. History In 1917, the Kansas City art collector Sallie Casey Thayer donated her collection of over seven thousand works of art, ...

until 1983. In her final year at the museum, Broun also served as acting director, succeeding Charles C. Eldredge, who went on to become director of the

. In 1983, Broun followed Eldredge to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and became Chief Curator and Assistant Director there. Five years later, she succeeded him and was elevated to Margaret and Terry Stent Director, becoming the first female to serve in that role. Broun held the post until retirement in 2016, making her one of the longest standing directors and the longest serving female director in the history of the

. She was succeeded by

Stephanie Stebich Stephanie Antoinette Franziska Stebich (born January 26, 1966, in Mülheim) is a German-born American art historian and curator. Early life and education Born in Germany to Gehard and Ute, Stebich's family immigrated to Scarsdale, New York, wh ...

. Broun oversaw two major museum renovations during her tenure, including the $250 million main building project from 2000 to 2006, and refurbishing the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

from 2013 to 2015. Major exhibitions under her directorship included '' The West as America'' (1991) and '' The Art of Video Games'' (2012). In 2017, Broun was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. Her own curatorial work has concerned artists such as Thomas Hart Benton,

Albert Pinkham Ryder Albert Pinkham Ryder (March 19, 1847 – March 28, 1917) was an American painter best known for his poetic and moody allegory, allegorical works and seascapes, as well as his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric personality. While his art shared an ...

, Pat Steir, and Anders Zorn. In 1991, she received the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award from the

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understan ...

for her biography of ''

'', published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 1989.

Select works

* ''The Prints of Anders Zorn'' (1979) * ''Benton's Bentons: Selections from the Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Trusts'' (1980) * ''Form, Illusion, Myth: Prints and Drawings of Pat Steir'' (1983) * ''Images on Stone: Two Centuries of Artists' Lithographs'' (1987) * ''Albert Pinkham Ryder'' (1989) * ''Free Within Ourselves: African-American Artists in the Collection of the National Museum of American Art'' (1992)

References

External links

Smithsonian profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broun, Elizabeth 1946 births Living people People from Kansas City, Missouri People from Independence, Kansas 20th-century American women 21st-century American women University of Kansas alumni University of Kansas faculty American art curators American art historians American women curators Directors of museums in the United States Smithsonian Institution people

Career

Select works

See also

References

External links