Jan van der Marck (19 August 192926 April 2010) was a Dutch-born American museum administrator,

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 ...

, focused on modern and contemporary art. Van der Marck authored and published many essays, articles and books about artists and art. He worked in various museum roles at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

(1962–1967),

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...

(1967–?), the University of Washington, the Hopkins Center Art Galleries at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

(1974–1980), the Center for the Fine Arts in Miami (1980–1986), and the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

(1986–1995).

Early life and education

He was born in

Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, on August 19, 1929, to a family in the printing and publishing businesses. He attended

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

and received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1956, and his thesis was on 19th-century Belgian book illustration.

Career

Van der Marck arrived in the United States in 1957, after receiving a grant from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

to study museums and was able to learn from

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian who developed new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works. An expert on early Christian, ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. His first museum job was in 1963 at the

, where he hosted exhibitions of

Arman Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French and American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') t ...

and

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Italian Argentines, Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist. He is known as the founder of Spatialism and exponent of Abstract art, abstract painting as the f ...

. He was the founding director of

in 1967, where he hosted Dan Flavin's first major museum exhibition. In 1969, van der Marck hosted the exhibition ''Art by Telephone'', where artists would call in the instructions on how to build and display their artwork. While he was in Chicago, van der Marck invited two unknown artists at the time,

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

to wrap the museum building in canvas. After the wrapping of the building in canvas, he resigned from his position. In 1974, he joined the

Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is an art museum owned and operated by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth was in 1772, making the collection among the oldest and largest, a ...

(previously called Hopkins Center Art Galleries) as the director and he taught courses at

. He caused a controversy by placing an oversized sculpture ''X-Delta'' by Mark di Suvero in the middle of a highly trafficked part of campus. In 1983, at the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

(previously called Center for the Fine Arts in Miami) van der Marck invited Christo and Jeanne-Claude to wrap 11 islands in Biscayne Bay in pink fabric, later named ''

Surrounded Islands ''Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83'' was a 1983 environmental artwork in which artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude surrounded an island archipelago in Miami with pink fabric. Planning In 1980, while the cou ...

''. Van der Marck also worked with Christo and Jeanne-Claude on the work ''

Running Fence ''Running Fence'' was an installation art piece by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which was completed in California on September 10, 1976. The art installation was first conceived in 1972, but the actual project took more than four years to plan an ...

'' in 1976''.'' Van der Marck was the chief curator at the

(DIA) from 1986 until 1995. In 1995, van der Marck was fired from his role due to a residency violation, he was required to live in Detroit and he was spending significant time in Huntington Woods instead. He died of cancer on April 26, 2010, in Huntington Woods, Michigan, at the age of 80.

Personal life

He married Ingeborg Lachmann in 1961; she died in 1988. His second wife was Sheila van der Marck, née Stamell.

References

External links

Jan Van der Marck papers, 1942-2010
from the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:van der Marck, Jan 1929 births 2010 deaths American curators Dutch emigrants to the United States Directors of museums in the United States People from Huntington Woods, Michigan People from Roermond Radboud University Nijmegen alumni Deaths from cancer in Michigan