Maurice Tuchman (born November 30, 1936) is an American

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 ...

. He worked as the first curator of twentieth century art at

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

(LACMA), where he organized several notable exhibitions.

Early life and education

Maurice Tuchman was born in

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, though he was raised in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. Tuchman attended the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

as an undergraduate, and completed a PhD in

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, 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. Tradit ...

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 ...

Career

After graduation, Tuchman worked as a curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1964, he became the first curator of twentieth century art at LACMA. Among his projects was LACMA's experimental Art and Technology program which presented emerging

Light and Space Light and Space denotes a loosely affiliated art movement related to op art, minimalism and geometric abstraction originating in Southern California in the 1960s and influenced by John McLaughlin. It is characterized by a focus on perceptual p ...

artists Robert Irwin and

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...

. His other notable exhibitions include ''The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890–1985'' (1986), and ''Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art'' (1992); the former was the first large-format show to include Swedish painter

Hilma af Klint Hilma af Klint (; 26 October 1862 – 21 October 1944) was a Swedish artist and mysticism, mystic whose paintings are considered among the first major Abstract art, abstract works in Western art history. A considerable body of her work predates t ...

42 years after her death. In 1985, Tuchman was part of the international jury that awarded the Carnegie Prize to

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...

and

Richard Serra Richard Serra (November 2, 1938 – March 26, 2024) was an American artist known for his large-scale Abstract art, abstract sculptures made for Site-specific art, site-specific landscape, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings, a ...

. In 1993, after having been the museum's senior curator for 20th-century art for 27 years, Tuchman filed a lawsuit against the museum's director Michael E. Shapiro and its trustees in

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Courts of California, Superior Court located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Sup ...

, seeking damages and reinstatement in his job. Tuchman said he had been demoted, with no warning, when a memo from Shapiro informed him that his job would be the newly created post of senior curator of 20th-century drawings. He was reinstated in an out-of-court settlement that same year and became senior curator emeritus in late 1994. Along with fellow art historian Esti Dunow, Tuchman is co-author of the

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (; ; ; 13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin of the School of Paris, who made a major contribution to the Expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by clas ...

catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...

. Tuchman and Dunow also coordinated "The New Landscape/The New Still Life: Soutine and Modern Art” at Cheim & Read in New York in 2006 and "“Soutine/Bacon" at Helly Nahmad Gallery in New York in 2011. Tuchman's work as a curator has been criticized for under-representing the work of minority and women artists.

References

External links

* Getty Research Institute: Maurice Tuchman papers — ''Finding Aid''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuchman, Maurice American art curators 1936 births Living people People associated with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Columbia University alumni