Agnes Gund, the US philanthropist and president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, has died.
Gund was born into the Cleveland-based banking and real estate dynasty, the family already having established a philanthropic mission. With a master’s degree in art history from Harvard, Agnes focused in on art and education. She joined MoMA’s International Council in 1967; she then joined the board of trustees in 1976 and served as its president from 1991 until 2002. She once said ‘I don’t want to be in-name-only for committees’, and her approach was hands-on, not only donating hundreds of works in the museum but taking part in performances, lectures and panel discussions.
Her personal collection included the most important names of the twentieth century, as well as contemporary artists, though many of the most notable works are always hanging in public collections (as well as MoMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art were notable beneficiaries of her patronage): Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, Lee Bontecou, James Lee Byars, Vija Celmins, Eva Hesse, Arshile Gorky, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Wolfgang Laib, Roy Lichtenstein, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Richard Serra and Frank Stella.
Besides MoMA, where she also sat on the board of MoMA Ps1, Gund was chaired the Mayor of New York’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, founded the Studio in a School Association, was on the board of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and was honorary trustee of Independent Curators International.
