MUSEUM NEWS

EXHIBITION: Collecting the Vogel Way

At the end of 2008, the Academy Art Museum was selected to receive fifty works of art from New York collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel as part of a national gifts program entitled The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States. The Vogel Collection has been characterized as unique among collections of contemporary art, both for the character and breadth of the objects and for the individuals who created it. Herbert Vogel (b. 1922), spent most of his working life as an employee of the United States Postal Service, and Dorothy Vogel (b. 1935), was a reference librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library.

The Vogel gift, and the resulting exhibitions such as this, was many years in the making. The National Gallery of Art has worked closely with Dorothy and Herbert Vogel since 1991, when it acquired a portion of their collection, through partial purchase and gift from the Vogels. "Gifts such as this and its subsequent display are energizing to the community," says Academy Art Museum curator, Brian Young. "As our audience well knows, the Vogel gift changed the future of the Academy Art Museum and other re­cipient institutions by strengthening its collection of contemporary holdings."

The best-known aspects of the Vogel Collection are minimal and conceptual art, such as... (read more)

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NEW DIRECTOR ANNOUNCEMENT
The Academy Art Museum of Easton Maryland is delighted to announce that Erik H. Neil PhD of New York City has been selected from more than 150 candidates to be the next Director of the Museum. Mr. Neil is an accomplished museum professional who began his career as Director of the Newcomb Art Gallery of Tulane University; he was also an adjunct professor in the History of Art at Tulane. More recently he was the Executive Director of the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York where he spearheaded the complete renovation of the museum building, organized a series of critically acclaimed exhibitions, and introduced new fundraising events. He holds an undergraduate degree in History from Princeton University and earned his MA and PhD from Harvard University in the History of Art and Architecture. He also earned a certificate in Museum Leadership from the prestigious Getty Leadership Institute in Berkley, California. Originally a scholar of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Architecture he has also lectured, published and curated in the areas of Modern Architecture, Contemporary Art and the History of Photography. He has frequently led groups in cultural travel. Mr. Neil and his wife Luisa Adelfio will be relocating to the Easton area with their four daughters.

Patricia Roche, Chairperson of the Museum said "We are particularly pleased to have an individual of Mr. Neil's breadth, experience and capability to lead this strong institution to the next level of accomplishment." He replaces Christopher Brownawell, who stepped down in January to become the Director of the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine.

Mr. Neil will be starting his directorship on June 1st, 2010.