bruce guenther
chief curator Bruce Guenther
Photo by Yalcin Erhan
curator of modern and contemporary art
Guenther, most recently Chief Curator at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California, also served as Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, as the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum, and as Curator, then Director, of the Museum of Art at Washington State University in Pullman. Coincidentally, Guenther, a native of Southern Oregon, began his art museum career in 1973 as a curatorial intern, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, at the Portland Art Museum.
Guenther will provide cutting edge intellectual and artistic leadership in order to further the Museum’'s mission. He will direct the identification, acquisition, installation, and overall artistic leadership of the Museum’s modern and contemporary collection. Presently the contemporary collection is displayed in over 10,000 square feet of galleries. Contemporary work of the Northwest is featured in the new Center for Northwest Art, which opened in August 2000.
He will oversee a collection which currently contains works by modern and contemporary artists including Josef Alber, Frank Stella, Dan Flavin, Dorothea Rockburne, Robert Irwin, Kevin Appel, and such Northwest artists as Lucinda Parker, James Lavadour, and Michael Brophy
Bruce will also coordinate upcoming exhibitions, including Painting Revolution: Kandinsky, Malevich, and the Russian Avant-Garde, which will be on view from November 1, 2000 through January 10, 2001, as well as the 2001 Oregon Biennial during the summer of 2001. He will also serve as the curatorial liaison to the Museum’s Contemporary Art Council, a special interest group of Museum members who study and celebrate contemporary art and around the world. Guenther will work with the Council to develop private collectors and collections, explore new Museum acquisitions, lead exhibition tours, and visit artist studios.
Through his long association with the Northwest art scene, Guenther enjoys the respect of artists and collectors across the region. Buchanan and the Museum’s Board of Trustees will also look to Guenther to serve as a liaison between the Museum and Portland’s thriving contemporary arts community.
last updated Tuesday, July 1, 2003 13:36