David Mickenberg

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David Mickenberg
Born (1954-04-24) April 24, 1954 (age 68)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMuseum director and author
TitleDirector of the Allentown Art Museum

David Mickenherg (born April 24, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American author, art professor and former museum director.

Mickenberg received his B.A. from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and his M.A. in art history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. [1] Subsequently, he took courses towards a doctorate in 12th century French architecture at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and went on to become a program coordinator, lecturer and the acting director of the National Endowment for the Humanities Learning Museum Program at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Mickenberg was appointed to the post in Allentown in 2013. [2] Previously, he had tenures as the director of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, [3] the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where he was also a professor of art at the college, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. [4]

His spans as the head of various art institutions have not been without major accomplishments and/or controversies. While at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, there were rumblings about his being hard to work under and a rash of staff resignations. [5] At the Block Museum, he spearheaded a successful $25 million expansion [6] and at the Taubman he worked against the tide of the local public's apathy towards contemporary art by bringing in folk art in the form of giant styrofoam sculptures by a Roanoke favorite, Mark Cline. [7] During his time at the Davis, a Fernand Léger painting, "Woman and Child" (1921), was at first on loan for an exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art while the Davis was closed for renovations but was returned and then stored in a crate at Wellesley and disappeared. The work has not been seen since. [8]

Mickenberg is the author of Songs of Glory: Medieval Art from 900-1500 (Oklahoma Museum of Fine Arts 1985) [9] and Printmaking in America (co-authored with Trudy V. Hansen, Joanne Moser and Barry Walker - Harry N. Abrams 1995) [10] He co-edited The Last Expression: Art and Auschwitz which accompanied an exhibition held at the Block Museum at Northwestern University and later traveled to the Brooklyn Museum (Block Museum 2002 - co-edited with Corrine Granof and Peter Hayes). [11] [12] [13] He also wrote the introduction for The Graven Image: The Rise of Professional Printmakers in Antwerp and Haarlem, 1540-1640 (Northwestern University Press 1993). [14] [15]

Allentown Art Museum

Mickenberg arrived at the Allentown Art Museum as the fourth director in some six years, succeeding the late J. Brooks Joyner. [16] One of the more popular policies he instituted to achieve greater public visitation to the museum was to offer free admission for selected periods of time such as the summer season. [17]

It was under his stewardship that the museum acquired from the Lehighton, Pennsylvania, American Legion post "Lehighton" a mural by Franz Kline which the artist created for the aforementioned branch of the U.S Veterans organization. [18]

On February 24, 2020, Mickenberg stepped down after seven years as the director of the museum "to pursue other opportunities". Asked for a quote regarding his "resignation", Mickenberg said, "I'm pretty sure I resigned. I mean, yes, I resigned." [19]

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References

  1. ↑ "Art Museum names new president-CEO". Lehigh Valley Press.
  2. ↑ "Community, Engagement & Experience: The Evolution of the Allentown Art Museum". Mcall.com.
  3. ↑ Victor M. Cassidy. "Prairie Smoke". Artnet.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  4. ↑ "David Mickenberg Appointed Executive Director of the Taubman Museum of Art". artdaily.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Dissension cited at art museum". Newsok.com. June 16, 1983.
  6. ↑ "David Mickenberg Named Director of Wellesley's Davis Museum and Cultural Center". Tfaoi.com.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Rob (September 22, 2011). "Roadside Kitsch is Fun, but is It Art? Virginia Museum Sure Hopes So". Wall Street Journal.
  8. ↑ Lacayo, Richard (September 11, 2008). "First They Lose a Leger". Time.
  9. ↑ Caldwell, Susan; Barnet, Peter (1985). Songs of Glory: Medieval Art from 900-1500 : An Exhibition. ISBN   0911919015.
  10. ↑ Hansen, Trudy V.; Mickenberg, David; Walker, Barry; Moser, Joann (September 1995). Printmaking in America. ISBN   0810937433.
  11. ↑ The Last Expression: Art and Auschwitz. 2003. ISBN   0810115484.
  12. ↑ "Brooklyn Museum". Brooklynmuseum.org.
  13. ↑ "Trove". Trove.nla.gov.au.
  14. ↑ "The Graven Image | Northwestern University Press". Nupress.northwestern.edu. Archived from the original on January 2, 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Graven Image: The Rise of Professional Printmakers in Antwerp and Harlem, 1540-1640". Amazon.ca. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Arts Around Town: SOTA marks 50 years of service, prepares for Show House fundraiser - WFMZ". Wfmz.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Allentown Art Museum admission is free this summer". Mcall.com.
  18. ↑ "Picture of the region's past now forever preserved". Wfmz.com.
  19. ↑ "Allentown Art Museum president out after seven years, says 'I'm pretty sure I resigned'". Mcall.com.
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