Thomas W. Lentz | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas Woodward Lentz Jr. June 11, 1951 |
Occupation(s) | Art historian Curator |
Spouse | Mary Pfeifer |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Claremont McKenna College Harvard University University of California, Berkeley |
Thesis | Painting at Herat under Bāysunghur ibn Shāhrukh (1985) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Art history |
Sub-discipline | Islamic art |
Institutions | Rhode Island School of Design Museum Los Angeles County Museum of Art Smithsonian Institution Harvard Art Museums |
Thomas "Tom" Woodward Lentz Jr. (born June 11,1951) is an American art historian and curator. Lentz served as the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums from 2003 to 2015. He was the ninth director in its history.
A native of California,Lentz received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Claremont McKenna College in 1974. [1] He continued at the University of California,Berkeley receiving a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies in 1978. Lentz then received a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy in Art History from Harvard University in 1981 and 1985,respectively. His studies focused on Islamic art,and more specifically,on Persian painting. Lentz wrote his doctoral dissertation on "Painting at Herat under Bāysunghur ibn Shāhrukh." [2]
In 1982,while studying at Harvard,Lentz was hired to his first role as Curator of Asian Art at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum,a post that he held until 1984. He then moved to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as Curator of Egyptian,Islamic,and West Asian Art. In 1992,Lentz accepted his first directorial position as assistant director of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,both at the Smithsonian Institution. Three years later,he was promoted to deputy director,and then to acting director. In 2000,he officially became Director of the International Art Museums.
In 2003,Lentz was named the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums,becoming the ninth director in its history and succeeding James Cuno. [3] During the directorship,Lentz guided the museum through a major renovation,led by the architect Renzo Piano. In 2007,Lentz was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [4] In 2015,he stepped down from his post as director. [5]
Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh, better known as Ulugh Beg, was a Timurid sultan, as well as an astronomer and mathematician.
The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1953, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, opened on 7 February 2000, the 125th anniversary of Beatty's birth and was named European Museum of the Year in 2002.
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country.
The Timurid Empire, self-designated as Gurkani, was a late medieval, culturally Persianate Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, as well as parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India and Turkey. The empire was culturally hybrid, combining Turko-Mongolian and Persianate influences, with the last members of the dynasty being "regarded as ideal Perso-Islamic rulers".
The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country and contain art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant collection of American art.
Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, also known as Kamal al-din Bihzad or Kamaleddin Behzād, was a Persian painter and head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz during the late Timurid and early Safavid Persian periods. He is regarded as marking the highpoint of the great tradition of Islamic miniature painting. He was very prominent in his role as kitābdār in the Herat Academy as well as his position in the Royal Library in the city of Herat. His art is unique in that it includes the common geometric attributes of Persian painting, while also inserting his own style, such as vast empty spaces to which the subject of the painting dances around. His art includes masterful use of value and individuality of character, with one of his most famous pieces being "The Seduction of Yusuf”' from Sa'di's Bustan of 1488. Behzād's fame and renown in his lifetime inspired many during, and after, his life to copy his style and works due to the wide praise they received. Due to the great number of copies and difficulty with tracing origin of works, there is a large amount of contemporary work into proper attribution.
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, and four research centers: the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, the Harvard Art Museums Archives, and the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. The three museums that constitute the Harvard Art Museums were initially integrated into a single institution under the name Harvard University Art Museums in 1983. The word "University" was dropped from the institutional name in 2008.
Glenn David Lowry is an American art historian and director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City since 1995. His initiatives there include strengthening MoMA's contemporary art program, significantly developing the collection holdings in all media, and guiding two major campaigns for the renovation, expansion, and endowment of the museum. He has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics.
A Muraqqa is an album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter. The album was popular among collectors in the Islamic world, and by the later 16th century became the predominant format for miniature painting in the Persian Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman empires, greatly affecting the direction taken by the painting traditions of the Persian miniature, Ottoman miniature and Mughal miniature. The album largely replaced the full-scale illustrated manuscript of classics of Persian poetry, which had been the typical vehicle for the finest miniature painters up to that time. The great cost and delay of commissioning a top-quality example of such a work essentially restricted them to the ruler and a handful of other great figures, who usually had to maintain a whole workshop of calligraphers, artists and other craftsmen, with a librarian to manage the whole process.
Theodore Ellis Stebbins, Jr. is an American art historian and curator. Stebbins is currently the Consultative Curator of American Art at the Harvard Art Museums.
Ghiyath ud-din Baysunghur, commonly known as Baysonqor or Baysongor, Baysonghor or (incorrectly) as Baysunqar, also called Sultan Bāysonḡor Bahādor Khan (1397–1433) was a prince of the Timurid dynasty. He was known as a patron of arts and architecture, the leading patron of the Persian miniature in Iran, commissioning the Baysunghur Shahnameh and other works, as well as being a prominent calligrapher.
Ala Ebtekar is a contemporary artist who works between his native San Francisco Bay Area and Tehran, Iran. Ebtekar is known primarily for his work in painting, drawing, illumination, and installation that explores the juncture between history and myth, forging a multi-faceted project.
Milo Cleveland Beach is an American art historian and the former director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art.
Seymour Slive was an American art historian, who served as director of the Harvard Art Museums from 1975 to 1984. Slive was a scholar of Dutch art, specifically of the artists Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Jacob van Ruisdael.
James "Jim" Bash Cuno is an American art historian and curator. From 2011–22 Cuno served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The Baysunghur Shahnameh is an illustrated manuscript of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. The work on this manuscript was started in 1426 at the order of Baysunghur Mirza, the Timurid prince, and was completed on 5 Jumada 833,. It is now in the museum of The Golestan Palace, in Tehran, Iran, and regarded as a key masterpiece of the Persian miniature.
Martha P. Tedeschi is an American art historian and curator. Tedeschi currently serves as the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums. She is a scholar of nineteenth-century American and British prints and drawings, especially works by artists such as Winslow Homer, John Marin, and James McNeill Whistler.
Sussan Babaie is an Iranian-born art historian and curator. She is best known for her work on Persian art and Islamic art of the early modern period. She has written extensively on the art and architecture of the Safavid dynasty. Her research takes a multidisciplinary approach and explores topics such as urbanism, empire studies, transcultural visuality and notions of exoticism. In her work as a curator, Babaie has worked on exhibitions at the Sackler Museum of Harvard University (2010), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art (1998).
Edgar "Pete" Peters Bowron is an American art historian and curator. Bowron served a director of both the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Harvard Art Museums. He is a scholar of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian art, especially on the artist Pompeo Batoni.
Massumeh Farhad is an American curator, art historian, and author. She is the Chief Curator and Curator of Islamic Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Asian Art. She is known for her work with Persian 17th-century manuscripts.