Jean Sutherland Boggs

Jean Sutherland Boggs, CC FRSC (June 11, 1922 – August 22, 2014) was a Canadian academic, art historian and civil servant. She was the first female Director of both the National Gallery of Canada and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.^[1] She was also a specialist in the work of Edgar Degas.^[1]

Early life and education

She was born in Negritos, Peru, on June 11, 1922. Sutherland Boggs attended Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario, graduating in 1938.^[2] Boggs would later receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College in 1942. She received a A.M. in 1946 and a Ph.D. in 1953 from Radcliffe College.^[3]

Early career

From 1942 to 1944, she was an education secretary for the Art Association of Montreal (today known as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts). In 1948, she joined the faculty of Skidmore College as an assistant professor. From 1949 to 1952, she was an assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College. From 1954 to 1962, she was an assistant and associate professor at the University of California. In 1962, she was appointed curator for the Art Gallery of Toronto. In 1964, she was appointed Steinberg Professor of Art History at Washington University in St. Louis.^[3]

National Gallery of Canada

In 1966, Sutherland Boggs was appointed the first female and fifth director of the National Gallery of Canada^[4] and served in this position until 1976. From 1976 to 1979, she was a Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

From 1978 to 1982, she was the director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.^[3] She succeeded Evan Turner, who had left following a dispute with the Board of Trustees.^[1] Under her leadership, the Museum purchased Edgar Degas's painting After the Bath, which is now considered to be one of the Museum's most important acquisitions in the post-war period.^[5] She also presided over the Museum during art historian Stella Kramrisch's acclaimed 1981 exhibition of Indian art, Manifestations of Shiva.^[5]

Return to Canada

She was chair and chief executive officer of the Canada Museums Construction Corporation from 1982 to 1985, where she directed the construction of both a custom-built National Gallery building and the unique Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with the architects Moshe Safdie and Douglas Cardinal.^[4] From 1991 to 1993, she was a senior advisor for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As an art historian, she has written books about the life of Edgar Degas, including Portraits By Degas (1962).^[3]

Death

Sutherland Boggs died on August 22, 2014 at the age of 92 in Ottawa, Ontario.^[6]

Honours

In 1973, Sutherland Boggs was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "in recognition of her scholarship and the vision and energy she has displayed in developing the collection and the services of the Gallery". She was promoted to Companion in 1992.^[7] In 1979 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of Saskatchewan.^[8] In 2000 she was awarded an honorary degree from Concordia University. Additionally, she received an honorary degree from York University in fall 1976.

References