Earl A. Powell III

Marina Kellen French Distinguished Visitor - Class of Spring 2012
Director, National Gallery of Art
Biography
Earl A. Powell III is the fourth director of the National Gallery of Art. He has been appointed by former President George W. Bush to serve on the National Council of Arts, the advisory board of the National Endowment of the Arts. He also currently serves on a number of boards as a trustee, including the American Federation of Arts, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the White House Historical Association, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. Powell is also the member of several arts organizations, including the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities and the National Portrait Gallery Commission. He has been the Director of the National Gallery of Art since 1992, where under his leadership more than 12,000 works of art have been added to the collection, an award-wining website has been created, and more than 150 exhibitions have been presented; most notably, "Johannes Vermeer," "Van Gogh’s Van Goghs," and "The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt." Powell and the National Gallery of Art are currently exploring new ways of utilizing technology to further its mission of making the Gallery’s collection more accessible to the people of the United States.
Lecture Summary
The National Gallery in the New Century: The Mellon Legacy
Marina Kellen French, a trustee of the American Academy, introduced the distinguished visitor of her namesake, Earl A. Powell, III, director of the National Gallery of Art. An expert in 19th and 20th European and American art, Powell (or "Rusty," his nickname) has held the esteemed position since 1992, subsequent to positions at the University of Texas and his directorship of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from 1980-1992, which he transformed, Art in America wrote, "from a local institution to a museum of international stature." »
