Brian Kennedy (gallery director)

Brian Kennedy (born 5 November 1961) is the Director of the "Hood Museum of Art" at Dartmouth College. He was the Director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra from 1997 to 2004.

Kennedy was born in Dublin and attended Clonkeen College. He received B.A. (1982), M.A.(1985) and Ph.D. (1989) degrees from University College, Dublin where he studied both art history and history. He worked in the Irish Department of Education (1982), the European Commission, Brussels (1983), and in Ireland at the Chester Beatty Library (1983-85), Government Publications Office (1985-86), and Department of Finance (1986-89). He married Mary Fiona Carlin in 1988. [cite book| title = Who's Who in Australia | date = 2004 ] He was Assistant Director at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin from 1989 to 1997. He was Chair of the Irish Association of Art Historians from 1996-97. [cite web| title = Arts and human rights
url = http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/ahr/conference_speakers.shtml |work = Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University |date = 2003-07-30 |accessdate = 2006-10-17 ]

In September 1997 he became Director of the NGA.

He became Director of the "Hood Museum of Art" at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., U.S.A., in July 2005. [cite web| title = Brian Kennedy appointed Director of Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art
url = http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2005/03/08.html |work = Dartmouth News |date = 2005-03-08 |accessdate = 2006-10-14 ]

National Gallery of Australia

Kennedy expanded the traveling exhibitions and loans program throughout Australia, arranged for several major shows of Australian art abroad, increased the number of exhibitions at the museum itself and oversaw the development of an extensive multi-media site. Although he oversaw several years of the museum's highest ever annual visitation, he discontinued the emphasis of his predecessor, Betty Churcher, on showing "blockbuster" exhibitions.

During his directorship, the NGA gained government support for improving the building and significant private donations and corporate sponsorship. Private funding supported many notable acquisitions including David Hockney's "A Bigger Grand Canyon" for US$3 million in 1999 and Lucian Freud's "After Cezanne" for US$3.5 million in 2001. He also introduced free admission to the gallery, except to major exhibitions.

He was also notable for campaigning for the construction of a new “front” entrance to the Gallery, facing King Edward Terrace. This proposal has not yet proceeded, apparently as a result of Colin Madigan's campaign against it on the basis that it would interfere with his moral rights as architect.

Kennedy's cancellation of the Sensation exhibition (scheduled at the NGA from 2 June 2000 to 13 August 2000) was very controversial, as it was seen by some as censorship. This exhibition was created by the Young British Artists of the Saatchi Gallery and attracted large attendances in London and Brooklyn. Its most controversial work was Chris Ofili’s "The Holy Virgin Mary", a painting which used elephant dung and was accused of being blasphemous. The then Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani campaigned against the exhibition, claiming it was "Catholic-bashing" and an "aggressive vicious, disgusting attack on religion." In November 1999, Kennedy cancelled the exhibition and stated that the events in New York had "obscured discussion of the artistic merit of the works of art." He has said that it "was the toughest decision of my professional life, so far." [cite web| author = Valerie M. Arvidson |title = A Curator from the Outback
url = http://www.dartmouth.edu/~thepress/read.php?id=774 |work = Dartmouth Free Press |date = 2006 |accessdate = 2006-10-14 ]

Kennedy was also repeatedly questioned about the NGA's twenty year-old air-conditioning system. The air-conditioning was finally renovated in 2003. [cite web| title = Director's comment 2002–2003
url = http://www.nationalgallery.com.au/director/bk.html |work = NGA |date = 2002/2003 |accessdate = 2006-11-10] [cite web| title = Passing on a 'poisoned chalice' |url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/13/1076548217313.html?from=storyrhs |work = The Age |date = 2004-02-14 |accessdate = 2006-10-14 ]

Kennedy announced in 2002 that he would not seek extension of his contract beyond 2004, accepting a seven-year term as had his two predecessors. [cite web| title = National Gallery Director resigns |url = http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1041335.htm |work = PM|date = 2004-02-09 |accessdate = 2006-11-10 ]

Publications

Kennedy has written a number of books on art, including:
* "Alfred Chester Beatty and Ireland 1950-1968": A study in cultural politics, Glendale Press (1988), ISBN 978-0-907606-49-9
* "Dreams and responsibilities: The state and arts in independent Ireland", Arts Council of Ireland (1990), ISBN 978-0-906627-32-7
* "Jack B Yeats: Jack Butler Yeats, 1871-1957 (Lives of Irish Artists)", "Unipub" (October 1991), ISBN 978-0-948524-24-0
* "The Anatomy Lesson: Art and Medicine", National Gallery of Ireland (January 1992), ISBN 978-0-903162-65-4
* "Irish Painting", Roberts Rinehart Publishers (November 1997), ISBN 978-1-86059-059-7

Notes

Persondata
NAME=Kennedy, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Irish art gallery director
DATE OF BIRTH=5 November 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH=Dublin, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH=living person
PLACE OF DEATH=