Agnes Gund (born 1938) is an American philanthropist and arts patron,[2] collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. She is President Emerita and Life Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chairman of its International Council. She is a board member of MoMA PS1. In 1977, in response to New York City's fiscal crisis that led to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts education in public schools, Gund founded Studio in a School,[3] a nonprofit organization that engages professional artists as art instructors in public schools and community-based organizations to lead classes in drawing, printmaking, painting, collage, sculpture, and digital media, and to work with classroom teachers, administrators, and families to incorporate visual art into their school communities.
Early life and education
Gund became interested in art while a 15-year-old student at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. "I had a magical art history teacher who didn't just give you the artist's name and the date of the picture, she showed you how to look at artwork," Gund said.[4] Later, Gund attended Connecticut College for Women,[3] where she received a bachelor's degree in history. She received her master's degree in art history from Harvard's Fogg Museum.
A civic leader and staunch supporter of education, women's issues[2] and environmental concerns, among other causes, Gund is the former chair of the Mayor's Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission of New York City, a former member of the New York State Council on the Arts, and has served on the boards of such wide-ranging organizations as the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Barnes Foundation, Chess in the Schools, the Frick Collection, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Fund for Public Schools, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
On February 14, 2020, Gund was presented with the first-ever “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award” in honor of Justice Ginsburg’s exemplary career and life.[10] In October 2022, Gund received the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, the highest honor given by Harvard University in the field of African and African American studies.[11][12]
Art for Justice Fund
In January 2017, Gund sold Roy Lichtenstein's Masterpiece in order to provide $100 million in seed funding for the Art for Justice Fund,[13][14] which supports criminal justice reform and seeks to reduce mass incarceration in the United States. Gund described Michelle Alexander's 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and Ava DuVernay's 2016 documentary 13th about African-Americans in the prison system as motivators for starting the fund, as well as concern for her grandchildren, six of whom are Black.[13]
Studio in a School
Agnes Gund is founder and chair emerita of Studio in a School. Now in its fifth decade, Studio in a School has provided visual art instruction led by professional artists to over one million students through its New York City School Programs. Since its founding in 1977, Studio has partnered with over 800 schools and community-based organizations throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Every year, more than 100 professional artists devote some 45,000 hours to over 32,000 pre-k through high school students, often in schools that would otherwise lack visual arts instruction.[15] About 90 percent of all children who participate in Studio programs come from low-income families. Studio's New York City School Programs include the multi-year, full-time Long Term Program, an Early Childhood Program, and more flexible Residency Programs.
In 2016, Studio in a School launched the Studio Institute under the leadership of long-time Studio President Thomas Cahill.[16] The goal of the Studio Institute is to expand the organization's mission and impact on the field through research, documentation, and dissemination, and to share its programs with other cities around the country. By 2018, the Studio Institute had provided expanded programming in five cities: Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Cleveland, and Memphis.
In 2017, Studio in a School received the National Arts Award for Arts Education from Americans for the Arts.[17]
Her collection consists of paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and furniture, with an exceptionally rich compilation of drawings. She has donated hundreds of works to MoMA, numerous works to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and has given or loaned various pieces to museums around the country. Essentially all of her most valuable works that have not already been gifted are promised gifts to institutions.[18]
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Gund's father, George Gund II, was president and chairman of Cleveland Trust when it was Ohio's largest bank. Born in 1938, she is the second oldest of six children.[3] Two of her brothers, Gordon Gund and George Gund, partners in Gund Investment Corporation, were the former owners of the San Jose Sharks (National Hockey League)[19] and Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association). Her brother Graham is an architect; her brother Geoff is a career teacher of economics and American history; and her sister, Louise Gund, is a Tony Award-winning theater producer, environmentalist, women's activist, and philanthropist.[20]
^"President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts," The White House news release, December 22, 2010, [1]
^"Royal Academy of Arts Announces Election of New Royal Academician, Honorary Royal Academicians and Honorary Fellows," Royal Academy of Arts press release, April 14, 2016, [2]
^"J. Paul Getty Trust Announces J. Paul Getty Medal to go to Thelma Golden, Agnes Gund and Richard Serra," J. Paul Getty Trust press release, March 26, 2018, [3]
^Ruhling, Art School Confidential: Agnes Gund Profile, 58.
^Ferragher, Thomas (May 13, 1990). "Gund brothers are brood apart; Gordon and George Gund found a way to the NHL to San Jose". The Ottawa Citizen: p. B11.
