Glenn Lowry to Depart as Director of MoMA in 2025

Glenn Lowry, who has led theMuseum of Modern Artfor three decades, will step down as director of the New York institution next September, theNew York Timesreports. His contract would have been up for renewal in June. “It’s the right moment to think about the future of the museum and I just thought, carpe diem,” Lowry, who turns seventy this month, told the publication. “All the things I set out to do thirty years ago are either accomplished or in play in a very positive way.”

Since assuming his role in 1995, Lowry has spearheaded two major renovations and shepherded the museum’s merger with the former P.S. 1 Center for Contemporary Art—now MoMA PS1—in Long Island City, Queens. Under his leadership, MoMA’s endowment grew from roughly $200 million to about $1.7 billion, and its annual operating budget more than tripled, ballooning from about $60 million to roughly $190 million. He worked to diversify the museum’s holdings, exhibitions, and workforce; guided it through the Covid-19 crisis, which temporarily shuttered it just months after itdebuteda costly new expansion; and dealt with the uproar sparked by the revealed affiliation betweennow-formerMoMA board chair Leon Black and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

MoMA board chair Marie-Josée Kravis praised Lowry for increasing the depth and breadth of the museum’s collection and for opening the institution to new ideas, noting, “He’s broadened the whole discussion on the role of the arts and the role of a public institution like MoMA in the community at large.”

“Our responsibility as a work in progress is to learn how to tell multiple stories about modern art,” Lowry told the Times, “not the story of modern art.” He continued, “When I look back at who came to the museum when I was appointed and who comes to the museum today, it is a sea change both in terms of race, ethnicity and age. That’s something the institution should feel collectively proud of.”

An international search for Lowry’s successor will begin shortly.