J. Carter Brown, the longtime head of the National Gallery of Art and chairman of the federal Fine Arts Commission, has died from a rare form of blood cancer, the National Gallery announced Tuesday. He was 67.
A descendant of the Rhode Island family that founded Brown University, Mr. Brown died Monday in Boston, where he was undergoing treatment for a pulmonary infection caused by the disease.
Sometimes known as the “Lorenzo the Magnificent” of Washington for the grand sweep of his arts undertakings–an allusion to the legendary 15th Century Medici family arts patron and ruler of Florence–Mr. Brown joined the National Gallery in 1961 and served as its director from 1969 until 1992.
Under his direction, the museum staged such mammoth exhibitions as the 1986 “Treasure Houses of Britain” show and 1992’s “Circa ’92” Columbian Quincentennial extravaganza, filled with artworks from around the world that had been created around the time of Christopher Columbus’ voyage of discovery.
Mr. Brown expanded the gallery’s collection with a vast array of acquisitions from the Renaissance through Post-Impressionist periods, including Vincent Van Gogh’s $60 million “White Roses,” and greatly increased its previous limited holdings of 20th Century art. He also added the gallery’s landmark East Building, designed by architect I.M. Pei.
Few individuals had as much impact on the look of the U.S. capital as he did. As chairman of the Fine Arts Commission from 1971 on, Mr. Brown’s was a guiding hand in the National Mall’s Vietnam War and Korean War Memorials and the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, and he helped shape the planned Martin Luther King monument as well.
He also was a key figure in the long-running controversy over the World War II Memorial under construction at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool.
Mr. Brown provided arts advice for first ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton.
After leaving the gallery, he helped found Ovation, the cable arts television network, and was a pioneer in marrying art to computer technology.
“We are deeply saddened,” said Earl Powell III, Mr. Brown’s successor as National Gallery director. “He was a gifted and brilliant director who served the nation and the world of art with unparalleled commitment and leadership and has left a great legacy.”
Mr. Brown was a graduate of Harvard University and the New York University School of Fine Art.
He resigned the Fine Arts Commission chairmanship and some dozen other arts positions in May to begin treatment for the pulmonary infection. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, in 2000.
Mr. Brown’s son, Jay; daughter, Elissa; and fiance, Anne Hawley, were with him when he died. He is also survived by a brother, Nicholas Brown, and a sister, Angela Fischer.
A service at Washington’s National Cathedral is planned.
