[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7256-S7257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO EARL ``RUSTY'' POWELL
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for 25 years, Earl ``Rusty'' Powell has
served as the director of the National Gallery of Art, making him the
longest serving director in its history. Rusty will retire in early
2019, concluding a tenure that has marked growth and development at one
of our Nation's great galleries.
Rusty's life of public service began with 3 years of service in the
Navy, during which he served as a navigator in Vietnam. Upon his
return, Rusty embarked on what would become a decades-long career as a
curator, historian, and aficionado, earning a doctorate from Harvard
before beginning his first assignment at the National Gallery of Art.
His experience there led to a 12-year tenure as the director of the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, after which he returned to the
National Gallery for what would become the longest tenure of a director
in its 75-year history. He has worked tirelessly at the National
Gallery of Art to increase the accessibility of the arts by expanding
the National Gallery's projects, exhibitions, and endowment.
Rusty's approach to expanding and enriching the National Gallery has
been as collaborative as it has been visionary. Rather than govern with
a singular vision, he included his staff and board in moving the museum
forward. From the construction of the stunning sculpture garden, to the
renovation of the gallery's west wing, no detail has been overlooked
throughout his tenure. He has also overseen several other projects that
received less attention but are of no lesser value to the current
success of the gallery. All these improvements have enhanced the
experience of the more than 5 million visitors that pass through the
gallery every year.
Rusty's great passion for the mission of the National Gallery and his
unwavering efforts to bring storied art collections to its millions of
visitors each year are unparalleled. With his retirement next year, he
will leave a legacy at the gallery that will never be forgotten.
Marcelle and I have treasured the evenings we have spent with Rusty
and his wife, Nancy, at exhibits and events we will always remember.
I ask unanimous consent that the November 7, 2017, Washington Post
article detailing Rusty's time and accomplishments at the National
Gallery of Art be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[[Page S7257]]
[From the Washington Post, Nov. 7, 2017]
The Quiet, Productive Tenure of Rusty Powell To Come to an End
(By Geoff Edgers)
National Gallery of Art Director Earl ``Rusty'' Powell,
whose tenure has been marked by the collection's growth, the
renovation of nearly every space and a startling lack of
controversy, will retire in early 2019 after more than 25
years in charge.
Powell, 74, planned to tell the National Gallery's staff
Tuesday during informal meetings. Next year, the trustees
will begin the process of finding a successor for the
longest-serving director in its 76-year history.
``I think I have run a pretty good race here, and it seems
sort of a logical time,'' Powell said in explaining the
decision. ``I turn 75 next year. And this will be after that.
I still have some gas in the tank. I'm not particularly
interested in sitting on the porch looking at sunsets.''
What he'll do, he said, is not clear. But what he has
accomplished at the National Gallery is easy to chart. Over
Powell's tenure, the institution, with a $200 million
operating budget and 5 million visitors a year, has been
reshaped, from the addition of a sculpture garden in 1999 to
the dramatic renovation of the East Building, completed last
year to add stunning galleries devoted to Mark Rothko and to
Barnett Newman's ``Stations of the Cross.'' Powell has also
overseen projects less buzzworthy but just as essential.
Six years and $19.3 million were spent renovating more than
three acres of leaky skylights in the West Building, part of
a deferred maintenance disaster once considered so dire it
inspired a local TV news series titled ``Gallery of Shame.''
Powell's tenure has also been notable for something it
lacked: controversy.
``He's had that balance between being able to make
decisions and yet not offend everybody,'' said John
Wilmerding, the former National Gallery deputy director who
later served as chairman of its board of trustees.
Powell would never use words such as ``consummate
leadership,'' as his supporters do, to describe himself. He
can be witty, have strong opinions, but these often come as
asides, spoken softly and without naming names. He is not one
to call out other museum directors, even though he does note
that he doesn't agree with everyone in the field. About what?
With whom? He won't say.
This is in contrast with J. Carter Brown, the blue-eyed
impresario he replaced in 1992. Brown loved blockbusters,
mingling with royals--he brought Prince Charles and Princess
Diana to the National Gallery in 1985--and tended to spend
less time on issues such as infrastructure. Wilmerding
remembered that when Powell started, he noticed a stiffness
when Powell had to speak in front of groups.
``He relied too much on his notes,'' Wilmerding said. ``I
remember saying to him, `You've got the personality--do more.
Wing it. Tell jokes. Be yourself.' That awkwardness rapidly
began to change.''
Born in South Carolina, Powell was just 4 when his father
died of injuries sustained during World War II. The family
moved to Rhode Island, and his mother eventually remarried.
Powell went to Williams College, where he played linebacker
and, after struggling to conquer chemistry class, found
himself studying art history.
As a boy, he had fond memories of hanging around his
grandfather's lithography business. In college, he found
inspiration in S. Lane Faison Jr., a legendary professor who
would help train many members of the ``Williams mafia,'' a
group of graduates that included future museum directors
Glenn D. Lowry of the Museum of Modern Art; James Wood of the
Art Institute of Chicago; and Powell's onetime roommate, John
Lane, who led the Dallas Museum of Art and San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. Other Williams graduates to become
directors include Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art and Joseph Thompson of the Massachusetts Museum
of Contemporary Art.
Powell credits his next stop--three years in the Navy, from
1966 to 1969--with helping him develop the skills to become a
leader. Lane also went from Williams to the Navy. The time
served helped them step into directorships while only in
their mid-30s.
``We had already had the happy burden of being responsible
for a huge piece of machinery and a lot of fellow
shipmates,'' Lane said. ``And in what were particularly
dangerous circumstances. You were well equipped to take on
responsibility.''
The service also, unexpectedly, led Powell to Harvard. One
afternoon, Powell stopped by the art history department at
Harvard to ask for a course catalogue. Professor Seymour
Slive, a World War II veteran, noticed he was wearing his
Navy whites, struck up a conversation, and then urged him to
attend graduate school in Cambridge. This started a long list
of opportunities that opened up for Powell, who noted that
``I've never had to apply for a job.''
In 1976, not long after Powell earned his PhD, Brown hired
him for his first stint at the National Gallery as a curator
and special assistant.
And in 1980, Powell took his first trip to California to
interview for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's top job.
At 36, he began a 12-year tenure marked by tremendous growth,
with the museum's budget jumping from $8.5 million to $31
million and attendance more than doubling to close to a
million visitors a year.
Comedian Steve Martin, who served on the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art's board of trustees, marveled at Powell's
ability to embrace a wide range of art, his cordial nature
and his ability to understand how to manage the many
perspectives on the board. What's more, Martin found it
notable that Powell's tenure was conflict-free.
``I never heard anybody say an unkind word about him,''
said Martin, an art collector.
Powell, when asked about his leadership style, gives credit
to others--curators, other administrators, staff--for making
him feel comfortable delegating authority. He uses email but
says many of his meetings are informal, taking place as he
walks from his car to his office in the morning.
``I've always believed in a collegial, organizational
structure,'' he said. ``I think communication is a really
important thing. I learned to look at the big things. Not get
bogged down with the little things. We make collective
decisions about most of the things we do here. Our
exhibitions program. It's not `Rusty says we'll do this,
we'll do that.' We talk about it. We meet and discuss things
rather than do things from the top of it.''
Powell can be so understated, it's hard to know when he's
asking for anything. Even millions. That's what longtime
board president Victoria Sant found when the National Gallery
was raising money for the renovation of the East Building.
``You sort of don't know when Rusty's put the touch on
you,'' she said. ``He's not an aggressive fundraiser. He
tries to bring things to people that they want, that was in
their interest area. And I think one of the things that Rusty
has stressed is that when you give a gift to the National
Gallery, you're really giving a gift to the nation.''
Sant and her husband, Roger, ultimately gave $10 million to
the East Building project, which added more than 12,000
square feet of gallery space and an outdoor sculpture terrace
overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue.
That was just one of the most recent accomplishments during
Powell's tenure. The list of art acquisitions, exhibitions
and building projects that have taken place since 1992 runs
for pages, from the construction of Dutch cabinet galleries
in 1995 to the endowment campaign launched last year after a
$30 million matching grant from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation.
Powell's announcement means there will no longer be a
director who spent time with Paul Mellon, the late
philanthropist who stood next to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt when the family's money and art collection sparked
the National Gallery's opening in 1941.
It was in Powell's first week as director that Mellon
invited him for lunch. Later, the philanthropist shared his
passion for a proposed sculpture garden. Powell remembers
showing Mellon the plans.
``How big are the trees?'' Mellon asked.
``We're going to have them as big as we can get them,''
Powell said.
``Good, because I don't have that much time left and I'd
really like to see this,'' Mellon said.
``Mr. Mellon, we're not going to give you a starter kit for
the sculpture garden,'' Powell said.
The garden, in fact, opened in May 1999, four months after
Mellon's death at the age of 91.
Powell said he never considered leaving the National
Gallery, even when headhunting firms called to see whether he
might be interested in other jobs. (Powell's total
compensation was comparable to those at other major
institutions. He earned $1.17 million in the most recent
public filing available, compared with the $1.44 million
earned by then-Met Director Thomas Campbell.) He appreciated
not having to spend so much time trying to raise money, as is
the case when you're running the Metropolitan Museum of Art
or Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Nearly three-quarters of the
National Gallery's $200 million annual operating budget comes
from the federal government.
He also feels a deep connection to the District.
``If you do what I do, it's the best job in the field,'' he
said. ``The standards are very high. The collections are
exemplary. The programs are great. You're not out with a tin
cup raising money to keep the building open. The federal
funding obligations are to keep it maintained. It's got a
center for advanced study. I came out of the academic side,
and this is the most academic place that can exist. It's a
unique place in the context of American museums.''
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