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Bruce Guenther Speaks

Bruce Guenther will be speaking at the CS Fine Arts Center’s SaGaJi theater Thursday, July 19th at 6 p.m. I had dinner with Bruce when he was in town a few weeks ago and he knows his stuff. I would encourage everyone to reserve a seat today (details below).

No More Naked Men in the Plaza:
An Exploration of Public Sculpture as Form and Substance from the Romans to the Modern Philistines

Free to the public – tickets required
Call 719.634.5583 for reservations

The fine print below is the press release/Bruce’s bio:

Bruce Guenther
Chief Curator Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Portland Art Museum

Bruce Guenther will be serving as a star juror for Downtown Partnership’s Art on the Streets Program. In conjuction with this program, he will be lecturing in the Fine Arts Center’s SaGaJi Theatre on Thursday, July 19 at 6 p.m.

Bruce Guenther is the Portland Art Museum’s Chief Curator, as well as its Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. He oversees the exhibition and collection programs of the Museum, all museum exhibition publications, and the administration of the Museum’s Curatorial Division, including the Museum’s seven curatorial departments, curators, and the Crumpacker Family Art Library and staff.

In addition to administrative duties, Guenther is responsible for initiating and planning all exhibitions and permanent collection presentations of modern and contemporary art. He is also responsible for soliciting gifts and proposing acquisitions for the Museum’s permanent collection. During his tenure to date, the Museum has acquired significant works by Marcel Duchamp, Ruben Nakian, Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Pearlstein, Roy Lichtenstein, Judy Chicago, Manuel Neri, and Kiki Smith, among others. Guenther also conducts research and writes publications for the collections, Museum-organized exhibitions, and all in-gallery texts.

Guenther joined the Portland Art Museum in 2000. He has more than 30 years of Museum experience, having served as curator or director at five noteworthy institutions. A native Oregonian, Guenther’s museum career began at the Portland Art Museum in the early 1970s as a National Endowment for the Arts curatorial intern. He then moved to the Washington State University Museum of Art in Pullman, Washington, as its first curator and later served as the Museum’s director.

In 1979, he was appointed the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum, where he spent the next nine years directing the modern art program and organized over 45 exhibitions, including the landmark 1986 Jacob Lawrence traveling retrospective. He joined the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in 1987, where he served as Chief Curator and organized exhibitions from Latin America and Europe. He also served for a period as Co-Acting Director of the institution. He became the Chief Curator of the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California, in 1991, helping to guide it through a programmatic expansion and remodeling project before joining the Portland Art Museum. In conjunction with his curatorial duties, Guenther was responsible for curatorial vision in the architectural programming for new museum buildings in Seattle, Chicago, and Portland, where he was responsible for all aspects of a new 28,000 sq.ft. wing for modern and contemporary art in 2005.

Internationally recognized for his work in contemporary art, Guenther is sought after for his expertise as a public speaker, guest curator, juror, writer, public arts panelist for municipal, state, and federal arts commissions, and collection advisor. For his work to promote international fellowship through contemporary art, Guenther was awarded the Officer’s Cross in the Order of Merit of the Republic of Austria in 1990.

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