 Jeffrey Weiss '80 recently was appointed director of the prestigious Dia Art Foundation. He will be leading the Foundation, which opened a museum in Beacon, N.Y., four years ago, into its next phase as it searches for a Manhattan location.
Weiss graduated from Dickinson with a major in fine arts and later earned a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 1991. Before joining Dia, he was curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington , D.C.
Dia was founded in 1974 by Heiner Friedrich, a German art dealer; his wife Philippa de Menil, a patron of Houston arts; and Helen Winkler, a Houston art historian. Their collection of beloved artwork eventually became Dia's permanent collection, which is now housed in a converted box-printing factory that serves as Dia's Beacon, N.Y., location. Dia, which has an exhibition space in Chelsea that is currently closed, still maintains large-scale installations throughout the country.
Weiss is a natural choice to direct Dia's collection of artwork dating from the 1960s to the present. During his 13 years at the National Gallery, he devoted much attention to expanding the museum's collection of work from the 1960s and 1970s. He is happy with the prospects of his new position, telling The New York Times : “Dia represents something very meaningful to me, as much as an idea as a place for art to thrive on its own terms.”
Weiss' connection to the art world stems from Dickinson. His father, Emil R. Weiss '53, provided funding
to help establish the Weiss Center
for the Arts. Jeffrey Weiss' cousin, Michael Biros, is a member of the class of 2010.
Weiss is an accomplished writer and lecturer. His articles have appeared in many books, magazines and catalogues. He is the Kirk Varnedoe Visiting Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City , and he will present public lectures on the art of the 1960s and 1970s at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this spring.
For more information:
Back to For Alumni |
