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Museum of Fine Arts in a Time of Transformation

February 5, 2009
Malcolm Rogers director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Malcolm Rogers, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, describes the MFA's extensive and visionary project, Building the New MFA. The core of the project is the Museum's new American Wing, scheduled to open in 2010. Rogers gives his firsthand account of this major undertaking, from its earliest planning stages and strategy, to choosing the architect, Foster and Partners, to surmounting daunting fundraising goals, as well as such challenges as protecting fragile artwork and keeping the city's biggest art museum vibrant and functioning during construction. He offers an advance view of the new galleries and improvements and a glimpse of the exciting transformations of the MFA that are to come.

Malcolm Rogers assumed the role of Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), in September 1994. Since then, he has led the Museum in welcoming new audiences to the MFA, expanding its encyclopedic collection, enhancing arts education, and bringing a variety of exhibitions to Boston of national and international importance. Prior to his arrival at the MFA, he served as the Deputy Director (from 1983) and Deputy Keeper (from 1985) at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

He is an authority on 16th, 17th, and early 18th century portraits, and has written on Van Dyck's English period. In December 2003, Rogers was awarded the honor of Commander, Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his services to the arts in both the UK and the United States. In 2005, he received the Eagle and Bulldog Award from the British American Business Council of New England (BABCNE) for his outstanding leadership in the cultural community. In October 2007, Rogers was honored with the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters). The award, from France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, recognizes significant contribution to furthering the arts and letters in France and throughout the world.

WGBH
Boston Athenaeum

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