{{Short description|American museum director}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Elsa Longhauser | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name above --> | birth_date = <!-- {{birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB --> | birth_place = | baptised = <!-- will not display if birth_date is entered --> | disappeared_date = <!-- {{disappeared date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (disappeared date then birth date) --> | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | burial_place = <!-- may be used instead of resting_place and resting_place_coordinates (displays "Burial place" as label) --> | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = American | education = | alma_mater = Antioch College, University of Pennsylvania | occupation = Museum director | years_active = | era = | employer = Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) | organization = Santa Monica Museum of Art | agent = <!-- Discouraged in most cases, specifically when promotional, and requiring a reliable source --> | known_for = | notable_works = <!-- produces label "Notable work"; may be overridden by |credits=, which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by |works=, which produces label "Works" --> | style = | spouse = {{plainlist| * Norman Weiner, * William Longhauser }} | partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) --> | children = | parents = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters --> | mother = <!-- may be used (optionally with father parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | father = <!-- may be used (optionally with mother parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Elsa Longhauser''' is the founding executive director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), California, United States, formerly the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA),<ref>{{cite web|title=Santa Monica Museum of Art: Staff and Board|url=http://smmoa.org/about/staff-board/|website=Santa Monica Museum of Art|accessdate=6 March 2016}}</ref> where Longhauser served as director from 2000 until the museum ended operations in Bergamot Station in 2015.<ref name="Cheng">{{cite news|last1=Cheng|first1=Scarlet|title=For 10 years, Elsa Longhauser has put her own imprint on the Santa Monica Museum of Art|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-09-la-ca-smmoa-20110109-story.html|access-date=6 March 2016|agency=Los Angeles Times|date=January 9, 2011}}</ref> From 1983 until 2000, Longhauser served as director of the gallery at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sozanski|first1=Edward|title=Moore College's Gallery Director Leaving|url=http://articles.philly.com/2000-03-30/living/25604858_1_moore-international-discovery-series-art-galleries-adolf-wolfli|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023004831/http://articles.philly.com/2000-03-30/living/25604858_1_moore-international-discovery-series-art-galleries-adolf-wolfli|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2013|website=Philly.com|publisher=Philadelphia Media Network, LLC|accessdate=6 March 2016|date=March 30, 2000}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Longhauser is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Antioch College as a young woman. She married and had three children before completing her bachelor's degree in art history in 1971, from the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name="Champion">Suzanne Muchnic, [https://www.proquest.com/docview/421676090/B16DD3BD2B5E426CPQ/10 "Champion of the Overlooked: The Santa Monica Museum's New Director Hopes to Make Room for Artists Who Haven't Yet Shown Up on the Radar"] ''Los Angeles Times'' (June 18, 2000): 8.</ref>
==Career== Longhauser was director of several galleries in Philadelphia early in her career.<ref name="Champion" /> She organized an "important show" of outsider art at the Philadelphia College of Art in 1981.<ref>Janet Tyson, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4552370/elsa_longhauser_credited_as_an/ "Fort Worth Museums Showcase Self-Taught Artists Who Defy Labels"] ''Kerrville Daily Times'' (November 9, 1998): 5A. via Newspapers.com {{open access}}</ref> In 1993, Longhauser continued her interest in the genre when she organized a touring show of Terry Fox's work.<ref>Christopher Knight, [https://www.proquest.com/docview/282207739/B16DD3BD2B5E426CPQ/5 "Making Magic from the Mundane: Terry Fox's Work is Spiritual with a Secular Slant"] ''Los Angeles Times'' (January 23, 1994): 86.</ref> In 1998, she was guest co-curator with Harald Szeemann at the Museum of American Folk Art for a "major traveling show" of works by self-taught American artists.<ref>Philadelphia Museum of Art, [http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/1998/6.html "Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An American Anthology"] (March 10, 1998-May 17, 1998).</ref><ref>Tessa DeCarlo, [https://www.proquest.com/docview/398647247/B16DD3BD2B5E426CPQ/6 "The Gallery: Drawings Lost and Found"] ''Wall Street Journal'' (March 11, 1998): A18.</ref>
Elsa Longhauser became gallery director at Moore College of Art and Design in 1983; during her tenure there, she was called an "unsung hero of the local cultural scene".<ref>Edward Sozanski, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160308113944/http://articles.philly.com/1991-01-09/news/25820956_1_college-galleries-adolf-wolfli-show-art "Bringing Art from Margins to the Center; As Gallery Director at Moore College of Art and Design, Elsa Longhauser is Attracting International Attention"] ''Philly.com'' (January 9, 1991).</ref> In 2000, Longhauser left Philadelphia and became director of the Santa Monica Museum of Art.<ref name="Cheng" />
Founded in 1984 as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA) and reestablished in 2017 with a new identity and home in Downtown Los Angeles, ICA LA builds upon a distinguished history of bold curatorial vision and innovative programming to illuminate the important untold stories and emerging voices in contemporary art and culture. The museum's 12,700 square-foot renovated industrial building—designed by wHY Architecture under the leadership of Kulapat Yantrasast—features ample space for exhibitions, public programs, retail pop-ups, integrated offices, and special projects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theicala.org/en/about|title=About}}</ref>
==Personal life== Longhauser married Norman B. Weiner, a doctor, as her first husband; he died in 1977.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4552966/obituary_of_norman_b_weiner_1977/ "Obituary: Norman Weiner"] ''Pocono Record'' (December 5, 1977): 10. via Newspapers.com {{open access}}</ref> She remarried in 1983, to William Longhauser, a graphic artist and college professor.<ref name="Champion" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Elsa Longhauser and Harald Szeemann, eds., ''Self-Taught Artists of the Twentieth Century: An American Anthology'' (Chronicle Books 1998). {{ISBN|9780811820998}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Longhauser, Elsa}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People from Philadelphia Category:Museum people