{{Short description|Canadian academic (1922–2014)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jean Sutherland Boggs | image = Photo of Jean Sutherland Boggs in 1963.jpg | caption = Boggs in 1963 | birth_name = Grace Jean Sutherland Boggs | birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|06|11}} | birth_place = Negritos, Peru | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|08|22|1922|06|11}} | death_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | other_names = | education = *Trinity College, Toronto *Radcliffe College | occupation = Academic, art historian, and civil servant | employer = *Washington University in St. Louis *National Gallery of Canada *Harvard University *Philadelphia Museum of Art | known_for = }} '''Jean Sutherland Boggs''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|FRSC}} D. Litt. LL. D. (June 11, 1922 – August 22, 2014) was a Canadian academic, art historian and civil servant. She was the first female Director of both the National Gallery of Canada and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.<ref name="Salisbury " >Salisbury, Stephan. [http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20140905_Jean_Sutherland_Boggs__led_Art_Museum.html "Jean Sutherland Boggs; Led Art Museum"], ''Philly.com''. Retrieved 1 January 2015.</ref> She was also a specialist in the work of Edgar Degas and Picasso.<ref name=Salisbury /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Taylor|first=Kate|title=Uncovering Picasso's human side|date=29 February 1992|work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref>
==Early life== Grace Jean Sutherland Boggs was born in Negritos, Peru, on June 11, 1922, to Oliver Desmond and Humia Marguerite (née Sutherland).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/visionary-curator-jean-sutherland-boggs-framed-a-legacy/article20684691/|title=Visionary curator Jean Sutherland Boggs framed a legacy|website=The Globe and Mail|date=18 September 2014|access-date=2016-03-28|archive-date=2016-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413040201/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/visionary-curator-jean-sutherland-boggs-framed-a-legacy/article20684691/|url-status=live}}</ref> Boggs attended Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario, graduating in 1938.<ref>"[http://inmagic.elgin-county.on.ca/ask/results.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/ask/results.aspx&BU=http%3A%2F%2Finmagic.elgin-county.on.ca%2Fask%2F&TN=Descr&SN=AUTO10502&SE=1510&RN=1&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebRelevance2013&EF=&DF=WebFull2013&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=GENERICENGWPMSG.INI&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=25741&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=utf-8 Alma College Composite Class Photograph, 1938 - Jean Boggs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416074631/http://inmagic.elgin-county.on.ca/ask/results.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=%2Fask%2Fresults.aspx&BU=http%3A%2F%2Finmagic.elgin-county.on.ca%2Fask%2F&TN=Descr&SN=AUTO10502&SE=1510&RN=1&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebRelevance2013&EF=&DF=WebFull2013&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=GENERICENGWPMSG.INI&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=25741&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=utf-8 |date=2018-04-16 }}" Elgin County Archives, Web, 21 October 2014.</ref> Boggs would later receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Trinity College, Toronto in 1942. She received a M.A. in 1946 and a Ph.D. in 1953 from Radcliffe College.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Jean Sutherland Boggs {{!}} Department of History of Art and Architecture |url=https://haa.fas.harvard.edu/people/jean-sutherland-boggs |access-date=June 30, 2025 |publisher=Harvard University |language=en |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731222005/https://haa.fas.harvard.edu/people/jean-sutherland-boggs |url-status=live }}</ref>
From 1942 to 1944, she was an education secretary for the Art Association of Montreal (today known as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts). In 1948, she joined the faculty of Skidmore College as an assistant professor. From 1949 to 1952, she was an assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College. From 1954 to 1962, she was an assistant and associate professor at the University of California. In 1962, she was appointed curator for the Art Gallery of Toronto. In 1964, she was appointed Steinberg Professor of Art History in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Otten |first=Liam |date=September 4, 2014 |title=Obituary: Jean Sutherland Boggs, former professor in Arts & Sciences, 92 |url=https://source.washu.edu/2014/09/obituary-jean-sutherland-boggs-former-professor-in-arts-sciences-92/ |access-date= |website=The Source |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Work== In 1966, Boggs was appointed the first woman and fifth director of the National Gallery of Canada<ref name="Concordia " >{{cite press release|url=http://mediarelations.concordia.ca/pressreleases/archives/2000/06/concordia_university_to_award_1.php|title=Concordia university to award five honorary degrees at five ceremonies for 3,300 graduating students|publisher=Concordia University|access-date=2007-12-18|archive-date=2014-12-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205093013/http://www.concordia.ca/now/media-relations/press-releases.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and served in this position until 1976. During her tenure, the Gallery collection grew by more than 8,600 pieces,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Crawford|first=Blair|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/national-gallery-honours-legendary-director-jean-sutherland-boggs|title=National Gallery Honours Miss Boggs|date=26 September 2014|work=Ottawa Citizen|access-date=17 February 2020|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217221832/https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/national-gallery-honours-legendary-director-jean-sutherland-boggs|url-status=live}}</ref> including works from Degas, van Gogh, Pollock, the Group of Seven, and the beginnings of the Gallery's photography collection.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Peters|first=Diane|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/visionary-curator-jean-sutherland-boggs-framed-a-legacy/article20684691/|title=Visionary curator Jean Sutherland Boggs framed a legacy|date=18 September 2014|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=17 February 2020|archive-date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413040201/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/visionary-curator-jean-sutherland-boggs-framed-a-legacy/article20684691/|url-status=live}}</ref> From 1976 to 1979, she was a Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University.
From 1978 to 1982, she was the director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.<ref name=":0" /> She succeeded Evan Turner, who had left following a dispute with the Board of Trustees.<ref name=Salisbury /> Under her leadership, the Museum purchased Edgar Degas's painting ''After the Bath'', which is now considered to be one of the Museum's most important acquisitions in the post-war period.<ref name="History " >[http://www.philamuseum.org/information/45-603-503.html "History: 1980-1990"], Philadelphia Museum of Art, Retrieved 1 January 2015.</ref> She also presided over the Museum during art historian Stella Kramrisch's acclaimed 1981 exhibition of Indian art, ''Manifestations of Shiva''.<ref name=History />
She was chair and chief executive officer of the Canada Museums Construction Corporation from 1982 to 1985, where she directed the construction of both a custom-built National Gallery building and the unique Canadian Museum of Civilization (today known as the Canadian Museum of History) in collaboration with the architects Moshe Safdie and Douglas Cardinal.<ref name="Concordia " /> From 1991 to 1993, she was a senior advisor for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As an art historian, she has written books about the life of Edgar Degas, including ''Portraits By Degas'' (1962).<ref name="WhoWho">{{cite web |year=1997 |title=Canadian Who's Who entry |url=http://utpress.utpress.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/cw2w3.cgi?p=bobye&t=25549&d=1926 |work=University of Toronto Press}}{{dead link|date=April 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
Boggs died on August 22, 2014, at the age of 92 in Ottawa, Ontario.<ref>Jean Sutherland Boggs {{cite web |url=http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/1403366/jean-sutherland-boggs-1922-2014-the-national-gallery-of-canada-pays-tribute-to-the-first-woman-to-lead-the-institution |title=Musée des beaux-arts du Canada | Jean Sutherland Boggs - 1922 - 2014 - the National Gallery of Canada pays tribute to the first woman to lead the institution |access-date=2014-09-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905030252/http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/1403366/jean-sutherland-boggs-1922-2014-the-national-gallery-of-canada-pays-tribute-to-the-first-woman-to-lead-the-institution |archive-date=2014-09-05 }}</ref>
==Honours== In 1973, Boggs was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "in recognition of her scholarship and the vision and energy she has displayed in developing the collection and the services of the Gallery". She was promoted to Companion in 1992.<ref>{{Canadian honour|Type=orc|ID=3000|accessdate=24 May 2010}}</ref> In 1979 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of Saskatchewan.<ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary degree recipients|work=University of Saskatchewan|url=https://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=329&view=detail&keyword=&campuses=|access-date=2017-08-18|archive-date=2012-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305004924/http://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=329&view=detail&keyword=&campuses=|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was awarded honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke College in 1971, York University in 1976 and from Concordia University in 2000.
==See also== *List of Directors of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | before = Evan Hopkins Turner | title = Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art | years = 1979–1982 | after = Anne d'Harnoncourt }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boggs, Jean}} Category:1922 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Canadian art historians Category:20th-century Canadian civil servants Category:Canadian art curators Category:Companions of the Order of Canada Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Harvard University faculty Category:Mount Holyoke College faculty Category:Radcliffe College alumni Category:Trinity College (Canada) alumni Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty Category:Canadian women art historians Category:Canadian women museum directors Category:Directors of museums in Canada Category:Directors of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Category:20th-century Peruvian women Category:Canadian women curators Category:Canadian expatriates in Peru