Thomas M. Messer, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Thomas M. Messer

American curator

Date of Birth: 09-Feb-1920

Place of Birth: Bratislava, Bratislava Region, Slovakia

Date of Death: 15-May-2013

Profession: curator, art historian

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Thomas Maria Messer (February 9, 1920 – May 15, 2013) was the director of the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation, including the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy, for 27 years, a longer tenure than any of the city's major arts institutions' directors.Born and raised in Czechoslovakia, Messer became a U.S.
citizen in 1944 and served in the U.S.
Army in World War II.
He earned a master's degree in art history and museology from Harvard University.
From 1947 to 1961, he worked in a series of art and museum administration positions, the last of which was director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
In 1961, he became director of the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
There, he was able to establish the usefulness of the spiral-shaped Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim as a venue for the display of art, despite the doubts of critics and artists.
Messer was instrumental in expanding the museum's collection during his tenure, especially by persuading Peggy Guggenheim to donate her collection to the Guggenheim Foundation.
He retired in 1988 to take up freelance curating, teaching, writing, lecturing.