This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Summary:
The papers of Kenworth Moffett measure 0.6 linear feet and date from circa 1959 to 1988. The papers document Moffett's career as a critic and curator through correspondence, slides and photographs of works of art by artists who were subjects of Moffet's research, notes, teaching material from his time at Wellesley College, and unpublished papers written by colleagues and students.
Citation:
Kenworth Moffett papers, circa 1959-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biography Note:
Kenworth Moffett (1934-2016) was an art critic, curator, and art museum director in Massachusetts and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Moffett studied art history at Columbia University and earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1968. A champion of Color Field painting, he wrote critical essays and reviews for major art periodicals including Artforum and Art International throughout the late 1960s to 1970s.
From 1968 to 1979, Moffett was a professor of art history at Wellesley College. In 1971, he was made founding curator of twentieth-century art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where he organized exhibitions of sculptor Anthony Caro and painters Jules Olitski, Barnet Newman, and Friedel Dzubas. He also curated the first museum exhibition of realist Albert York. In 1989, Moffett was appointed director of the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, where he remained until 1997. Moffett died in 2016.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Donated by Lucy Baker, former wife of Kenworth Moffett, 1993.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
