Turner, Evan H.

Person

Staff Only

Biography

Evan H. Turner (born 1927), an art historian and scholar, was the Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1964 to 1978, leading the Museum through a period of significant growth and transformation. He created new art departments for American and 20th Century Art, and the innovative Department of Urban Outreach (DUO) to promote art across the City of Philadelphia. These progressive activities were matched by a groundbreaking exhibition in 1973, the Marcel Duchamp retrospective, which drew upon significant scholarship and assembled virtually the entire oeuvre of one of the most important artists represented in the Museum. In 1975, Turner led the Museum in a major construction project to install a new climate control system in the building, and in 1976, he helped plan the United States’ Bicentennial and the PMA’s Centennial celebrations. Turner was an active member of a number of professional organizations, as well as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Directors Exhibition Records

Collection

Identifier: EXH

Abstract The Directors Exhibition Records of the Philadelphia Museum of Art contain documentation of exhibition activities at the museum. These records are not a comprehensive account of exhibitions held by the museum, but an ongoing file produced by the executive office in the course of administering exhibitions between 1915 and 1981. Museum directors during this period included Edwin AtLee Barber, Langdon Warner, Fiske Kimball, Henri Marceau, Evan Turner, and Jean Sutherland Boggs. Additional...

Dates: 1915-1983

Found in: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives / Directors Exhibition Records

Evan H. Turner Records

Collection

Identifier: TUR

Abstract Evan H. Turner was an art historian, scholar, and Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1964 to 1978. A mix of correspondence, inter-office memoranda, reports, minutes and other records document Turner’s role in the museum’s growth and transformation during that time, as well as exhibition and event planning, and the daily operations of the museum. The collection also reflects Turner’s work with professional organizations, his efforts to help the city of Philadelphia to plan...

Dates: 1964-1978

Found in: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives / Evan H. Turner Records

Filtered By

Subject: Exhibitions X