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Grace Morley
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Grace Morley
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Grace Louise McCann Morley (née Grace Louise McCann; November 3, 1900 – January 8, 1985) was an American art historian, curator and museologist of global influence.[1] She was the first director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (formerly the San Francisco Museum of Art) and held the position for 23 years starting in 1935. In an interview with Thomas Tibbs, she is credited with being a major force in encouraging young American artists.[2] The government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan, its third highest civilian award, in 1982.[3]

Key Information

Early life and education

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Grace Louise McCann was born in 1900, in Berkeley, California, US. She had health issues that isolated her from other children and led her parents to try different local climate zones, settling in St. Helena, California, in 1909, where she finally started school by age 10.[4] She excelled in school and was an exceptional student. Her high school, St. Helena High School, did not offer French classes, therefore, she decided to teach herself French.[4] She also developed an early interest in art history, but when she studied at the University of California, Berkeley, there were virtually no classes in the subject, so she majored in French and Greek. In 1923, she wrote her master's thesis at UC Berkeley in French on the poetics of Aristotle.[4]

Morley studied French literature at University of California, Berkeley, receiving a master's degree in 1923, and earned a doctorate in art and literature from the University of Paris in 1926. In 1929 she attended a Harvard University summer session in art history connected with the Fogg Art Museum.[4]

Career

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Cincinnati

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From 1927 to 1930 she taught advanced French at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. Her experience at Harvard University led to her hiring as general curator at the Cincinnati Museum of Art in 1930, working under museum director Walter Siple.[1][5]

San Francisco

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In December 1934, she was hired as the curator of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, slated to open in early 1935.[6] Eventually her title changed to director. In her first years at the museum, she organized exhibitions dedicated to Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse. By the 1940s and '50s she was holding 100 shows per year, many from the New York MoMA and Peggy Guggenheim's gallery in Manhattan. She also established the first gallery tours for any museum in the West as well as art history courses, a public art library, an art rental gallery, the first film program at an American museum—"Art in Cinema"—, and the television series Art in Your Life.[7]

She was second vice-president, American Federation of Arts, 1939; counsellor for arts at the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, 1941; a member of the Committee of the Fine Arts Buildings of the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, and director of Pacific House 1940, a member of the Committee of Experts on the Arts, State Department, 1940–1945.

Between 1946 and 1949, she took leave from the San Francisco Museum of Art, and became consultant for museums at UNESCO Preparatory Commission in Germany, and then as the head of its Museums Division as a consultant with French, American, and British authorities.[5] She helped with theft and the return of multiple artworks. In 1949, she returned to San Francisco as a popular art star. Due to her fame and travels to Brazil, Chile, and Greece, the San Francisco Museum of Art became very well known across the world.

Morley was outspoken about the gender discrepancies within the field of museum studies, and in 1955 she published an interview on the subject.[8]

However, in 1958, she decided to leave San Francisco along with her ties to the museum due to disagreements with the board of directors. "After being forced to leave S.F. in 1958, she cut off ties with most of her friends and colleagues in the Bay Area, which is one reason her memory has been somewhat buried", Morley scholar Kristy Phillips wrote in a 2006 email on ArtsJournal.com. "She felt betrayed here by the museum and its trustees and at one point declared that she wanted to forget S.F. completely."[9]

Time magazine wrote about her in her twentieth year with the museum,[10] and again on her resignation in 1958.[11] Her resignation was also published in the San Francisco Examiner.[12]

New Delhi

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In 1959, she served as the assistant director of the Guggenheim Museum before she decided to move to India.[1] She moved to New Delhi, India in 1960, and remained there until her death. She was the founder director of the National Museum of India in New Delhi starting on August 8, 1960, and remained at the role until 1966.[13] In India, under the supervision of Prime Minister Jawawarlal Nehru she opened the country's first major art museum.[1] She was awarded the Padma Bhushan award by the Indian government, which is given to civilians who have contributed greatly in a specific line of work that is valued in India. In her case, it was due to her knowledge in art history and expertise on museums.

She was active in the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and was the head of the ICOM Regional Agency for South and South-East Asia from 1967 to 1978. She authored a number of articles on contemporary art, and on Latin American civilizations, and was the subject of a book edited by Dipa Chaudhuri.[14]

Personal life and death

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In June 1933, she married S. Griswold Morley (1878–1970), a professor of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley.[15][16][17] The marriage did not last long (it became clear that she was a lesbian), but it positioned her when the San Francisco Museum of Art board was looking for a curator.[18]

For the last twenty years of her life, she shared an apartment with a retired Indian Air Force officer and his wife, who became her Indian family, and it was there she died at the age of 84.[19] They believe she had converted to Buddhism at some point in time. At the time of her death Morley's body was cremated in the Indian tradition, and her ashes immersed in a holy river.

Honors and awards

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Morley received honorary doctorates from Mills College, Smith College and California College of Arts and Crafts, and she was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.[1][20]

Memorials

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Research fellowships in her honor are awarded by ICOM India Trust each year.[21][22][23] The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has established the Grace McCann Morley Legacy Society for donors who provide for the museum in their estate plans.[24]

In India, the National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology holds an annual Dr. Grace Morley Memorial Seminar.

Visual artist Andrea Geyer produced an exhibition and performance devoted to Morley's legacy at SFMOMA in 2017.[25][26]

Berit Potter, assistant professor of art history/museum and gallery practices at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, wrote a book about Morley's impact on the development of modern art in California and role as an early advocate for global perspectives in the study of contemporary art called, Widely Curious: Grace McCann Morley and the Origins of Global Contemporary Art.[27][28]

Bibliography

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Grace Morley

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from Grokipedia
Grace McCann Morley (October 3, 1900 – January 8, 1985) was an American museum director and art administrator known for her pioneering role as the founding director of the San Francisco Museum of Art (now the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) from 1935 to 1958, where she established it as a leading West Coast institution dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary art. She championed avant-garde artists and movements, introduced European modernism and emerging American abstract expressionists to wide audiences, and promoted "cultural democracy" by making contemporary art accessible through innovative exhibitions, extended public hours, and extensive educational outreach programs. Born in 1900 in Berkeley, California, Morley earned a bachelor's degree in French and Greek from the University of California, Berkeley, and later a doctorate in French literature from the Sorbonne in Paris, where exposure to major modern artists shaped her vision. She began her museum career as a curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum before accepting the directorship in San Francisco, where she mounted dozens of exhibitions annually, including early solo shows for artists such as Arshile Gorky, Clyfford Still, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko. Her programs reached diverse communities, from labor unions and military personnel to rural audiences, through extension initiatives and early television broadcasts on art. After retiring from the museum in 1958, Morley extended her influence globally, serving as head of UNESCO's Museum Division, contributing to the early development of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and later leading ICOM's Regional Agency for South and Southeast Asia while advising on museum development in India. Her work bridged American and international art communities, overcoming geographic and cultural barriers to advance modern art's role in public life.

Early life

Birth and background

Grace McCann Morley was born on November 3, 1900, in Berkeley, California. Little detailed information is publicly available about her family background or childhood beyond her California origins. She studied French literature at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a B.A. in 1923 and an M.A. in 1924. She continued her studies in Paris, receiving a Ph.D. in French literature and art from the Sorbonne in 1926. Her time in Paris provided her first comprehensive exposure to major modern artists and movements, including works by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Raoul Dufy.

Career

Early career

Grace McCann Morley began her professional career in art and museums after earning her bachelor's degree in French and Greek from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in French literature and art from the Sorbonne in Paris. She taught French and later art history at Goucher College in Baltimore and attended Paul Sachs’s museum professionals course at Harvard. In 1930, she became a curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum, where she gained experience before returning to California in 1933.

Director of the San Francisco Museum of Art (1935–1958)

In January 1935, Morley was appointed the first director of the newly opened San Francisco Museum of Art (now SFMOMA), the only West Coast institution dedicated to modern art at the time. She served for 23 years, transforming it into a leading center for modern and contemporary art. She organized a high volume of exhibitions—70 in the first year and often 74–100 annually—featuring European modernists like Matisse, Picasso (including a 1939–1940 retrospective with Guernica), and emerging American abstract expressionists with early solo shows for Arshile Gorky (1941), Clyfford Still (1943), Jackson Pollock (1945), Robert Motherwell (1946), and Mark Rothko (1946). Morley championed accessibility and "cultural democracy" through innovations such as late hours (until 10 p.m. six days a week starting 1935), extensive educational programs (gallery lectures, art courses, community outreach to labor unions and scouts), extension exhibitions reaching rural areas (funded by Carnegie grants 1937–1940), and early television series Art in Your Life (later Discovery) on local stations. During World War II, she offered art classes for military personnel and therapy programs with the Red Cross. She also maintained significant space for Bay Area artists and circulated exhibitions regionally through the Western Association of Art Museum Directors (president 1937–1940).

International contributions and later work

From 1946–1949, on leave from SFMA, Morley served as a consultant and then head of UNESCO's Museums Division, contributing to postwar artwork restitution and international museum standards. She helped found the International Council of Museums (ICOM). After resigning from SFMA in 1958, she briefly served as assistant director at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1960, she moved to India to found and direct the National Museum of India in New Delhi. From 1967–1978, she headed ICOM's Regional Agency for South and Southeast Asia, advising on museum development across the region. She remained active in museology until her death in New Delhi in 1985.

Filmography

Grace McCann Morley has no known credits in film, television acting, writing, casting, or related roles. The previous content in this section pertained to a different individual sharing the name Grace Morley and has been removed as it does not apply to the subject of this article.

Personal life

Personal details

Grace Morley, full name Grace Louise McCann Morley, was born on November 3, 1900, in Berkeley, California. Little is publicly documented about her family life or personal relationships, as biographical sources focus primarily on her professional career in museums and art administration.

Later years

Morley lived in New Delhi, India, for the last 24 years of her life. She died on January 8, 1985, in New Delhi, at age 84.

Legacy and recognition

Areas of limited information

Although much of Grace Morley's professional career as a pioneering museum director and advocate for modern art is well documented through oral histories, period articles, and institutional records, several aspects of her biography remain sparsely covered in available sources. Her early childhood receives only brief attention, primarily noting health-related challenges that led to family relocation from Berkeley to St. Helena in Napa County, where she grew up as the eldest of three children in a modest household supported by small property income. Beyond basic family composition and her solitary early reading habits, few details emerge about her family dynamics or home life. The period following her 1926 doctorate in Paris through her 1930 appointment at the Cincinnati Art Museum is minimally addressed, with sources mentioning only her French literature teaching position at Goucher College from 1927 to 1930. Her brief tenure as assistant director at the Guggenheim Museum in 1959 is similarly mentioned only in passing. Personal life details are particularly limited, with accounts noting a short marriage to S. Griswold Morley in 1933 that ended in divorce but offering no further insight into relationships or private interests. Her later years in New Delhi after 1966, where she resided with a retired Indian Air Force officer and his wife described as her adopted "Indian family," appear in outline form but lack detailed personal narratives. Biographical sources consistently prioritize her institutional achievements and international museum contributions over intimate or non-professional dimensions of her life.

Awards and honors

Grace McCann Morley received several significant recognitions for her contributions to museology and modern art. In 1949, she was appointed Chevalier in the French Legion of Honour. She earned honorary doctorates from the University of California, California College of Arts and Crafts, Smith College, and Mills College. In 1982, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian honor, for her work in advancing museums in India. She also received the American Alliance of Museums' Award for Distinguished Service to Museums in 1983. Her legacy endures through institutions such as the Grace McCann Morley Legacy Society at SFMOMA, which honors donors supporting the museum's future, and ongoing programs like the Grace Morley Research Fellowships by ICOM India Trust.
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