Art Museums Director to Resign in June

Citing the reopening of the Busch-Reisinger Museum in 1991 and the Fogg Art Museum's upcoming centennial as a perfect time for a transition in leadership, Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums Edgar P. Bowron yesterday announced that he will resign this June.

By the time of his departure, he said in a prepared statement, planning will have reached a point that is "ideal for a successor to lead the museums to the next stages in their development."

Bowron said in the statement that he based his decision to leave on the "need for both personal and professional renewal and replenishment."

"He has achieved a lot since he's been here," said Peter Nisbet, associate curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum. "He has really helped us focus on problems of all museums and university museums in particular."

President Derek C. Bok said in the statement that during his four years as director, Bowron has raised $6 million in endowments and $7.5 million to expand the facilities of the Harvard University Art Museum system, which includes the Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

And, said museum spokesperson Peter L. Walsh, Bowron has raised $900,000 for art publications.

The museums now have an endowment of about $80 million and a collection of over 140,000 art works. And according to Walsh, they rank among the world's top four university museums, rivaling Oxford, Cambridge and Yale.

Before coming to the University, Bowron served as director of the North Carolina Museum of Art and worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Walters Art Gallery inBaltimore and the Nelson Atkins Museum in KansasCity.

"Bowron has been everything possible inmuseum," said Walsh.

Walsh said the Overseer's Committee to Visitthe Art Museums will meet later this month toconvene a search committee.

Richard R. Larkin, assistant director fordevelopment in the Harvard University Art Museums,said a new director would be guided by a recentlycompleted five-year review requested by Bok.

"The first problem to come up before the newdirector will probably be that of space in theFogg, including the physical plan and the climatecontrol systems," said Walsh.

"What has been the focus in the past five yearshas been putting the collection in shape andmaintaining a professional look, as well asseeking endowments for curatorships and generallyputting the museums down on sure footing," Walshsaid.

Bowron did not return repeated phone callsyesterday