Art collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund has passed away at the age of 87.
Gund played a major role at several New York City museums and arts institutions, but was perhaps best known for her time as president of the Museum of Modern Art, where she oversaw the museum’s massive expansion back in 2004.
Her work and advocacy impacted countless New Yorkers.
“Aggie actually is the number one philanthropist of art and art collecting. She was the barometer of how to collect, what to collect, where to collect,” Tsipi Ben-Haim, the founder of the nonprofit CITYarts, Inc., said in an interview with NY1.
Ben-Haim said Gund believed art could and should change lives. She added that Gund’s early support 36 years ago allowed her to create her nonprofit, which brings kids together to create public art in communities across the city.
“She looked at me, said, Good, sit down, start writing.’ She took her Rolodex out, and went card by card, and said, ‘Write this name and that number. Call them. Say Aggie Gund sent you.’ That was enough to really start to start my way — my path with CITYarts. The doors opened immediately. It was magical,” Ben-Haim said.
Gund was also the founder of Studio in a School. After massive cuts to arts education in public schools in the 1970s, Gund founded the organization in 1977 to bring professional artists to teach art in public schools, and that continues to this day.
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