Richard Armstrong
Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum
Richard Armstrong joined the executive staff in November 2008 as Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum. Armstrong focuses on the pivotal role of the New York museum and its collection while also providing leadership and management for the four other institutions in the Guggenheim network. He works with senior staff to fully maximize all aspects of the Foundation’s operations: permanent collections, exhibition programs, loans, acquisitions, documentation, scholarship, and conservation. Additionally, he works with the Foundation’s development department to build the collections by securing new sources of funding and pursuing global corporate development opportunities for both the Foundation and the New York museum.
Prior to his appointment, Armstrong was The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, where he had also served as Chief Curator and Curator of Contemporary Art. From 1981 to 1992, he was a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he organized four biennials, as well as exhibitions on Richard Artschwager’s work and The New Sculpture 1965–75. He previously served as a curator at La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California.
Armstrong, who grew up in Kansas City, MO, graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. He also studied at the Université de Paris, Sorbonne, and the Université de Dijon.