Louise Averill Svendsen records

Collection Overview

Louise Averill Svendsen (LAS) was born on November 22, 1915 in Old Town, Maine to Albert Guy Averill and Louise Pierce Averill. LAS had a brother and a sister: Roswell Averill and Caroline Averill Rogers. LAS received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1949 and continued her studies in art history at Yale University. LAS earned M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University, writing her dissertation on John Vanderlind, a 19th-century American painter. In 1950, LAS married Thoralf Svendsen, 1909-1984, a Norwegian diplomat. LAS died of natural causes on January 3, 1994.

LAS was an art historian and curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (SRGM). In the 1940's and early 50's, LAS taught art history at Duke University, Goucher College, and American University. James Johnson Sweeney, the second director at the SRGM, hired LAS as a lecturer in 1954. LAS successively served as an Assistant Curator, Curator, and Senior Curator in the Curatorial Department of the SRGM until 1982. From 1983 to 1994, LAS was Curator Emeritus at the SRGM and also served as a consultant at Sotheby's in the Department of Impressionist and Modern Paintings.

As a curator at the SRGM, LAS organized varied exhibitions including: "Edvard Munch Exhibition" (1965); "Ilya Bolotowsky" (1974); "Alberto Giacometti Retrospective" (1974); "Klee at the Guggenheim Museum" (1977); and a show titled "Rousseau, Redon, and Fantasy" (1968). In addition to exhibition catalogs, LAS wrote "Paul Klee, 1879-1940: In the Collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum" (1977). Moreover, LAS built up the foundation of research functions of the SRGM including the SRGM library and archives. LAS was decorated Knight 1st Class Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Swedish Order of the Polar Star.

Chronology

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