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Elsa Longhauser is the founding executive director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), California, United States, formerly the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), where Longhauser served as director from 2000 until the museum ended operations in Bergamot Station in 2015. From 1983 until 2000, Longhauser served as director of the gallery at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

Longhauser is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Antioch College as a young woman. She married and had three children before completing her bachelor's degree in art history in 1971, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Longhauser was director of several galleries in Philadelphia early in her career. She organized an "important show" of outsider art at the Philadelphia College of Art in 1981. In 1993, Longhauser continued her interest in the genre when she organized a touring show of Terry Fox's work. In 1998, she was guest co-curator with Harald Szeemann at the Museum of American Folk Art for a "major traveling show" of works by self-taught American artists.

Elsa Longhauser became gallery director at Moore College of Art and Design in 1983; during her tenure there, she was called an "unsung hero of the local cultural scene". In 2000, Longhauser left Philadelphia and became director of the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

Founded in 1984 as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA) and reestablished in 2017 with a new identity and home in Downtown Los Angeles, ICA LA builds upon a distinguished history of bold curatorial vision and innovative programming to illuminate the important untold stories and emerging voices in contemporary art and culture. The museum's 12,700 square-foot renovated industrial building—designed by wHY Architecture under the leadership of Kulapat Yantrasast—features ample space for exhibitions, public programs, retail pop-ups, integrated offices, and special projects.

Personal life

Longhauser married Norman B. Weiner, a doctor, as her first husband; he died in 1977. She remarried in 1983, to William Longhauser, a graphic artist and college professor.

References

1. "Santa Monica Museum of Art: Staff and Board". Santa Monica Museum of Art. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
2. ^ Cheng, Scarlet (January 9, 2011). "For 10 years, Elsa Longhauser has put her own imprint on the Santa Monica Museum of Art". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
3. Sozanski, Edward (March 30, 2000). "Moore College's Gallery Director Leaving". Philly.com. Philadelphia Media Network, LLC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
4. ^ Suzanne Muchnic, "Champion of the Overlooked: The Santa Monica Museum's New Director Hopes to Make Room for Artists Who Haven't Yet Shown Up on the Radar" Los Angeles Times (June 18, 2000): 8.
5. Janet Tyson, "Fort Worth Museums Showcase Self-Taught Artists Who Defy Labels" Kerrville Daily Times (November 9, 1998): 5A. via Newspapers.com
6. Christopher Knight, "Making Magic from the Mundane: Terry Fox's Work is Spiritual with a Secular Slant" Los Angeles Times (January 23, 1994): 86.
7. Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An American Anthology" (March 10, 1998-May 17, 1998).
8. Tessa DeCarlo, "The Gallery: Drawings Lost and Found" Wall Street Journal (March 11, 1998): A18.
9. Edward Sozanski, "Bringing Art from Margins to the Center; As Gallery Director at Moore College of Art and Design, Elsa Longhauser is Attracting International Attention" Philly.com (January 9, 1991).
10. "About".
11. "Obituary: Norman Weiner" Pocono Record (December 5, 1977): 10. via Newspapers.com

Further reading

• Elsa Longhauser and Harald Szeemann, eds., Self-Taught Artists of the Twentieth Century: An American Anthology (Chronicle Books 1998). ISBN 9780811820998

• Living people
• People from Philadelphia
• Museum people