Curator’s Biography
Thomas Kren is the curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles. Kren began his career at the Getty in 1980 as the associate curator
of paintings. In 1983 he was instrumental in establishing the Getty’s collection
of illuminated manuscripts with the purchase of the renowned collection of
Peter and Irene Ludwig of Aachen, Germany. Since 1984 he has served as curator
of the manuscript collection, adding nearly one hundred works and doubling
its size. A specialist in Netherlandish art, in recent decades Kren has focused
on late medieval Flemish and French manuscript illumination. With Scot McKendrick
he organized the exhibition Illuminating the Renaissance:
The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (2003-2004), which was recognized by
Apollo magazine as the exhibition of the year for 2004. With Mark Evans,
Kren has organized A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The
Hours of Louis XII (2005-2006),
concerning a long-lost book of hours illuminated by Jean Bourdichon around
the time of Louis XII’s accession to the throne. Kren holds a B. A. (1972)
from Oberlin College and an M.A. and Ph.D. (1978) from Yale University in
the History of Art.
General Information
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times
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and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through
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at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.
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