The J. Paul Getty Trust has appointed Glenn D. Lowry, the former director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and Lionel M. Sauvage, a French philanthropist and collector, to its board of trustees. Both will begin as trustees in 2026.
“It’s an honor and delight to welcome Glenn and Lionel to Getty’s Board of Trustees. Both have a lifelong commitment to the arts, and deep and varied experience. Their contributions will benefit Getty in countless ways,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of Getty, said in a statement. “Having known and seen each of them in action over several years, I look forward to what they will bring to Getty as we work to transform our visitor experience and expand our global reach.”
Lowry stepped down as director of MoMA in September, bringing to a close a 30-year tenure that made him the longest-serving leader in the institution’s history. Lowry shepherded MoMA through several major evolutions, including two renovations and one expansion.
The 2019 expansion, which increased MoMA’s area to 708,000 square feet, was accompanied by an influential rehang of the collection that broke barriers between art, architecture, dance, film, and other historically siloed disciplines. His accomplishments also include the merging of PS1, a contemporary art space in a former Long Island City school, with MoMA. He serves on the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s board of directors, and sits on the advisory boards of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the Mori Art Museum, and the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.
French American financier and collector Liones Sauvage has held leadership roles in numerous cultural institutions, including the American Friends of the Louvre and London’s Wallace Collection. Sauvage currently serves as chairman of Les Arts Décoratif, the French nonprofit that includes the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée Nissim de Camondo, and the Ecole Camondo, a leading school of design and interior design in Paris.
A specialist in 18th-century French art, he has loaned works from his collection to exhibitions at Domaine de Chantilly. He was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters and a Knight of the Order of Merit in recognition of his patronage.
As of 2023, the J. Paul Getty Trust has an endowment of $8.59 billion, making it the wealthiest art trust in the world. It supports the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Conservation Institute.
