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Name: Powell, Earl
Current Position: Chairman
Earl A. Powell III was named Chairman by the Commission in May, 2005. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1966 with a double major in Art History and European History. He joined the U.S. Navy, serving as an officer until 1969, and was in the Naval Reserve from 1976 until 1980. In 1970 Powell received his Master’s degree from Harvard, where he was a Teaching Fellow in Fine Arts from 1970 to 1974. In 1974 he also earned a PhD from Harvard, his fields of expertise including 19th and 20th century European and American art. From 1974 to 1976, at the University of Texas at Austin, he was Curator of the Michener Collection, and Assistant Professor of Art History. After that, he was a Curator, Senior Staff Assistant to the Assistant Director and Chief Curator, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., from 1976 to 1978. From 1979 to 1980 Powell was the Executive Curator at the National Gallery and from 1980 to 1992 he was the Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 1992 Powell has been the Director of the National Gallery of Art. He has published several works, including a monograph on the 19th century American artist Thomas Cole.
