Arts & Humanities
DIANNE PERRY VANDERLIP
Dianne Perry Vanderlip is the founding curator of modern and contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum. During her 29-year tenure, she raised the funds and support to build a world-class collection of more than 8,000 pieces including paintings, sculpture and photography.
Under her leadership, the Denver Art Museum was the first American institution to acquire works by major contemporary artists including Thomas Demand and Damien Hirst. She brought to Denver the works of significant artists such as Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and Frank Stella, and put Denver on the map as part of the international contemporary art scene. She facilitated the acquisition of paintings and drawings by acclaimed abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell and famed Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer. In addition to building the Museum’s collection, she was responsible for major exhibitions such as the James Rosenquist traveling retrospective as well as small but powerful shows devoted to Colorado artists.
Her superb curatorial expertise was showcased with the October 2006 opening of the Museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building where she oversaw the first permanent installation of modern and contemporary work at the DAM in more than 20 years. She was instrumental in the selection of Denver as the repository for more than 2,000 works by abstract expressionist Clyfford Still.
Active in her field, Dianne participated on numerous panels, boards and juries, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Getty Grant panels, and the Berlin Art Forum. She served on the board of the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia and was a member of the International Association of Art Critics.
Prior to coming to Denver, she was the founding director of the Moore College of Art Gallery in Philadelphia, where she organized the country’s first exhibition of artists’ books. She holds a B.A. from Ohio University and studied at Pratt Institute.
At her retirement from the Denver Art Museum in 2007, Dianne became curator emeritus, a title never before bestowed by the institution. News articles referred to her at the time as the most important and influential person in the Denver art world. Her legacy includes not only an important collection of modern and contemporary art, but also lasting friendships that stretch from gallery owners in Berlin to major artists in Los Angeles to art lovers and collectors throughout Colorado.