Norris Embry

Thomas Messer - Biographical sketch

1920
Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

1924
Family moved to Prague

1926 - 1939
Czech elementary school, German high school ;Graduation from Czechoslovak industrial school ;

1938
Qualified for exchange scholarship to the United States under the auspices of the Institute of International Education, New York

1939
Departed for the United States Undergraduate studies at Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania.

1941 – 1942
Undergraduate studies at Boston University, Massachusetts

1943
Employment at Office of War Information, New York (multilingual monitor)

1944
Enlisted in the US Army ; became US citizen

1944 – 1945
Overseas combat duty

1945 – 1947
Overseas service with the US Military Government, Munich, Germany;

1947
Enrollment at the Sorbonne University, Paris, France - diploma - Cours de la civilisation française ; return to the United States

1948
Marriage to Remedio Garcia Villa

1949
Director, Roswell Museum, Roswell, New Mexico

1950 – 1951
Leave of absence for enrollment at Harvard University ; studies in art history and museology ; graduate Masters of Arts

1952 – 1956
Director, American Federation of Arts, New York

1956 – 1961
Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts

1961 – 1988
Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

1981 – 1988
Director, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Comprising the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy

1988
Retired from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

1989
Appointed Director Emeritus

1990
Continued involvement with cultural institutions; Curating, teaching, writing and lecturing on a free-lance basis

THOMAS MESSER
circa 1960's