J(ohn) Carter Brown

Museum director, born in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He studied at Harvard (1956 BA; 1958 MBA), at Munich University (with Bernard Berenson) (1958), at the Netherlands Institute of Art History (1960), and at New York University (1962 MA). As the director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1969–92), he presided over a period of great expansion in the museum's exhibitions and public presence by creating so-called blockbuster exhibitions that attracted huge audiences. From 1971 to 2002 he was chair of the US Commission of Fine Arts.

John Carter Brown (1797-1874) was a book collector whose library formed the basis of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Collecting American books in the mid-19th century, Brown amassed thousands of early American volumes. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art.