Posted: April 29, 2010

Jan van der Marck: At the
DIA, ex-curator visionary

BY MARK STRYKER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Jan van der Marck, the Dutch-born former
curator of 20th-Century art and chief curator at
the Detroit Institute of Arts, died Monday at his
home in Huntington Woods after a long illness.
He was 80.

Mr. Van der Marck, who worked at the DIA from
1986 until 1995, left an important mark on the
museum.

He organized thematic shows featuring
important contemporary artists like Nancy
Graves and Mel Bochner, and he championed
Michigan artists with substantive exhibitions like
"Interventions" (1995), which paired works by
homegrown artists with DIA treasures that
inspired them.

In a period of financial hardship, Mr. Van der
Marck also secured sponsorship to bring to the
DIA a large traveling show devoted to the 20th-
Century French sculptor Arman. He also helped
funnel new works into the collection by James
Rosenquist, Francois Morellet, Richard
Poussette-Dart, Arman, Lucio Pozzi and others.

Mr. Van der Marck added credibility to the DIA's
contemporary art profile through his track
record as a scholar and writer, his avant-garde
sympathies and connections to living artists,
particularly Europeans.

"He filled in gaps with European artists often
omitted in museums where the accepted line is
that the center of modern art moved to America
with abstract expressionism," said DIA curator
emeritus Michael Kan. "He bridged the gap
between America and Europe in a way you could
only do if you had a foot in each continent."

Mr. Van der Marck was born in Roermond,
Netherlands. He received a PhD from the
University of Nijmegen in Holland and also
studied at Columbia University in New York.

He was curator at the Walker Art Center in
Minneapolis, before serving as founding director
of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago
in 1967-70. Prior to joining the DIA, he was
director of the Center for the Fine Arts in Miami.

At the DIA, he was elevated to chief curator in
1988. His tenure came to a controversial end
when he ran afoul of rules requiring Detroit
residency for city employees, as DIA workers
were then classified. Mr. Van der Marck listed a
city apartment as his primary residence but
acknowledged spending most nights at the
Huntington Woods home owned by his wife.

Mr. Van der Marck was vindicated by a 1997
ruling by a Wayne County judge in his favor. He
received back pay as part of a financial
settlement.

Mr. Van der Marck is survived by his wife, Sheila;
stepson Joshua Pollack; two brothers and three
sisters. Final arrangements are private.