October 6, 2009

Dear Friend,

It is with great pleasure that I write to thank you for your continued support and interest in The Museum of Modern Art. This has been a challenging year, to say the least, but it has also been a remarkably productive one—one that would not have been possible without your generosity and belief in the Museum and its mission. Despite the difficult economy, in the fiscal year that ended in June the Museum was able to acquire a number of important artworks that have greatly enriched our collections; to present nearly thirty critically acclaimed exhibitions; to dramatically enhance MoMA.org, recently identified as the foremost museum website in the world by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation; and to welcome a record 2.8 million visitors to the Museum as well as another fifteen million to MoMA.org and the MoMA Stores.

Over the past year the Museum acquired approximately 4,750 works of art through gift and purchase. Highlights include the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection, which brought three thousand prints, multiples, and drawings from this important art movement to the Museum; a bequest of nearly sixty rare examples of nineteenth-century photography from the Suzanne Winsberg Collection; and thirty-nine photographs by Richard Avedon, which more than doubled MoMA’s collection of the artist’s work. Selections from both photography acquisitions are now on view, and the Fluxus Collection, which also includes extensive reference materials, will soon be made available for exhibitions and scholarly research. A complete listing of the Museum’s acquisitions over the past year will be available at MoMA.org on November 1.

Exhibitions throughout the last fiscal year celebrated the work of highly influential artists including Marlene Dumas, James Ensor, León Ferrari, Aernout Mik, Pipilotti Rist, and Mira Schendel; illuminated unique aspects of artists’ oeuvres, such as Vincent van Gogh’s depictions of night and twilight scenes; and explored such compelling topics as the past, present, and future of the prefabricated home. Ongoing exhibition series—including Projects, New Photography, Artist’s Choice, and the new Performance Exhibition Series—brought a wide array of contemporary art to the Museum’s galleries, and collection-based exhibitions introduced new acquisitions and gave visitors fresh looks at MoMA’s holdings. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center continued its innovative program, including the annual Young Architects Program competition.

One of the Museum's most rewarding challenges continues to be the research and development of programs and materials that actively engage visitors of varied backgrounds, interests, and learning styles. This year's education initiatives focused on enhancing the visitor experience both on-site and online. MoMA.org, completely redesigned in March, now offers a more interactive experience and access to over 30,000 collection works; and MoMA continues to increase its social-media presence through its Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr channels. Enhanced pages for Education, Membership, and Publications will soon be available, as well as a mobile-friendly version of the site. MoMA Monday Nights—which along with this summer’s MoMA Thursday Nights allowed visitors to enjoy the Museum after hours—gave visitors even fur ther access to MoMA’s collections and exhibitions.

With attendance and membership levels holding steady and strict budget controls in place, MoMA aims to present an exciting program throughout the very demanding year ahead while maintaining a stable financial base. Opening in the next twelve months are exhibitions devoted to Gabriel Orozco, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Marina Abramović, William Kentridge, and Tim Burton, as well as a major exploration of the Bauhaus movement. At P.S.1, don’t miss 1969, a look back at the defining year of a period marked by tumult, featuring works drawn from virtually all areas of MoMA’s collection.

Your support is absolutely essential to all of these efforts and provides the crucial funding that allows MoMA to remain an important resource for art-lovers from all walks of life. We cannot thank you enough for making all of this possible.

With best wishes,

Glenn D. Lowry
Director