Judy Goffman CutlerMuseum Director/Curator of American Illustration
Judy Goffman Cutler, Co-Founder/COO of the National Museum of American Illustration, is founder and Executive Director of the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC, the premier gallery showcasing major original artworks from the 'Golden Age of American Illustration'. The NMAI's American Imagist Collection includes: Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, Elizabeth Shippen Green, NC Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Jessie Willcox Smith, Howard Chandler Christy, JC Leyendecker, Violet Oakley, James Montgomery Flagg, Charles Dana Gibson and many others. Judy is Co-Founder and Advisory Director to ARTShows and Products, Corp. (ASaP) and is Co-Founder of The Alliance for Art and Architecture LLC.
Following graduation with two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Fine Arts and American Civilization and a Masters of Science in Education, Judy began her career as an art dealer/collector by recognizing the value and significance of American illustration as an important part of our national heritage and a significant part of the fine arts spectrum. Judy was an early collector of original poster art, magazine covers, sketches and memorabilia and then later art prints, advertising art and limited edition prints of the greatest artists of the period now known as ‘The Golden Age of American Illustration.’ From those early beginnings she sought the original paintings, and she found them.
Judy Cutler is an Art Dealer and Collector, a Museum Founder and Connoisseur, she has authored and co-authored over sixty exhibition catalogues and art books published by Bison Books/Crescent Books, Brompton Books, Gramercy Books, Harry N. Abrams, Pomegranate Artbooks, Random House, Regency House International, Thunder Bay Press, Wellfleet Press, and others.
Laurence S. Cutler AIA RIBAChairman/CEO
Laurence S Cutler, Co-Founder/CEO of the National Museum of American Illustration, is founder of The Alliance for Art and Architecture LLC, and Advisory Director to the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC, the nation’s leading illustration art gallery.
Following graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Laurence Cutler received two graduate degrees from Harvard University in both architecture and urban design. In 1966, he founded ECODESIGN International Inc., an interdisciplinary ecology-based consultancy of architects, engineers, planners, environmental planners, and subsequently formed subsidiary companies in Europe, Africa, South America and the Middle East. In 1972, Mr. Cutler's firm ECODESIGN was acquired by Combustion Engineering Inc., now ABB (Sweden) on the NYSE. As President, he built his division into a 1,750 person professional services group with 37 offices in 7 countries. Mr. Cutler later reacquired ECODESIGN to regain its independent status in order to undertake private real estate ventures. In 1980, he established The Cutler-Stephens Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing funding for childhood cancer, leukemia and AIDS research.
An Architect-Urban Designer, Museum Founder, Author, Advertising Executive, Real Estate Developer, and a former Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard University, MIT, and the Rhode Island School of Design, he authored many books on art, architecture, urban design and poetry published by Bison Books/Crescent Books, Brompton Books, Cahners Books International, Grammercy Books, Harry N. Abrams Publishing, the MIT Press, McGraw-Hill, Pomegranate Artbooks, Random House, Regency House International, Thunder Bay Press, Van Nostrand Reinhold, and Wellfleet Press.
The NAC was founded in 1898 (same year Vernon Court was built) by Charles de Kay, literary critic for the New York Times to stimulate public interest in the arts and to foster a creative association between artists and art lovers. Among the one thousand charter members were some of the foremost collectors, sculptors, painters, musicians, patrons, and architects at the turn of the century, including J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Stanford White, Victor Herbert, Ceclia Beaux, and Frederic Remington.
Many founding charter members of the NAC had Newport connections: Thomas Hastings & John Carrére, architects of Vernon Court; Honorable William Watts Sherman and Honorable George Wetmore, owners of adjacent properties to Vernon Court; John La Farge; Cornelius Vanderbilt, owner of The Breakers; and George Ruggles, developer of Gramercy Park in NYC (Ruggles Avenue bounds the NMAI's Frederick Law Olmstead Park).
Women were offered full membership from the beginning, reflecting the Club's progressive outlook. Located in the former residence of Samuel J. Tilden on Gramercy Park, the National Arts Club continues to maintain working studios and residences for writers and artists. It also bestows numerous awards, grants, and scholarships, and hosts a variety of exhibits and events relating to a wide spectrum of the arts. On July 29, 2010, on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary of being open to the public, at a Gala Event, the NMAI honored the National Arts Club along with actress-entertainer Whoopi Goldberg and author Tom Wolfe, with its American Civilization Awards for their contributions to Popular American Culture.
