Houston Art Museum Dir.
Peter Marzio
Interview
Coming soon!
Notes from Evan Smith
"Considered a role model in fund raising, Peter Marzio is an author and director of the Fine Arts Museum, Houston.
The snappy-dresser took over the museum in 1982, when the museum's endowment was $26 million. Twenty years later he has raised the endowment to $300 million and raised an additional $237 million for the museum's expansion.
Marzio was raised by Italian uncles in New York City after his father died. He was his family's first high school graduate and won a football scholarship to tiny Juniata College, in Pennsylvania. A visit to Manhattan's Frick Collection, changed his life and he decided to study art.
Ultimately he received a doctorate in history and art history from the University of Chicago. Several museum positions led to the directorship of the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and in 1982 the Museum of Fine Arts lured him to Houston.
He has coauthored many books about art and art works, including Texas Flags, a look at all the styles that made up the Texas flag we know today." - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 10.16.03
