Barbara S. Moore

[written by Barbara S. Moore] BARBARA S. MOORE Passed away in Washington, DC, October 28, 2014, at 12:02 a.m., surrounded by her devoted husband Jonathon, adored daughters Maggie and Lucy, and beloved springer spaniel Robin. Born in Trenton, N.J. in 1948, Barbara graduated from Trenton High School, Vassar College (B.A. magna cum laude in art history), the Ecole du Louvre, the University of Michigan (M.A., art history) and George Washington University Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review. She never practiced law, however, instead devoting herself to museum education, which she considered a critical link between scholarship and the public mind. For fourteen years she was Curator of Education at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where she changed museum culture by sending full-color illustrated materials to teachers instead of photocopies, and by treating exhibitions with joint installation and interpretation planning. Barbara was one of the "three scouts" who brought the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition to the Corcoran in 1989. After the Corcoran's scorching rebuke for cancelling the exhibition, Barbara stole time on weekends over the next three years to write a dark parody of the political class's indefensible attack on homosexuality. She also played a key role in the interpretation of "The Black Image in Western Art" exhibition through labels, wall texts, music, and film that rested on passages from black speeches, letters, poems, and songs that challenged standard readings of race in the images on view. That interpretive program was one of the few education plans ever reviewed in "Art in America." From 1992 through 2013, Barbara served as both head of writing and deputy head of the Education Division at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. There, she launched a series of "One-Hour" sheets that offered short, penetrating notes on key works in various collection areas, creative family guides, and an array of content for the museum's web site. Though rarely away from the museum world, she delighted in vacations spent with family and friends at the tiny, historic house she and her husband rehabilitated in East Hampton, NY. Barbara was devoted to clarity in all aspects of life, and she was known for her love of Japanese and French-designed clothing. She wore flats with everything from jeans to evening gowns on the principle that comfort was the essential element of luxurious style. Born and raised without privilege, she always claimed that her education, art, and her family were the keys to her profoundly satisfying life. There was no greater joy for her than seeing her daughters claim their own directions in life, studying and volunteering all over the world. She hopes that those who valued her will honor her through gifts to their favorite education scholarship funds, to Planned Parenthood or to Heifer International.