Episode 02: Museum as a Cultural Embassy
Mark A. Roglán
Linda P. and William A. Custard Director, Meadows Museum
In this episode, I speak with Mark A Roglan, the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
We discuss his career path, projects, and the role of the Meadows’s status as a satellite embassy for Spanish culture.
Meadows Museum building with Santiago Calatrava’s Wave, 2002. Wave is the first large-scale sculpture by Santiago Calatrava to be permanently installed in the United States.
About the Meadows Museum:
The Meadows Museum is the leading U.S. institution focused on the study and presentation of the art of Spain. In 1962, Dallas businessman and philanthropist Algur H. Meadows donated his private collection of Spanish paintings, as well as funds to start a museum, to Southern Methodist University. The museum opened to the public in 1965, marking the first step in fulfilling Meadows’s vision to create “a small Prado for Texas.” Today, the Meadows is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The collection spans from the 10th to the 21st centuries and includes medieval objects, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, and major paintings by Golden Age and modern masters.
Meadows Museum: https://meadowsmuseumdallas.org
About Mark:
Dr. Mark A. Roglán is the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. He has been director of the Museum since January 1, 2006. He joined the Meadows Museum as the interim curator and adjunct assistant professor of art history in October 2001. He became curator of collections in January 2002 and senior curator in June 2004. He also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the Division of Art History at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts. Under his leadership the museum has increased its attendance; has developed a major program of international exhibitions; has created meaningful fellowships; produced insightful publications; constructed a new sculpture garden and outside spaces; made major acquisitions; formed new ways of educating and connecting with art for impaired people; as well as established strategic alliances with major museums, most importantly with the Museo Nacional del Prado. Before coming to the Meadows Museum, Dr. Roglán worked as a curatorial fellow and a research associate in the 19th-century painting and sculpture department of the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain. Prior to his tenure at the Prado, Dr. Roglán served as a drawings department assistant with the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. During the previous academic year, he studied at Tufts University through a Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Scholarship. Among other fellowships and honors, Dr. Roglán was awarded an Erasmus European Union Scholarship for a year-long study at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. Dr. Roglán received master's degrees in both world history and art history and a doctorate in 19th-and 20th-century art from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In 2013 he obtained an MBA from the Cox Business School at SMU. Dr. Roglán has contributed to many publications in the areas of19th-and 20th-century Spanish art, has given many national and international lectures, and has curated important exhibitions. He has many distinctions and awards, including being knighted with the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica, a knighthood sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I for his contributions to Spanish art.
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