Queer Places:
Museum of Modern Art, 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019
Allen Porter (October, 1902 - January 21, 1987) was for many years a curator at the Museum of Modern Art.
Born in October 1902 in Albion, New York, Porter attended School of Design (later, Institute of Design) from 1946-1949.
He worked as a reporter for the New York Herald from 1923 to 1924, and as Assistant to the Editor of Architectural Forum from 1925 to 1927. He left a career in graphic design at General Motors (1927-30) to join the Julien Levy Gallery, where he worked from 1931 to 1936. He joined the Museum of Modern Art's staff in 1937. He was exhibition and circulation director of its film library and had edited its Bulletin.
He was appointed assistant secretary in 1945. As Russell Lynes wrote in his 1973 book, The Good Old Modern, "There seems to have been no one intimately involved in the history of the Museum who was more universally liked and respected by all levels of the staff. I have encountered no one whose face does not brighten at the mention of his name." In December 1964 he retired to his home in Barrytown, New York, where, during the seventies, he was the author of several photography publications.
He died on January 21, 1987, at a nursing home in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He was 84 years old and lived in Barrytown, N.Y.
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