Longtime High Museum director dies at 87

Published 10:39 am Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Gudmund Vigtel, who oversaw the High Museum of Art in Atlanta for nearly three decades, has died. He was 87.

Vigtel died Saturday, the museum said in a statement. He served as the museum’s director from 1963 to 1991.

Vigtel, better known as “Vig,” handled everything from curating to working with volunteers during his early years as director.

He helped triple the size of the museum’s permanent collection and established more than $15 million in endowment and trust funds, officials said.

During his tenure, the museum’s staff increased from four to 150 people. He also pushed for construction of the museum’s Richard Meier-designed building, which opened in 1983.

Vigtel “led the museum out of a shadow and into the sunlight,” Meier said in a statement.

In the early 1960s, shortly after the Atlanta area’s population reached one million, civic leaders embarked on an effort to build up the city’s museums and performing arts venues in an effort to continue the growth.

As part of that broader effort, a group of 106 Atlantans — including company executives, politicians, volunteers and artists — traveled to Paris. They were returning to Atlanta when their Air France chartered plane crashed on takeoff at Orly Field in Paris, killing all but two flight attendants.

The crash was devastating for the High Museum and all of Atlanta’s arts community.

“He led the High from a period of austere and challenging circumstances following the Orly tragedy, through the triumphant opening of the Richard Meier designed building in October of 1983. In so doing, he put Atlanta and the High on the world cultural map for the first time,” according to a statement from Michael Shapiro, director of the High Museum of Art.

John Wieland, a museum board member, said “there are plenty of museum directors across the country who do an outstanding job of running their museums. There are not many museum directors who actually create a museum, as Vig did.”

In lieu of flowers, museum officials said donations may be made in memory of Gudmund Vigtel to Hospice Atlanta or to the High Museum of Art’s Gudmund Vigtel Memorial Fund at: The Gudmund Vigtel Memorial Fund, c/o The Office of the Director, High Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, GA 30309.