The Government of Jamaica has paid tribute to former curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica, Dr David Boxer, who died on May 28, describing him as “an authority on Jamaican art”.
“Under David Boxer’ s visionary leadership, the National Gallery of Jamaica became a world-class art museum and a model that has been emulated in the Caribbean,” Culture Minister, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, said in a release.
Boxer died following a long illness. Grange said he would be remembered as a “pioneering scholar and curator of Jamaican art… [a] passionate collector whose contributions to visual art in Jamaica are immeasurable. If ever one person was an authority on Jamaican art, it was David Boxer. Jamaican art was his life,” she said.
Boxer joined the National Gallery as director/curator on December 2, 1975. Among his major achievements was the development of its collection, which started with 250 paintings and sculptures that were inherited from the Institute of Jamaica in 1974.Boxer was also a lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.
