James N. Wood

James Nowell Wood (March 20, 1941 – June 11, 2010) was an American museum director who spent 25 years as head of the Art Institute of Chicago and later served as head of the J. Paul Getty Trust, starting in 2006.

Biography Wood was born in Boston, Massachusetts. on March 20, 1941. He earned a bachelor's degree from Williams College with a major in art history and earned a master's degree from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. Early in his career, Wood worked at positions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and served for six years as the director of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

At the Art Institute of Chicago starting in the early 1980s, Wood conducted a major expansion of its collection and oversaw a major renovation and expansion project for its facilities. As "one of the most respected museum leaders in the country", as described by The New York Times, Wood created major exhibitions of works by Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh that set records for attendance at the museum.

Wood died of natural causes at age 69 on June 11, 2010, at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Emese Forizs, as well as by two daughters and four grandchildren.