Founder of ORIGINS

Michael DeMarsche received his Ph.D. in art history from Stanford University, where he was a doctoral student of the eminent Géricault scholar Lorenz Eitner. He was granted admission to the Musée du Louvre to conduct his dissertation research on the drawings of Théodore Géricault. He has taught at colleges and universities and has served as executive director of five museums—three of them as founding director. He has overseen the construction of four award-winning museum buildings and built institutions from the ground up: vision, boards, fundraising, construction, and operation.

ORIGINS is the result of forty years of work dedicated to art, museums, and education. ORIGINS is not another museum of record. It is an institute devoted to the direct encounter with form—and to building a sanctuary in which that encounter can take place naturally.