Gardner Museum Expansion | Fenway

[nova617]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Being one herself and being mentored by the great Berenson, Isabella aimed the presentation of her collection at the cognoscenti, not folks who need guide books.

An elitist concept, I know, but can't we let a little bit of that survive in our populist zeal?

Ideally, every work of art would be stored in airtight, lightless conditions to guarantee their preservation forever. Unfortunately, preservation (the primary mission of any such collection) costs money, so we have to charge the hoi polloi to see the pretties. Heck, if the Gardner were wealthy enough, I would personally prefer that they become a membership museum (like the Athenaeum) and simply publish catalogues of the collection for the general public. This brings up an interesting point: the vast majority of the great collections in the world were started and housed as personal possessions...the Louvre, the Uffizi, even the Met in New York did everything it could to keep out the riff-raff. It's a complex and fascinating issue, but the prevailing paradigm seems to favor the popularization (and profitability) of these institutions over purely intellectual and preservation-based concerns.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

It's a complex and fascinating issue, but the prevailing paradigm seems to favor the popularization (and profitability) of these institutions over purely intellectual and preservation-based concerns.

Yes, that's the trend; but who's to say all must march to the same drummer?


(This place, especially, that has come down so firmly from the beginning on the other side.)

 

[unterbau]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Yes. Actually, more than any architect, he defined the concept.

I always saw Philip Johnson as the original Starchitect.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^ You can't be significant if all you are is trendy.

 

[statler]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^^Didn't his Glass House start a trend? Or was he following an existing one?

 

[nova617]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Yes, that's the trend; but who's to say all must march to the same drummer?


(This place, especially, that has come down so firmly from the beginning on the other side.)

The way that Hawley and the Board are framing it is "putting one foot in the future in order to keep one planted firmly in the past." Hawley has had great success in her 19 (?) year tenure in appealing to the populist sentiments of the market. The purist argument against new change would have sounded strange in 1990, say...plummeting endowment, meager visitorship, etc. motivated the Board to make changes, beginning with Hawley and her vision for a "new" museum. Change is inevitable for any institution. The question here (and especially here) is: Is it too much? It really is a personal question based on one's life experience, education, personality, etc. I have the misfortune of feeling strongly in favor of both sides of the issue, but on balance I lean slightly in favor of the new project, even if I feel that the museum is enamoured more of the celebrity status of the architect rather than of the quality of this particular design.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^^Didn't his Glass House start a trend? Or was he following an existing one?

Yeah, Mies' Farnsworth House came a bit later, but that was because Mies wasn't a multi-millionaire and actually had to find a client. But really: can you imagine Johnson coming up with the concept in Mies' absence?

Btw, if you haven't already done so, go back to your post #81 in this thread and follow it forward.

 

[Beton Brut]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

But really: can you imagine Johnson coming up with the concept in Mies' absence?

Must have been something in the water in the late 40s. Consider the Case Study Houses against Johnson's pad.

 

[unterbau]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^ You can't be significant if all you are is trendy.

He was the original 'Style over substance' architect, but isn't that the basis for starchitecture?

 

[sidewalks]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

I think the feeling of the space as a 'home' will be enhanced. The cramped cafe and entry area will be removed and placed in a structure more suited to their needs. I like the notion of preserving a house and I understand your sentiment, but I think that experience will be enhanced, not diminished.

One last note...I've always found the whole 'gardner last will' requirements incredibly narcissistic. Who the hell does that? It's tyrannical.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

One last note...I've always found the whole 'gardner last will' requirements incredibly narcissistic. Who the hell does that? It's tyrannical.

Well, she could have left it all up to the probate lawyers, and it could have all been scattered to the usual winds of gambling debts and paternity suits. Would that have served us, the public, any more than her?

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Comparison with the Barnes Foundation story in suburban Philadelphia seems apt here. What's happening there is much more radical -- the whole collection is being moved into a new downtown building.

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^ An apt comparison.

 

[itchy]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

They should just engage a high-powered detective agency to retrieve their Vermeer, and forget the whole thing.

That's one of the smartest things that, I think, can possibly be said about this.

I'm not so opposed to having an adjacent space whither offices, cafe and gift shop can be exiled like hidden HVAC infrastructure.

But a museum that lost such a significant part of its soul -- don't forget the 3 Rembrandts, 5 Degas, Manet, Flinck and 3200-year-old Shang Dynasty beaker -- really has better things to do.

Hell, with those priceless treasures missing I'd even argue that the city of Boston has much better things to do than build an asinine, generic "Boston Museum" on the Rose Kennedy Patch O' Suburbia.

 

[statler]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Why do you all suppose that a high priced detective agency (which may or may not of already better hired) would do a better job, have more resources or have better luck than the FBI who is currently investigating the robbery?

It's not like the Museum board just shrugged their shoulders and said "Oh well."

 

[JohnAKeith]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Leaving specific requirements in your will is nothing new although people are doing it in new ways. (At least, in the case below, once the cats are dead, the money is distributed.)

From the Boston Globe:

Muriel Bayne?s love for her cats was well known on Staniford Street in Auburndale. Neighborhood children called her the ?Cat Lady?? and Bayne?s pets were often seen contentedly peering from a picture window at the small ranch house where she lived for decades.

But Bayne, 77, had a weak heart. And after her husband?s death in 2001, she started worrying about what would happen to her cats when she died. So she penned a will, leaving them the home and a $300,000 trust. Weeks later, Bayne?s heart gave out.

That?s how Shadow, Dolly, Lady, and Spot became trust fund cats.

?It is kind of bizarre, quite frankly,?? said George Kickham, the Brookline attorney hired to make sure the cats stayed at home. ?We tried to talk this woman out of it.??

Kickham, however, was legally bound to follow Bayne?s last wishes. The cats lived in the two-bedroom house for seven years under Kickham?s supervi sion until the last one - Spot - died in 2008. The property was recently bought by a medical student who, as it happens, owns an orange tabby named Mishmish.

Bayne?s unusual decision preceded the high-profile move by Leona Helmsley to leave $12 million to her dog, a Maltese named Trouble, when the billionaire hotel operator died in 2007. The sum was later reduced to $2 million by a judge. But estate planners and animal welfare activists say that making reasonable provisions for a pet?s care is important and becoming more common.

Too often, animals end up homeless or euthanized after an owner?s death, said Joanne G. Mainiero, president of the Massachusetts Humane Society, based in East Weymouth. To care for old and unadoptable felines, the nonprofit organization recently launched a fund-raising campaign to start a Cat Sanctuary. Mainiero praised Bayne for thinking ahead.

?The cats were at least taken care of without being euthanized or dumped somewhere,?? she said. ?It?s great they could enjoy the rest of their lives.??

A growing number of states have created provisions for ?pet trusts?? in which owners are allowed to name animals as beneficiaries. Massachusetts is one of the few states that prohibits that kind of arrangement. Bayne got around the law by technically leaving her house and funds to Kickham, who was charged with caring for her animals.

In her will, she named Kickham as trustee ?for the benefit for my surviving cats?? and ?upon the death of the last of the surviving cats?? the trust would be terminated, the home sold, and proceeds distributed to the State of Israel, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and the Salvation Army. Bayne left the rest of her estate, about $3.8 million, to the same three entities.

 

[czsz]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Comparison with the Barnes Foundation story in suburban Philadelphia seems apt here. What's happening there is much more radical -- the whole collection is being moved into a new downtown building.

Apropos to this, how nice would it be for the Peabody Essex to move at least part of its collection to the Greenway space slated for the "Boston Museum"? It would be better for both the PEM (which languishes from lack of tourist attention up in Salem) and the new museum (which has no discernible purpose / real exhibits to put on).

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

^ Good idea.

 

[Shepard]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

What wasn't to like about the Boston Museum renderings? Who can object to an Atrium Mall filled with Bruins pi?atas? Extra wide parking spaces, please!

 

[ablarc]

Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion

Why do you all suppose that a high priced detective agency (which may or may not of already better hired) would do a better job, have more resources or have better luck than the FBI who is currently investigating the robbery?

The FBI, now let's see ... weren't they the ones that knew about Mohamed Atta before 9/11?

And the fellow from Nigeria whom his father turned in ... they knew about him, too.

They probably have information pinpointing the Gardner's Vermeer too ... they just haven't connected the dots yet.