Museum of Fine Arts Developments | Fenway

The layout if the new wing is kind of bizzarre. I ended up getting lost in an area where apparently the elevators only go to offices.
 
Some new doins at the ol'MFA

I was at the MfA on Saturday and saw a great live exhibit of a huge painting being conserved as well as several new gallery projects about to be unveiled all conncted with the Art of Europe

Honthorst3.jpg


http://www.mfa.org/collections/cons...e/conservation-an-action:-allegory of justice

There are also some new gallleries for the Art of Asia, Oceania, Africa which have just debuted.

All of them involve small amounts of internal construction although inthe case of the exquisite 15th C Window "Window with Eight Apostles, the Pietà, and other Saints " aquired from Hampton Court the external windows in the galleries conncting the Art of the Americas to the main MFA had to be modified

fif=sc2%2FSC241238%2Efpx&obj=iip%2C1%2E0&wid=590&cell=590%2C363&cvt=jpeg


The Globe has written about upcoming renovations to the MFA's exhibits in a couple of recent articles:

http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-08/arts/30596617_1_galleries-egyptian-art-mfa/4
http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-06/arts/30596608_1_newland-house-gallery-features-gems

Calendar of openings:
"
MARCH 10:
Reinstallation of Late Gothic Gallery - The gallery features the Hampton Court “Window With Eight Apostles, the Pietà and Saints,’’ which dates to the early 15th century, and is one of the Museum of Fine Arts’ most important European works. It was made originally for Hereford Cathedral and then was housed in Hampton Court House in Herefordshire, England, before its acquisition by the MFA in 1925.

SEPTEMBER:
Koch Gallery - Among changes to the Koch Gallery will be the installation of four tapestries from the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, and the loaned work “Allegory of Justice. The History of the Winter King’s Family,’’ 1636, by Gerrit van Honthorst. Designed in the spirit of a European palace, with walls covered in damask, the gallery will show masterpieces from Italy, France, and Spain.

Carol Wall Gallery, Gems and Jewelry From the Ancient Mediterranean - This gallery will display the MFA’s collection of Greek gold and classical gems, the largest collection in the United States. Approximately 200 works will be on view, including the famous “Marlborough gem,’’ the “Cameo With the Wedding of Cupid and Psyche’’ (Roman, mid-to-late 1st century BC) once owned by Peter Paul Rubens and then by the Duke of Marlborough.

Later:

NOVEMBER:
Arts of Korea - The MFA’s current Korean gallery will be completely renovated.

APRIL 2013:
The Hartman Galleries of British Decorative Arts, Hamilton Palace - This is the only room that survives intact from Hamilton Palace, the largest and grandest country house ever constructed in Scotland. The re-installation of this room will form a backdrop for a display of early English silver and furniture from the turn of the 18th century.

Newland House - This is a complete paneled drawing room, including oak floorboards, from Newland House, a Neo-Palladian country house built in Gloucestershire in the late 1740s.

A Gallery for British Silver - Masterpieces in this gallery from the MFA’s collection of English silver range from Elizabethan through the Georgian eras. A selection of furniture groupings and paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries will be included.

SEPTEMBER 2013:
English Regency Gallery - English furniture and decorative arts ranging from 1795 to 1830 as well as a small selection of paintings will be on view.

Michael C. Ruettgers Coin Gallery - Five hundred ancient Greek and Roman coins from the MFA’s collection will be displayed in the new coin gallery, the first gallery dedicated to coins at a major US museum...."

So if you were excited by the Art of the Americas and not quite so much by the Linde Contemporary stuff -- if the Art of dead Europeans and Ancients from Egypt, Grece and Rome is more to your taste -- you have 2 years of exciting develpments in the pipeline and eventually a redo of the Ancient stuff centered around a realtiely recent donated giant statue of Juno originally in some significant temple in Rome
 
Spent an entire day last week at the MFA.

Big thumbs up on the interiors, new galleries, cafe, etc.

I think the expansion works incredibly well for the purpose it serves (highlighting the art), and the expanse almost seems outsized for Boston... in the best of ways. Initial look at exterior was positive as well.
 
PaulC said:
The Juno statue is scheduled to be brought in by crane this March and then conserved in the Egyptian gallery next to that painting.


The Ruettgers gallery is September 2012.

http://www.mfa.org/sites/default/files/ExhibitionSchedule_November 2011 for NYC REVISED.pdf
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul -- I thought that was the case -- Much as i'd like to blame the Globe -- it's a mea culpa from when I plugged the paragraphs into my calendar headings

Unfortuantely, there is nothing official on the schedule from the MFA except the Carol Wall Gallery, Gems and Jewelry From the Ancient Mediterranean" and the Michael C. Ruettgers Coin Gallery
and a small referencee to the Medievil / Late Gothic gallery and a reference to the Juno being the centerpiece of an eventual Gods and Godesses gallery

The following story from the Globe is an intriguing bit about what Rogers plans for the Koch:
Some MFA galleries are in need of attention
Critic's notebook
January 08, 2012|By Sebastian Smee
http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-08/arts/30596617_1_galleries-egyptian-art-mfa/4

" Rogers plans to transform the gallery. “I have always wanted to make this gallery an example of what the whole museum can be,’’ he said. “Yes, it should be a great party room, too. But I want it to be like nowhere else in the world.’’

The transformation, which will be completed in the fall, will be in the spirit of a European palace. The travertine walls will be covered with damask and four enormous tapestries from the Barberini Palace in Rome. (This, if nothing else, should address the acoustics issue.)

There will be fewer paintings, although one enormous one - a freshly repaired canvas, on loan to the museum, by Gerrit van Honthorst - will be introduced, as will, opposite the Honthorst, what Rogers gleefully describes as “a major buffet of Hanoverian silver.’’

Again and again during our stroll, Rogers made it clear that he wants to mix up the museum’s displays in the manner of the galleries in the Art of the Americas wing. “The great lesson of that wing,’’ he said, “is that it’s exciting to have different objects talking to each other. I want to get away from the idea that paintings are at the top of the tree and everything else is secondary.’’

Standing in a gallery dedicated to 18th-century decorative arts - with a Tiepolo painting installed in the ceiling, a trumpeting installation of large-scale Meissen porcelain, not to mention silver, textiles, furniture, musical instruments, arms, and every other conceivable category of object - Rogers positively heaved with pleasure:

“This, to me,’’ he said, “is a kind of paradise. It’s my favorite gallery.’’

“Drama’’ was a word Rogers kept returning to when reflecting on the style of installation he favors. At one point, he cited his experience as a church organist, saying, “I want to create the kind of feeling you get after a tremendous service.’’ "

Personally, I really enjoy the mixing of the media in places such as the "salon style gallery' in the Art of the Americas and the relatively new 18th century European with the Meisen porcelain animals from Augustus of Saxony
 
Great news, Westie!

My favorite gallleries at the MFA, other than the US and European galleries, are woefully in need of renovations and have been for a good 15-20 years: The Ancient Greek/Roman and Egyptian galleries, as well as the Chinese, Japanese and South Asian galleries.

Some of these are mentioned in the Globe articles you posted, but it doesn't sound as if there are any concrete plans to address what Malcolm Rogers himself clearly understands are shortcomings.

It's to bad that, after a $500-600M fundraising campaign the museum's strongest collections are still so poorly displayed -- one would think a small fragment of that capital could've been used to address the 90% of the museum that isn't contemporary or Incan art...
 
itchy said:
Great news, Westie!

My favorite gallleries at the MFA, other than the US and European galleries, are woefully in need of renovations and have been for a good 15-20 years: The Ancient Greek/Roman and Egyptian galleries, as well as the Chinese, Japanese and South Asian galleries.

Some of these are mentioned in the Globe articles you posted, but it doesn't sound as if there are any concrete plans to address what Malcolm Rogers himself clearly understands are shortcomings.

It's to bad that, after a $500-600M fundraising campaign the museum's strongest collections are still so poorly displayed -- one would think a small fragment of that capital could've been used to address the 90% of the museum that isn't contemporary or Incan art...
Click to expand...

Itch -- I think Malcolm is preparing for two things;

1) His eventual retirement
2) The focus of the Next Capital campaign

In my view -- both will happen in the next 5 years unless the economy goes south again

In one of the interviews he says candidly that the stuff that needs doing will only get started on his watch -- I'm guessing he'll do the smaller projects and then define the agenda for the next guy or gal -- and let his successor define things in detail

I think however for the near future Malcolm's challenge is to help find the next Art of Europe boss -- as George Shackelford, the Chair, Art of Europe, and Solomon Curator of Modern Art has been hired to be Senior Deputy Director, and chief curator, at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth
 
PaulC said:
Hard to believe that the statue of Juno was a lawn ornament for 114 year:

http://downeastdilettante.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/faulkner-farm/

There a picture of the statue in that story.
Click to expand...

Paul,

I'll bet that it might have had that function for quite a few years even before it came to the U.S. from ?

The last time Juno was an object of worship would have been Rome circa 315 CE

subsequent to that time Juno became contraband and later art -- perhaps of the garden variety

The statue could easily have made it way across Europe sitting in various Italianate Gardens

there are several similar statues -- uncertain pedigree sitting at the foot of the Italianate Garden at Elm Bank the Mass Horticultural Society's gardens in Wellsely

Goddesses_and_Mansion.JPG
 
The statues at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society are actually the last vestiges of the second Horticultural Hall, which was built on Tremont Street, opposite the Granary Burying Ground, in 1864. They were carved by a very young Martin Millmore (of the Mount Auburn sphinx) and are, naturally, Ceres, Flora, and Pomona --- very appropriate for a horticultural society.

Here are the statues in their original setting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horticultural_Hall_Tremont_St.,_Boston,_Mass,_by_Soule,_John_P.jpg
 
PaulC said:
From the MFA's Annual Report


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Ludovisi
Click to expand...

Paul -- yes I knew that in fact I posted the following on a thread related to the PEM and the Van Oterloo collection -- although the link seems to be missing from my browser

"Roman Marble Statue of Juno

Roman, Trajanic or Hadrianic Period
early 2nd century AD
Marble

This majestic sculpture is one of the very few colossal ancient statues found in Rome. Her diadem and drapery identify her as Juno, one of the three most important gods of the Roman state. She was most likely carved in the Trajanic or Hadrianic period for a large-scale civic structure, such as a theater or temple. The goddess is thirteen feet high on her plinth and is the largest classical sculpture in the US. It was purchased in Rome in 1898 by Bostonians Charles and Mary Pratt Sprague from the distinguished Ludovisi collection and brought to their Brookline estate. The goddess arrives at the Museum to be conserved after years spent outdoors and will be a centerpiece of a spectacular gallery devoted to Greek and Roman gods and goddesses"
 
Update on the statue soon to be known as the "Giantess Juno of Boston" form the most recent MFA members magazine

Juno is one big lady

height: 396.2 cm = 12 feet 11.94 inches (including plinth)
weight (est.): 6803.96 kg (15,000 lb.)

image_004-01.jpg
image_004-02.jpg



She will be installed by a crane in gallery 207 in March with conservation to begin shortly as a teaching moment for the public. Since she's been outdoors in Brookline and before that Rome for centuries and before that probably buried in the rubble of some Temple for additional centuries -- she'll be in need of some amount of spa treatment

I suspect that her final installation environs will depend on some fat-cat donor who wants to fund the new “Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes’’ gallery in the George D. and Margo Behrakis Wing for Art of the Ancient World.

here's the official information on Juno from the MFA

early 2nd century A.D. Roman Trajanic or Hadrianic Period
Marble
Accession number: 2011.75

Description: Colossal sculpture of a goddess. She may be identified as Juno by her diadem, drapery, and facial features. Based on style, iconography, carving technique, and provenance, likely made in Rome.

Provenance/Ownership History: By 1641 until 1897/1898, Ludovisi Gardens, Rome; about 1897/1898, sold by the Ludovisi to Mary Pratt Sprague (b. 1871 – d. 1956), Brookline and in 1904 brought to her home at Faulkner Farm, Brookline, MA; passed by descent within the family to the Brandegee Charitable Trust; 2011, sold by the Brandegee Charitable Trust to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 23, 2011)

Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously and the William Francis Warden Fund
 
PaulC said:
More info on the Juno statue:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/conservation/conservationinaction_juno



Tomorrow at 6, 6:45 and 7:15

Allegory of Justice painting:
http://www.mfa.org/programs/gallery...nservator-action-cleaning-allegory-justice-29
These are not well attended(1 person) and usually wind up being great opportunity to ask a lot of questions.
Click to expand...

Paul -- the conservation pages are excelent -- this statue I think will eventually become a major MFA icon -- eat your heart out Met


Juno9.jpg


The amazing technology involved in taking a lawn ornament and making into a cenerpiece of the Ancient Cultures at the MFA is by itself a great exhibit -- hoping that there is a touchscreen kiosk in the gallery with this story

Juno28.jpg


Juno37.jpg


Looking forward to the next few months of updates and seeing it up-close and personal as possible
 
I was in the MFA with my fiance the other day and I have to say that the amount of art that is in this building is truly amazing. There are so many things that we couldn't even see nearly a third of everything. I loved the pieces from Southeastern Asia. Then there were the amazing pieces of European Art. Great job MFA.
 
pel_north said:
I was in the MFA with my fiance the other day and I have to say that the amount of art that is in this building is truly amazing. There are so many things that we couldn't even see nearly a third of everything. I loved the pieces from Southeastern Asia. Then there were the amazing pieces of European Art. Great job MFA.
Click to expand...

Pei -- there is about 1/2 Million things in the MFA -- only a small fraction can be exhibited at any time

But a lot of the stuff is searchable on the web

e.g.
http://www.mfa.org/collections/asia
Click to expand...

-- and you will find that many of the objects say -- "currently not on exhibit" - as an example several rooms removed from the mid 19th century home in Dorchester of, Roswell Gleason, a prosperous manufacturer sat in storage for many years until the new wing was built -- there just was no where to put it

Over the next few years several of the old spaces with their less than ideal presentation of truly amazing and wonderful masterworks are being redone (e.g. the spectacular "'Koch") and several new spaces will open (small gallery devoted to Coins) as the MFA digests the results of its major building period

As a long time member and an even longer-time visitor I would say that Malcom Rogers has certainly placed his personal stamp on the MFA -- its now "his MFA" an we are the great beneficiaries
 
Last edited:
When the statue is airlifted by crane into be building i'm sure there will be lots of press coverage. After that painting us restored and moved they may move another painting in therefor conservation, equipments already there. That would be two conservation projects in adjoining galleries. I'm sure the next painting will be much smaller.

One of my 'fantasy' projects for the museum is that since they are moving all the Egyptian to the first floor and because several of the Nubian pieces are huge, create a glass pavilion in the niche along Forsyth St. These statues, pillars and the gateway will then be visible to pedestrian and drivers.

examples:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/temple-gateway-146017
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/145118
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/statue-of-king-anlamani-145120
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/papyrus-bundle-column-131135
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/palm-capital-column-133521
 
Last edited:
PaulC said:
When the statue is airlifted by crane into be building i'm sure there will be lots of press coverage. After that painting us restored and moved they may move another painting in therefor conservation, equipments already there. That would be two conservation projects in adjoining galleries. I'm sure the next painting will be much smaller.

One of my 'fantasy' projects for the museum is that since they are moving all the Egyptian to the first floor and because several of the Nubian pieces are huge, create a glass pavilion in the niche along Forsyth St. These statues, pillars and the gateway will then be visible to pedestrian and drivers.
Click to expand...

Great idea!
I think the MFA could do a bit more to bridge into public spaces (as your suggestion would do). The Forsyth and Fenway frontage is begging for a sculpture garden (and I'm still advocating for a 3-season outdoor biergarten along there--not a kid hangout but nice beers, international snacks...would add a lot to the neighborhood and maybe lure some folks inside the museum.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top