Museum of Fine Arts Developments | Fenway

[whighlander]

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.)

Tomb --I like that!!

Beer -- Egyptian Beer -- there's a great if somewhat R-rated statue "The Bersha Procession" consisting of a Priest leading a grouping of women bearing / baring some offerings for Governor and Mrs. Djehutynakht -- one is carrying beer bottles in a basket on her head.

The expedition also found some beer bottes in a niche in the wall of the entrance to Tomb 10A

so we would have Governor Djehutynakht beer
from the greeks we could have Dionysian wine
Meade from the Middle ages
Cognac & Champagne from 19th century Impressionist France
Saki from Japan
a fine English Ale from Colonial Boston
George Washington's Rye whiskey from the Federal period
etc

Much like Art in Bloom matches flower arangements to art -- so the Arts of the Drink Beer Garden and Salon could match drinks to the arts

 

[JSic]

I visited the MFA yesterday. Loved the new wings with the American Art and also the European section was great as well, although unfortunately the Rembrandt room was closed for renovations.

 

[whighlander]

I visited the MFA yesterday. Loved the new wings with the American Art and also the European section was great as well, although unfortunately the Rembrandt room was closed for renovations.

JSic -- come back in a couple of weeks -- the MFA's Dutch folks will be sharing their home with some visitors from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo collection (home is on the north shore) though the MFA is hoping that they will ultimately become permanent residents

From the MFA website:
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/complementary-collections

Complementary Collections: Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and the MFA
March 10, 2012 - June 24, 2012
Galleries 242 and 243

We are delighted to welcome back to the Dutch and Flemish galleries masterpieces from the collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, including Rembrandt’s sublime Portrait of Aeltje van Uylenburgh (1632) and Dou’s sympathetic little Sleeping Dog (1650). These favorites and dozens of other paintings from the Van Otterloo collection, like Bakhuizen’s Ships in a Gale (above), return to the MFA after a sojourn in Holland and yearlong tour of the United States. The collectors’ discerning selection of beautiful works, all in superb condition, by a great variety of artists is a wonderful addition to our galleries. Prime examples of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting include architectural views; landscapes and seascapes; still lifes; portraits and tronies (head studies); and figure paintings. Seen together with the MFA’s collection, this installation provides a veritable banquet of Dutch and Flemish art for all to enjoy.

 

[Tombstoner]

I thought I read something recently that seemed to suggest that the Peabody Essex had the van Otterloo collection pretty well sown up (in terms of donation rather than exhibition). It would be great (I think) if the MFA got it, but what I read made that seem highly unlikely.

 

[whighlander]

I thought I read something recently that seemed to suggest that the Peabody Essex had the van Otterloo collection pretty well sown up (in terms of donation rather than exhibition). It would be great (I think) if the MFA got it, but what I read made that seem highly unlikely.

Tomb -- I think its a bit like the old discipline of Kremlin watching -- When ever the Soviets would have some parade in Red Square the high & mighty and mighty wanabees would gather atop Lenin's Tomb to review the parade

Who stood next to whom and for how long was considered key to interpreting the Kremlin org-chart

Van Oterloos give mixed signals:
1) Live on the North Shore close to PEM
2) have given donations to the MFA of both money to fund conservation lab and some smallish works
3) MFA has hosted their collection several times
4) PEM is in major fund raising and image raising process
5) Formefr MFA Curator was instrumental in mentoring their collecting
6) they also have a nice library of books
7) local impact of their collection would be much bigger at PEM -- big frog in small pond effect
8) global impact of their collection would be much bigger at MFA

Who knows??

 

[stellarfun]

Tomb -- I think its a bit like the old discipline of Kremlin watching -- When ever the Soviets would have some parade in Red Square the high & mighty and mighty wanabees would gather atop Lenin's Tomb to review the parade

Who stood next to whom and for how long was considered key to interpreting the Kremlin org-chart

Van Oterloos give mixed signals:
1) Live on the North Shore close to PEM
2) have given donations to the MFA of both money to fund conservation lab and some smallish works
3) MFA has hosted their collection several times
4) PEM is in major fund raising and image raising process
5) Formefr MFA Curator was instrumental in mentoring their collecting
6) they also have a nice library of books
7) local impact of their collection would be much bigger at PEM -- big frog in small pond effect
8) global impact of their collection would be much bigger at MFA

Who knows??

Rick Mather knows.

It appears that the MFA is hosting the exhibition that traveled from the PEM to San Francisco to Houston through June. And the van Otterloos previously have lent the MFA, on quasi-permanent loan, major paintings from their collection. So this is a larger assimilation, a trial perhaps?

The only recent news that I am aware of --for the Kremlin-watchers of who stands where atop Lenin's tomb -- is that the van Otterloos have now endowed the PEM Director's position, so he or she will hereafter be known as the Eyk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo Director of the PEM.

To your list, the PEM has closed its 400,000 volume library for a $20 million renovation, and recently bought two adjacent commercial buildings to house either back office or curatorial operations.

Which gets back to Rick Mather. Has the museum financed and is now constructing a $200 million addition simply to exhibit parts of the collection that have long been in unseen storage, or is something more blockbuster in the works?

I think the construction timeline would call for Turner to start moving the utility infrastructure (HVAC etc) this summer, so the building housing such can be demolished.

As for the PEM being a smaller fish in the pond, so too is the museum in the Pays Bas that they have long relied on for advice in collecting their paintings: http://www.mauritshuis.nl/

For a museum that had 20+ different mockups built of the brickwork for Safdie's addition before deciding, it's too bad there is not a webcam focused on the new gallery site so one can follow the design process, and see if there are clues.

A question for those more knowledgeable than I: how atypical is it to select the general contractor (Turner) before the design process begins?

 

[AdamBC]

I'm a fan of the green glass piece in the new courtyard.

 

[datadyne007]

^ You know it cost $1,000,000 right? All raised with donations during and after the Chihuly exhibit. Quite an impressive feat. I donated $10. =P

The piece is so appropriate for the space. I also wish that the neon could have stayed on the facade of the existing building.

 

[Tombstoner]

^ You know it cost $1,000,000 right? All raised with donations during and after the Chihuly exhibit. Quite an impressive feat. I donated $10. =P

The piece is so appropriate for the space. I also wish that the neon could have stayed on the facade of the existing building.

the icicle tower is okay (not crazy about it, but it is impressive at least in scale and fit within the space) but I have to disagree with you about the neon installation on the "old" wall--I thought the green and red gave a very low-rent, Christmas-y vibe to this impressive space. I was very happy they took it down.

 

[whighlander]

the icicle tower is okay (not crazy about it, but it is impressive at least in scale and fit within the space) but I have to disagree with you about the neon installation on the "old" wall--I thought the green and red gave a very low-rent, Christmas-y vibe to this impressive space. I was very happy they took it down.

Tomb -- the most impressive aspect is the multiple reflections from the highly reflective parallel walls of the glass box

If you stand near to the "artificial scholar's rock sculpture" you can see at least 6 reflections + the original of the Green tower in the same camera frame -- I suspect with a bit more care in locating oneself that the number of reflections might be in excess of a dozen (they are linked in pairs)

In Warsaw there is a dramatic artificial palm tree in a traffic island quite near to the old communist party Hq building which would make an ideal addition to the MFA's glass box on the other side from the icicle -- or perhaps a real date palm tree could be installed near to the door to the colossal Egyptian old kingdom statue of King Menkaura (Mycerinus)

 

[whighlander]

I'm a fan of the green glass piece in the new courtyard

Adam -- where you just at the MFA?

and if so did you see any signs of the transport and temporary installation of Juno

The collections & conservation page seems to indicate her being brought in through a skylight in the 2nd floor Italian renaissance gallery sometime in March

For transfer into the building, the sculpture’s size and weight dictate an entry point through the roof, at the end of an adjacent gallery (Italian Renaissance, gallery 206) in the Behrakis Wing. A skylight will be opened to allow a crane to airlift the cradled statue.Significant changes will be made to the galleries along the moving path to allow maneuvering of the sculpture into place and for the temporary installation of moving equipment. Due to the galleries’ maximum floor load capacities, a wide base will be constructed to properly distribute the weight between floor beams.

In the gallery, the sculpture will be mounted on a large steel-reinforced pedestal, and the steel frame which protected it during transport will be disassembled. Conservation treatment will then proceed in situ to address surface condition, consolidation, reattachment of the head and arm, and other aesthetic issues of loss compensation, while in the lab, stable isotope analysis may help to identify the exact type of marble and possibly even the quarry from which the stone originated

 

[PaulC]

I was there last night and the Italian Renaissance Gallery, where the statue is to be lowered though a skylight, is partially dismantled. The new gallery where it is going has been closed off for the installation. The new gallery will be named after George D. and Margo Behrakis and focus on Greek and Roman 'gods, goddesses, and heroes'.

There is more info on the MFA's press page:

To support the conservation of this statue and other works of art, a public appeal for funding will be launched at the Museum with the unveiling of Juno.

http://www.mfa.org/sites/default/files/MFA_Juno Press Release_0.pdf

 

[whighlander]

I was there last night and the Italian Renaissance Gallery, where the statue is to be lowered though a skylight, is partially dismantled. The new gallery where it is going has been closed off for the installation. The new gallery will be named after George D. and Margo Behrakis and focus on Greek and Roman 'gods, goddesses, and heroes'.

There is more info on the MFA's press page:

http://www.mfa.org/sites/default/files/MFA_Juno Press Release_0.pdf

" To support the conservation of this statue and other works of art, a public appeal for funding will be launched at the Museum with the unveiling of Juno. "

Paul -- I'm all for unveiling goddesses -- although if I had my druthers (always wanted to use that term in print) -- well I'd pick Aphrodite (err Venus)

But -- I'll put up $10 like I did for the icicle

 

[whighlander]

Rick Mather knows.

It appears that the MFA is hosting the exhibition that traveled from the PEM to San Francisco to Houston through June. And the van Otterloos previously have lent the MFA, on quasi-permanent loan, major paintings from their collection. So this is a larger assimilation, a trial perhaps?

The only recent news that I am aware of --for the Kremlin-watchers of who stands where atop Lenin's tomb -- is that the van Otterloos have now endowed the PEM Director's position, so he or she will hereafter be known as the Eyk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo Director of the PEM.

To your list, the PEM has closed its 400,000 volume library for a $20 million renovation, and recently bought two adjacent commercial buildings to house either back office or curatorial operations.

Which gets back to Rick Mather. Has the museum financed and is now constructing a $200 million addition simply to exhibit parts of the collection that have long been in unseen storage, or is something more blockbuster in the works?

I think the construction timeline would call for Turner to start moving the utility infrastructure (HVAC etc) this summer, so the building housing such can be demolished.

As for the PEM being a smaller fish in the pond, so too is the museum in the Pays Bas that they have long relied on for advice in collecting their paintings: http://www.mauritshuis.nl/

For a museum that had 20+ different mockups built of the brickwork for Safdie's addition before deciding, it's too bad there is not a webcam focused on the new gallery site so one can follow the design process, and see if there are clues.

A question for those more knowledgeable than I: how atypical is it to select the general contractor (Turner) before the design process begins?

More -- Kremlin-like Enigmatacies

from a MFA Press Release announcing the details of the exhibition of the VO's Dutch & Flemish "Integrated with the MFA's own"

http://www.mfa.org/sites/default/files/MFA_Van Otterloo installation press release.pdf

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON, TO PRESENT DUTCH AND FLEMISH WORKS FROM THE ROSE-MARIE AND EIJK VAN OTTERLOO COLLECTION

Complementary Collections, Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and the MFA to Feature Paintings by Rembrandt, Dou, Hals, Avercamp, and Brueghel

BOSTON, MA (March 5, 2012)—Approximately 40 works from the acclaimed collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), from March 10 through June 24.
Included in Complementary Collections, Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and the MFA will be paintings by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Gerrit Dou, Aelbert Cuyp, Ambrosius Bosschaert, Frans Hals, Hendrick Avercamp, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Salomon van Ruysdael, and Jan Lievens. The pictures, which have been on tour in Holland and the United States, will be integrated into the MFA’s holdings of 17th -century Dutch and Flemish paintings to deepen the viewer’s understanding of the work of certain artists and, in some cases, to showcase painters not yet represented in the MFA’s collection.

These will be displayed in three MFA galleries on the second floor: Northern Europe, 1600–1700 (Dutch/Flemish), Europe 1600-1800 (Robert and Ruth Remis Gallery), and Northern Europe, 1400–1600 (Leo and Phyllis Beranek Gallery).

“It is a pleasure to welcome back to the MFA’s Dutch and Flemish galleries these superb paintings from the Van Otterloo collection,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo have been longtime friends and supporters of the Museum and we greatly appreciate their generosity in sharing this group of magnificent works with our visitors.”

Among the paintings from the Van Otterloo collection on view will be Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, aged 62 (1632) by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, which will be shown with the MFA’s Rembrandt paintings The Artist in his Studio (about 1628) and two oval portraits from 1634—works which together tell the story of the artist’s early career. Other complementary paintings will include the Van Otterloos’ Wooded River Landscape (about 1655–60) by Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael, which will be displayed with the MFA’s Rough Sea (about 1670) by the artist. Similarly, Gerrit Dou’s Sleeping Dog (1650) and Self-Portrait (about 1665) from the Van Otterloos, together with the MFA’s Old Woman Cutting Bread (about 1655), show many of the varied aspects of that important artist’s work. Also showcased will be several major pictures by artists not represented in the MFA’s collection, among them Orpheus Charming the Animals (about 1640) by Aelbert Cuyp, Ships in a Gale on the IJ before the City of Amsterdam (1666) by Ludolf Bakhuizen, and Portrait of the De Kempenaer Family (The Margaretha Portrait) (about 1653) by Jan Weenix. Other exquisite paintings that supplement the MFA’s holdings are Winter Landscape near a Village (about 1610–15) by Hendrick Avercamp, Still Life with Roses in a Glass Vase (about 1619) by Ambrosius Bosschaert, Still Life with Glasses and Tobacco (1633) by Willem Claesz. Heda, and View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam (about 1667–70) by Jan van der Heyden.

“The quality and condition of these pictures is what makes this the finest collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings in private hands. Each of the major artists of the Dutch Golden Age is illustrated by a representative and beautiful example of his or her work. The Van Otterloo collection, assembled over the past two decades or so, is a perfect complement to the MFA’s holdings, amassed through gifts and purchases over the past century and a half,” said Ronni Baer, William and Ann Elfers Senior Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, at the MFA.

....The Van Otterloos are longtime benefactors of the MFA. In addition, Eijk van Otterloo is a former Trustee and a current member of the Art of Europe Visiting Committee. Rose-Marie van Otterloo is a Trustee, chairs the MFA’s Collections Committee, and is a member of the Conservation Visiting Committee and Art of Europe Visiting Committee. She is also an MFA Senior Associate. In 2002, the couple lent 18 paintings to the Museum’s exhibition The Poetry of Everyday Life: Dutch Painting in Boston. The Van Otterloos have given more than 275 works of art to the MFA, primarily European prints and drawings from the 16th–20th centuries, including five works by Rembrandt. They also created an endowment for the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Conservator of Paintings.

Stel recently wrote: " So this is a larger assimilation, a trial perhaps? "
Whatever the final disposition of the VO's this very intimate exhibition should be one not to be missed.

PS: for the Vo-ologists to grind on -- is this a significant or very significant item?
"Rose-Marie van Otterloo is a Trustee, [highlight]chairs the MFA’s Collections Committee[/highlight], and is a member of the Conservation Visiting Committee and Art of Europe Visiting Committee. She is also an MFA Senior Associate "

 

[PaulC]

The galleries with the Van Otterloo collection have never looked better. I think Malcolm Rogers deserves a lot of credit for the installation. Having gone on many gallery tours with the curators they always mention how much input Rogers had.

 

[whighlander]

The galleries with the Van Otterloo collection have never looked better. I think Malcolm Rogers deserves a lot of credit for the installation. Having gone on many gallery tours with the curators they always mention how much input Rogers had.

Paul -- I first visited the MFA with my father in the early 1960's -- maybe even the late 50's though I can't be sure

[thread deviation in progress] -- as the earliest verifiable memory that I have of an event was President Eisenhower standing next to a recovered re-entry vehicle clearly showing the effects of re-entry heating. From doing some Googling that apparently was Discover 13/14 (test flight for the Top Secret Corona spy satellite program -- another great Eisenhower legacy along with the Interstate Highways) which was retrieved in August 1960. -- [/thread deviation over]

Anyway in the 50 years that I remember going to the MFA -- it is clearly in the overall best shape ever and seemingly on a path to continued improvement

Malcolm Rogers has and is a truly transformative director -- taking the MFA to the top rank in great museums much as Bradford Washburn transformed the old Boston Natural History Society into the world famous Museum of Science

 

[itchy]

I'll be happy if the Van Otterloo collection winds up at either the MFA or PEM, for somewhat-different reasons.

The collection would help to make a more-serious player of the PEM, which is an interesting, but ultimately regional and somewhat-quirky, museum. What's cool is that, if one is to regard contemporary finance as an extension of the merchant-shipping and trade traditions of 17th-19th century Northern Europe and the US, the addition of the Van Otterloo collection (amassed by an investor) would be entirely in the spirit the PEM's origins as a place for the treasures of America's great merchants.

Meanwhile, the addition of the Van Otterloo collection would further cement the MFA as one of the world's great encyclopedic art museums and enrich one of the city's most-visited attractions for everyone from kids on field trips to college students to old-timers to tourists. In terms of significant acquisitions, it also would beat the pants off of The Icicle, which while somewhat-neat looks like it came from a sex shop-cum-greenhouse run by Jeff Koons and falls so, so far short of the artistic, historic, intellectual and cultural import of the Dutch Masters.

 

[whighlander]

I'll be happy if the Van Otterloo collection winds up at either the MFA or PEM, for somewhat-different reasons.

The collection would help to make a more-serious player of the PEM, which is an interesting, but ultimately regional and somewhat-quirky, museum. What's cool is that, if one is to regard contemporary finance as an extension of the merchant-shipping and trade traditions of 17th-19th century Northern Europe and the US, the addition of the Van Otterloo collection (amassed by an investor) would be entirely in the spirit the PEM's origins as a place for the treasures of America's great merchants.

Meanwhile, the addition of the Van Otterloo collection would further cement the MFA as one of the world's great encyclopedic art museums and enrich one of the city's most-visited attractions for everyone from kids on field trips to college students to old-timers to tourists. In terms of significant acquisitions, it also would beat the pants off of The Icicle, which while somewhat-neat looks like it came from a sex shop-cum-greenhouse run by Jeff Koons and falls so, so far short of the artistic, historic, intellectual and cultural import of the Dutch Masters.

Itch -- I find myself mostly in agreement with you -- I've checked and I'm fully awake and not suffering from any obvious delusions and not inebriated, nor are my allergies acting up

It must be a strange planetary alignment-- last night I agreed to a significant extent with Mathew, today you -- highly perplexing

Well -- no matter :

Yes the V.O would be a strong complement to the MFA's existing Northern Renaissance, Dutch, Flemish paintings, a whole bunch of drawings, etchings, woodcuts, etc. -- it would be a nice balance to the strength in French Impressionists. There is also the opportunity now to redoo the displays of the galleries in the Evans Wing since in effect an entire floor has been added when the American stuff moved to its new home.

PEM is a nice museum (with some collections of significance) which most US cities would be happy to have as their major museum. Unfortunately its located in a somewhat obscure corner of the Metropolitan area -- much like the DeCordova in Lincoln, or the even more obscure Danforth in Framingham, or Art Complex in Duxbury -- although the PEM is far larger and important than those others

As to the icicle of course it would not be an appropriate principle permanent exhibit -- but it does quite well in the glass box -- just as it would be fully inappropriate to hang one of the Rembrandt oval portraits in the glass box or even to have the massive sculpture of the Egyptian King who is just through a set of doors

 

[stellarfun]

The "nice" museum in an "obscure corner" of the region has a larger endowment than the MFA. MFA is at $550 million (June 2011), PEM is $630 million, and raising $100 million more.

 

[datadyne007]

Adam -- where you just at the MFA?

and if so did you see any signs of the transport and temporary installation of Juno

The collections & conservation page seems to indicate her being brought in through a skylight in the 2nd floor Italian renaissance gallery sometime in March

A friend just posted this pic on Facebook: