Museum of Fine Arts Developments | Fenway

Tomb -- that sounds like a typical New Yorker atitude.
Seeing as I was born, raised and educated in rural Arizona I take that as a compliment :) I have been to New York city, however--maybe I'm just very impressionable.

In Phily they ask who are his parents, In New York they ask how much is he worh, In Boston they ask what does he know.
Neat bumpersticker.


For example I wouldn't trade the MFA's Egyptian collection for the Met's or any other US museum. Why -- because of Geoge Reisner's dedication and skill at excavating at Giza and some good arangements with the Egyptian Government as well as the luck of the draw (who got to excavate where and of course what they found). So the MFA has a sculpture of one of Kufu's brothers which looks like it could be from the classical Greek period. It has old kingdom statuary unsurpassed outside of Cairo. Reisner's deal gave any unplundered stuff to Cairo but split plundered stuff equaly between Boston and Cairo and he was doing it for 40 years.
I love the MFA's collection, just as I love the AI of Chicago-affiliated Oriental Institute's collection, the collection in Philly from the Penn Expedition, U of Michigan's collection contributed to the Detroit Art Institute, etc. Reisner's was certainly one of the best US expeditions (started by Cal-Berkeley incidentally) and we have great stuff here. Better than the Met? Sackler? Oriental Institute? Maybe, though some would beg to differ (the Oriental Institute is mind-blowing if you haven't seen it).

As for the other MFA trophy collections...yes, they are AMAZING and we are rightly thrilled to have them in Boston. Do other cities not have amazing (and arguably better) collections in most things? Of course. San Francisco's and Freer/Sackler's Asian collections are world-reknown as well (and of course they say they are "indisputably" the best as well). Do the MFA's impressionism holdings get more attention than Chicago's? Almost certainly not (does that mean their collection is "better"--not necessarily). My point is that we should be delighted and proud to have the MFA (I spend approximately 10 hours there every week I'm in town), but there's something ugly and provincial about "my museum is bigger than your museum" trash-talk. Concede those debates to Dallas and Orlando.
 
Seeing as I was born, raised and educated in rural Arizona I take that as a compliment :) I have been to New York city, however--maybe I'm just very impressionable.

Neat bumpersticker.


I love the MFA's collection, just as I love the AI of Chicago-affiliated Oriental Institute's collection, the collection in Philly from the Penn Expedition, U of Michigan's collection contributed to the Detroit Art Institute, etc. Reisner's was certainly one of the best US expeditions (started by Cal-Berkeley incidentally) and we have great stuff here. Better than the Met? Sackler? Oriental Institute? Maybe, though some would beg to differ (the Oriental Institute is mind-blowing if you haven't seen it).

As for the other MFA trophy collections...yes, they are AMAZING and we are rightly thrilled to have them in Boston. Do other cities not have amazing (and arguably better) collections in most things? Of course. San Francisco's and Freer/Sackler's Asian collections are world-reknown as well (and of course they say they are "indisputably" the best as well). Do the MFA's impressionism holdings get more attention than Chicago's? Almost certainly not (does that mean their collection is "better"--not necessarily). My point is that we should be delighted and proud to have the MFA (I spend approximately 10 hours there every week I'm in town), but there's something ugly and provincial about "my museum is bigger than your museum" trash-talk. Concede those debates to Dallas and Orlando.


Well it might sound as though it's Dallas Boosterism (by the way the Kimble is much better than anything in Dallas and its in Fort Worth) -- But most definitively our Juno (we'll we think she's a Juno --since some time ago she lost her head) is BIGGER than their's -- irrespective of whom their's is (as long as they are in the North America)

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From the Globe's report of a dinner last night honoring Ned Johnson and the Johnson family.
He is also a major philanthropic donor in the area, directing hundreds of millions from two foundations to arts organizations, such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, and to educational and civic charities. In keeping with his disdain for attention, Johnson is a quiet donor, not one to put his name on buildings or issue press releases when he writes checks.

More Dutch at the PEM.
http://www.pem.org/calendar/event/610-cultivating_the_beauty_of_the_netherlands
 
From the Globe's report of a dinner last night honoring Ned Johnson and the Johnson family.

Stel -- Yes the Johnson's have been very very significant sponsors of culture in the Boston area

Update on the godess

Juno fell head over heels into becoming the leading deity of residence at the MFA and in the process lost her head over her new devotional shrine (you can give on-line) or anonymously by dropping drachma or aureuses into a box [not shown]
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Juno fell head over heels into becoming the leading deity of residence at the MFA and in the process lost her head over her new devotional shrine

Kind of disappointed you didn't fall back on the old, "Juno just flew in from Chicago and boy are her arms tired..."
 
Kind of disappointed you didn't fall back on the old, "Juno just flew in from Chicago and boy are her arms tired..."

AMF -- but she didn't -- she just was carried in a kinda sedan upright container from Brookline -- didn't use her arms at all-- :=}
 
More on our favorite goddess

THE PROGRESS OF JUNO

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from one of her "sort-of-step-sons" although she went to great effort to keep him from being born

http://www.apollo-magazine.com/email/features/7804888/the-progress-of-juno.thtml

THE PROGRESS OF JUNO
A large, 2nd-century sculpture of a goddess, believed to be Juno, was acquired last year by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, following its discovery in a Boston suburb. Unveiled last month, the statue is on display while conservators work around it, enabling visitors to view the process of restoration

Christine Kondoleon & Susanne Gänsicke, Tuesday, 1st May 2012


The discovery of a large antique sculpture in a city suburb has to be a rare occasion. But that is exactly what happened when the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) discovered a 2nd-century Roman statue, which had stood little noticed on a grand Boston estate mere miles from the museum. The MFA acquired the sculpture from the family, who had owned the work for 100 years, naming her Juno because she wears a crescent diadem and her hair in a rolled chignon in the manner of the goddess (Fig. 1). At 13 feet (the figure stands on a pedestal about a foot high) and weighing about 13,000 pounds, the statue made an impressive axial focal point in a celebrated Italianate garden by Charles Adams Platt (1861–1933) on the Brookline estate named Faulkner Farm (later known as the Brandegee Estate)....

The statue’s American owner was Mary Pratt Sprague, granddaughter of the shipping and railroad magnate, William Fletcher Weld. Together with her first husband, Charles F. Sprague, she undertook an ambitious building campaign in Brookline. The estate’s gardens were legendary and especially noted for their inspiration from Italian Renaissance villa gardens. The house held many fine paintings, drawings, and other works, while antiquities were largely used as garden ornaments. Mary was an ardent art collector and seems to have held as both a model and rival her Brookline neighbour, Isabella Stewart Gardner (whose legacy is discussed in the January 2012 issue of Apollo). Both women used Richard Norton (1872–1918) as an art consultant; he was based in Rome as he was the first director of the American School of Classical Studies at Rome (which merged with the current American Academy in 1913). Many of the earliest objects of Greek and Roman antiquity came to Boston through the agency of Norton (such as this 2nd-century sculpture of a priestess burning incense; Fig. 2), but none is as spectacular as Juno. In an 1897 letter to the noted Boston architect Thomas A. Fox, Norton urges him to persuade the Spragues to acquire the ‘big statue’, because ‘this is really a chance such as hardly ever occurs.’ He goes on: ‘…and how lucky is America to have people like the Spragues who know enough to get really fine things,’ adding: ‘I am staking my whole reputation on this one thing because it will become well known at once.’.....

The statue’s earlier history takes us back to the Ludovisi collection, one of the most famous private collections of ancient sculpture in Rome. Formed by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595–1632), the cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XV, the Ludovisi estate was located on the grounds of the ancient Gardens of Sallust (Horti Sallustiani) and covered a vast area inside the Porta Pinciana. The Ludovisi set about amassing their collection quickly from many sources and in competition with the neighbouring Villa Borghese. Many sculptures are thought to have been found on the Villa Ludovisi’s own archaeologically rich land, but the inventories do not indicate findspots. Most significantly, Juno is attested from 1633 onwards in the inventories of the Villa Ludovisi. An 1885 photograph, taken by Prince Rodolfo Boncompagni Ludovisi just before the villa and gardens were sold and broken up, shows the colossal statue at the end of the great avenue of cypresses (Fig. 3). The photograph reveals the sculpture with hands (probably added afterwards given the visible breaks), and a head with its face intact. Today part of the mouth and nose are missing due to an accident on the Brandegee Estate.....

Extensive modifications of nearby galleries included not only the de-installation of works of art, but also the removal of display cases and even a wall to allow the physical manoeuvring of the sculpture and the temporary installation of industrial moving equipment. At last, once the metal cage and all other additional support materials had been removed, the sculpture acquired a commanding position in the Behrakis Gallery.

The head is temporarily mounted onto a separate pedestal next to the sculpture (Fig. 9), while conservation continues in the gallery. Treatment will address surface cleaning, consolidation of cracks, and, eventually, reattachment of the head, as well as other aesthetic issues of loss compensation. Stable isotope analysis may lead to detailed identification of the type of marble and the original quarrying sites.

As it remains unknown when the head was attached to the sculpture, it is hoped that further analysis of repair materials will lead to new insights. Studies will focus on the composition of the iron pin and what is believed to be grout used to set this pin originally; additionally, tool marks on the edges of the neck, head and, the torso will be investigated.

Christine Kondoleon is the George and Margo Behrakis Senior Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Susanne Gänsicke is Conservator of Objects in the Department of Conservation and Collections Management at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Juno is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The museum’s website enables online visitors to follow the progress of the conservations efforts. Go to: www.mfa.org/collections/conservation/conservationinaction_juno

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If you are wanting to get up close and personal with Juno the MFA will offer
Gallery Talk: Behind-the-Scenes: Relocation And Conservation Of The Ancient Roman Marble Sculpture Of Juno
Wednesday, May 16 6:00p to 7:00p
at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Gallery Talk given by Susanne Gänsicke, conservator, Objects Conservation.

Please note, this talk is limited to 25 participants for the safety of the objects. Tickets will be available at the Sharf Visitor Center 10 minutes prior to the start of the talk on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
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New lights and new doings at the Koch Gallery

Come September the Koch Gallery will have yet another incarnation

Some of you remember it as the Tapestry Gallery
Today its a great echoey hall with a lot of Renaisance and somewhat later paintings (15th through 17th Century officially)

Starting in Septemsber there will be fewer paintings, some silver and some tapestries will return along with LED lighting

from an article on Archtectural Lighting
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, for example, installed LED fixtures in its second-floor Koch Gallery last November. Lighting the Baroque paintings, hung salon style, with tracklighting in the 30-foot-tall space has always been difficult. Matthew Siegal says, “Some of the paintings disappeared as they climbed up the wall.” Traditional MR16s—150W fixtures dimmed down to about 25W—lit half of the gallery, while 2700K LED fixtures—approximately 15W brought down to about 5W—illuminated the other half.

The results are “fantastic,” Siegal says. “The paintings are really popping under the LEDs,” and “the intensity of light on a throw that long is 10 times what it is on an incandescent.”

The MFA is now looking for funding to relamp the entire gallery. Siegal estimates that the energy savings from LEDs could significantly reduce the museum's annual utility bill, 37 percent of which goes toward lighting and 15 percent to cooling. “The potential is unbelievable,” he says.
 
So I guess the 'media partnership' deal they had going has expired and their writers are allowed to be critical again?

Good.
 
An unrelenting critique of the MFA by a Globe critic.

http://www.boston.com/culturedesk/2...JkOAwW2GOeWoqhAYI5L/story.html?p1=Upbox_links

Hardly suggests that the van Otterloo collection would find a happy home at the MFA.

This seems to be an really petty article which might be forgiven if it were more entertaining. There might be something to the claim that there is a special interest in artists with a New England connection, but is that so bad? Personally, I think the Linde Wing is a let-down, but that doesn't negate all the good things that Rogers keeps pulling out of the hat. Do all galleries get tired after a couple decades? Sure. Does MFA have plans to renovate them? Of course. I think focusing on the fact that not everything is exquisite all the time misses the point that there is a LOT going on at the MFA--some of it less flashy than Mr. Smee might like, but what purpose does it serve to be so bitchy if you can't leaven it with a bit of wit?
 
Totally agree with Tombstoner. Seems quite petty - like Smee has an ax to grind. He leads with several paragraphs of complaints about work the MFA is conducting out of necessity and then summarizes with:
All this the MFA hierarchy seems aware of. The problem is that the logistics of implementing the required changes are challenging, to say the least. They will take years to carry out, and will generate more or less continuous upheaval.
So Smee, you're upset that the MFA is carrying out changes you acknowledge are difficult and time consuming??? No shit.

Then he goes on to talk about the MFA not having enough modern/contemporary artists (though he mostly list peeps that I would consider contemporary). Is the complaint that the MFA is not trying to "Out-ICA" the ICA? Is that a bad thing?

Weird article.
 
So I guess the 'media partnership' deal they had going has expired and their writers are allowed to be critical again?

Good.

Stat -- Who the Hell is Smee and why should anyone care what he writes

to paraphrase Pierre Monteux when he was being assaulted by an un-relenting music critic

"... when I was unable anymore to play I became the conductor and when I'm unable to do anything at all I shall become the critic"

Smee when you can:

arrange for aquiring Juno

organize the process of building the Art of the America's Wing

arrange for the donation of the Lane collection -- comprising more than 6,000 photographs, 100 works on paper, and 25 paintings -- one of the finest private holdings of 20th-century American art in the world
including a nice group of Weston's currently on exhibit as the "Leaves of Grass"

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arrange for the recent donation of the Robert Owen Lehman Collection of Bronzes and Ivories from the Kingdom of Beni
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arrange for the recent works by African American Artists from John Axelrod Collection -- and exhibit several of the works by John Biggers, Eldzier Cortor, and Archibald Motley Jr. -- together in a mini exhibitikon to mark the One-Year Anniversary of Art of the Americas Wing
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arrange for the masterful exhibiton of the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection integrated with the MFA's own Flemish and Dutch masterworks --
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.

“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.”


etc
etc

Then you can criticize the MFA and Malcom with some sagaacity
 
I can see his point. His delivery isn't the best or most effective, but I get the same vibe from the MFA. For example, it feels like those Asian galleries have been neglected for decades.
 
I can see his point. His delivery isn't the best or most effective, but I get the same vibe from the MFA. For example, it feels like those Asian galleries have been neglected for decades.

Data -- when was the last time you were in the Newly renovated Asian Paintings gallery or the new South Asian Gallery

here's something from the MFA website announcing a small exhibition relevant to this discussion

Gems of Rajput Painting

December 10, 2011 - September 3, 2012
Gallery 178
Enjoy a jewel of an exhibition in our newly renovated Asian Paintings gallery.

“Gems of Rajput Painting” features the MFA’s superb collection of paintings made for the princes of Rajasthan and the Punjab hills (known as “Rajputs”). The kingdoms of these art-loving princes shared a common elite culture, though, by the early 1700s, each court had developed its own distinct painting style. The exhibition represents four of Rajput painting’s central themes: heroic narratives, women and romance, Krishna and Hindu devotion, and courtly life.

Delight in these vibrant paintings and take the opportunity to explore the new South and Southeast Asian sculpture gallery next door.

Gallery 178 is totally renovated
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Gallery 176 is totally new
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