Minneapolis Institute of Art. Photo by McGhiever. CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84598191

ART MUSEUMS - A HISTORY, PART 3
Compiled by Victoria Chick

In Part Two of the History of Art Museums, the influence of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the first half of the 20th century was discussed. To better appreciate what came after we need to take a closer look at some of these early to mid-century museums with similar architecture.

During the last half of the 20th century, museums continued to collect and expand their art holdings to include new art forms. Blockbuster Shows, were so named because the lines of people wanting to see them typically were blocks long, developed. Blockbuster Shows are traveling exhibitions, stopping for a few months at one museum before moving on to the next. Only large museums in large metropolitan cities can afford to host these shows as the traveling expenses and insurance are astronomical. But the uniqueness of what is offered through a Blockbuster Show and the tremendous publicity surrounding them creates many new Museum goers who enjoy themselves so much they become regular museum visitors.

As the 21st Century arrived, well-established museums looked for ways to expand. New wings were a possibility if the surrounding grounds were spacious enough. Some museums went underground for additional space. The long-held design axiom that a building addition should have a design relationship with the original building was not uniformly applied.

Two examples of divergent solutions for increased space were completed by the Minneapolis Art Institute in Minnesota and the Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri. Both museums began as buildings inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a front façade making use of columns, pediments, or cornices and elevated like a temple with a stairway to reach the entrance. The Minneapolis addition went out horizontally with wings the same height as the front of the original building but with vertical panels instead of columns on the front façade. Continuing around the sides and back, the addition adds space but with a mundane office look.

The Nelson Gallery at the top of a long, rolling hill chose to add space both underground and on top with glass rectangles whose periodic lenses let natural filtered light reach exhibition spaces far underground indirectly through a series of light shafts bouncing off surfaces as they descend. The addition, which is now the main entrance, is incongruous with the exterior of the original building. The museum has gone against traditional conservatory thinking in allowing natural light from the lenses to illuminate its artwork. Most of the exhibits in the addition are below ground with the 27 to 34-foot (10 m) glass pavilions above them. Officials say that advances in glass technology have allowed them to block most of the harmful ultraviolet rays that could damage the exhibited works.

Neslon-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Photo by by Charvex.

The 21st Century also saw some new art museums attached to familiar names. The Solomon Guggenheim Foundation progressed from 1937 fostering and building other museums. Peggy Guggenheim turned her 18th-century Italian Villa into a museum showcasing fashion. Since it was in Venice, it needed to be accessed by boat with the entrance a generously sized patio-like dock. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain was designed by architect Frank Gehry in an organic style made with a titanium exterior,  a metal revered for its strength and non-corrosive qualities. 

Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao. Photo by Naotake Murayama, CC BY 2.0, 

The Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, due to be finished this year, appears to be on track to be spectacular. The Frank Gehry model shows the Museum as being a huge complex of geometric shapes in what may appear to be a haphazard arrangement. One wonders what the interior space will be like.                           

The most exciting Art Museum to be constructed in the United States during the first quarter of the 21st Century is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is the second U.S. Museum to be funded by one person, this time, Alice Walton. The museum, begun in 2001, is located on farmland in Arkansas passed down to Alice Walton by generations of previous Waltons. It straddles a ravine with spring-fed creek and ponds and has copper-roofed bridges that are galleries, dining areas, and seating to enjoy looking out to the water, forested Ozark hills, and other parts of the Museum. Moshe Safdie was the architect, and he is currently adding to Crystal Bridges, increasing museum space by 50%.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Pictured below, Photo by Charvex.

Architects have been key in the development of memorable Art Museums. Recall the Renwick Museum is identified by its architect, not the man who paid for it. Architects have shown through the choice of site, formal or informal symmetry, positive and negative space, materials used, as well as understanding how visitors move, and people work within the Museum as they consider their Art Museum design. As time has passed, technology is another category for the architect to consider. Will new technology improve the museum experience in the way electricity makes it possible to see art better or for Museums to be open in the evening because now museums have lights?

If one considers visitor interest as a catalyst that has produced new art museums since the16th Century, when buildings had no heat, air conditioning, humidity control, or lighting –  we are led to the conclusion that the call of art in all its forms is a strong call that makes people want to respond.  As demonstrated in earlier history, the need to share art has been powerful enough for collectors to open their homes, for art appreciators to band together to form museums, and for individuals to share their wealth with the world by building a museum for everyone to visit and to benefit from the Art Museum experience. 

READ
- Art Museums History – Part 1  https://www.southwest-art-museum.org/articles/art-museums-a-history-part-one
- Art Museums History – Part 2  https://www.southwest-art-museum.org/articles/art-museums-a-history-part-two