Museum of Arts and Design

Last updated

Museum of Arts and Design
Museum of Arts & Design (logo).png
Museum of Arts and Design
Established1956
Location 2 Columbus Circle
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates 40°46′3″N73°58′55″W / 40.76750°N 73.98194°W / 40.76750; -73.98194
Type Art museum
Curator Elissa Auther
Public transit access Bus: M5, M7, M2, M31, M57, M104
Subway: NYCS-bull-trans-1-Std.svg NYCS-bull-trans-A-Std.svg NYCS-bull-trans-B-Std.svg NYCS-bull-trans-C-Std.svg NYCS-bull-trans-D-Std.svg at 59th Street–Columbus Circle
Website www.madmuseum.org
2 Columbus Circle.jpg
The original design of the Edward Durell Stone building at 2 Columbus Circle
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) - NYC (51395616531).jpg
The Museum of Arts and Design in 2021

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the museum celebrates the creative process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life.

Contents

History

The museum first opened its doors in 1956 as the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, with an original mission of recognizing the craftsmanship of contemporary American artists. Nurtured by the vision of philanthropist and craft patron Aileen Osborn Webb, the museum mounted exhibitions that focused on the materials and techniques associated with craft disciplines. From its earliest years, the museum celebrated the changing roles of craftsmanship in society, served as an important advocate for emerging artists, and linked art to industry.

From 1963 to 1987, under the directorship of Paul J. Smith, the museum presented dynamic and often participatory exhibitions that reflected the social currents of the era and broke down hierarchies in the arts with the celebration of popular culture and mundane materials. In 1979, the museum reopened as the American Craft Museum in an expanded location at 44 West 53rd Street. To accommodate its ever-growing programming, the museum relocated again in 1986 to its 18,000-square-foot home at 40 West 53rd Street, where it would remain until 2008.

The next ten years were a period of rapid growth and change, as the American Craft Council was restructured and the museum and the council were established as independent organizations. Holly Hotchner was appointed as director of the museum in 1996, and served as director for 16 years until 2013. Hotchner initiated a comprehensive strategic planning process that expanded the Board of Trustees, curatorial staff, and exhibition and educational program. This process led to the museum's name change, in 2002, to the Museum of Arts and Design to reflect the institution's increasingly interdisciplinary collections and programming. The continued growth of MAD's collections, public programs, and attendance resulted in its successful 2002 bid to the New York City Economic Development Corporation to acquire the building at 2 Columbus Circle.

The museum opened in its new home at 2 Columbus Circle to great controversy. The proposed changes to the building originally designed by Edward Durell Stone sparked a preservation debate joined by Tom Wolfe ( The New York Times ; October 12, 2003 and October 13, 2003), Chuck Close, Frank Stella, Robert A. M. Stern, Columbia art history department chairman Barry Bergdoll, New York Times architecture critics Herbert Muschamp and Nicolai Ouroussoff, urbanist scholar Witold Rybczynski, among others. Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) referred to it as "one of New York's most photographed and readily recognizable buildings."

The new building was designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, in September 2008. With its textured façade of glazed terra-cotta tile and fritted glass, the Jerome and Simona Chazen Building reflects MAD's craft heritage and permanent collections.

From 2013 to 2021, MAD had eleven directors, including six interim directors; this was an unusually high turnover rate compared to the directorships of other museums. [1] In September 2013, Dr. Glenn Adamson was appointed as the museum's new Nanette L. Laitman Director. [2] Previously a vocal critic of the museum, Adamson was characterized as a "bold choice" by the trustees. After a tenure of just over two years, Adamson stepped down from the post. [3] The next permanent director was Jorge Daniel Veneciano, who was appointed in August 2016 [4] and resigned after only five months. [5] Chris Scoates was appointed director of the museum in March 2018 and stepped down in August 2020. [6] Timothy R. Rodgers became MAD's director in 2021. [1]

2 Columbus Circle location

The new location at 2 Columbus Circle, with more than 54,000 square feet (5,000 m2), more than tripled the size of the museum's former space. It includes four floors of exhibition galleries for works by established and emerging artists; a 150-seat auditorium in which the museum plans to feature lectures, films, and performances; and a restaurant. It also includes a Center for the Study of Jewelry, and an Education Center that offers multi-media access to primary source material, hands-on classrooms for students, and three artists-in-residence studios.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney Museum</span> Art museum in Lower Manhattan, New York City

The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was originally founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), a prominent American socialite, sculptor, and art patron after whom it is named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Modern Art</span> Art museum in New York City, U.S.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The institution was conceived in 1929 by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie P. Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan. Initially located in the Heckscher Building on Fifth Avenue, it opened just days after the Wall Street Crash. The museum, America's first devoted exclusively to modern art, was led by A. Conger Goodyear as president and Abby Rockefeller as treasurer, with Alfred H. Barr Jr. as its first director. Under Barr's leadership, the museum's collection rapidly expanded, beginning with an inaugural exhibition of works by European modernists. Despite financial challenges, including opposition from John D. Rockefeller Jr., the museum moved to several temporary locations in its early years, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. eventually donated the land for its permanent site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum</span> Art museum in Manhattan, New York City

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. It was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, under the guidance of its first director, Hilla von Rebay. The museum adopted its current name in 1952, three years after the death of its founder Solomon R. Guggenheim. It continues to be operated and owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Museum</span> Art museum in Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet (52,000 m2), the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the museum's Beaux-Arts building was designed by McKim, Mead & White.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum</span> Design museum in Manhattan, New York

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facilities located in New York City, along with the National Museum of the American Indian's George Gustav Heye Center in Bowling Green and the Archives of American Art New York Research Center in the Flatiron District. Unlike other Smithsonian museums, Cooper Hewitt charges an admissions fee. It is the only museum in the United States devoted to historical and contemporary design. Its collections and exhibitions explore design aesthetic and creativity from throughout the United States' history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Folk Art Museum</span> Museum in Manhattan, New York

The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, at 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of contemporary self-taught artists from the United States and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Museum</span> Museum in New York City

The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2 Columbus Circle</span> Building in Manhattan, New York

2 Columbus Circle is a nine-story building on the south side of Columbus Circle in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building fills a small city block bounded by 58th Street, Columbus Circle, Broadway, and Eighth Avenue. It was originally designed by Edward Durell Stone in the modernist style for A&P heir Huntington Hartford. In the 2000s, Brad Cloepfil redesigned 2 Columbus Circle for the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), which has occupied the building since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of African Art</span> Smithsonian Institution museum

The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-Saharan and North Africa, 300,000 photographs, and 50,000 library volumes. It was the first institution dedicated to African art in the United States and remains the largest collection. The Washington Post called the museum a mainstay in the international art world and the main venue for contemporary African art in the United States.

Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, new commissions, installations, and exhibitions that are emblematic of the organization's mission and innovative history.

Holly Hotchner is the president and CEO of the National Women's History Museum.

Charles Lane Venable is an American art curator and museum director. Early in his career, he published multiple articles and books on American art history, including on the history of silverware and furniture. Starting in 1986, Venable was a curator at the Dallas Museum of Art, before moving to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2002, and the Speed Art Museum in 2007, where he served as the director. In 2012, Venable became the director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which was renamed to "Newfields" under a rebranding effort he initiated. Venable served as the head of the museum until 2021, when he stepped down from the role amidst calls for his removal.

Adam D. Weinberg is an art museum curator. He was the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art for 20 years, from October 1, 2003 to October 31, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine de Zegher</span> Belgian curator, art critic, and art historian

Catherine de Zegher is a Belgian curator and a modern and contemporary art historian. She has a degree in art history and archaeology from the University of Ghent.

Paul J. Smith was an arts administrator, curator, and artist based in New York. Smith was professionally involved with the art, craft, and design fields since the early 1950s and was closely associated with the twentieth-century studio craft movement in the United States. He joined the staff of the American Craftsmen's Council in 1957, and in 1963 was appointed Director of the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, a position he held for the next 25 years. In September 1987, he assumed the title of director emeritus and continued to work as an independent curator and consultant for museums, arts organizations, and collectors.

Helen Anne Molesworth is an American curator of contemporary art based in Los Angeles. From 2014 to 2018, she was the Chief Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Phillips (museum director)</span>

Lisa Phillips is an American museum director, curator, and author. She is the Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York City. In 1999, Phillips became the second director in the museum's history, succeeding founding director Marcia Tucker. Prior to beginning her directorship at the New Museum, she worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art for twenty-three years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Hollein</span> Austrian art historian and business manager

Max Hollein is an Austrian art historian and the current CEO and Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He served as Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from July 2016, until April 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that Hollein would become its 10th director.

Glenn Adamson is an American curator, author, and historian whose research and work focuses on the intersections of design, craft, and contemporary art. Adamson is currently editor-at-large of The Magazine Antiques, editor of Journal of Modern Craft, a freelance writer and a curator. Adamson has held previous notable appointments as the Director of the Museum of Arts and Design, Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as Curator at the Chipstone Foundation.

Nanette L. Laitman was an art collector and philanthropist. She has been involved with the board of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and its precursors in New York City for over 25 years. She became a member of the board in 1994 and board president in 2000. She was one of the main benefactors supporting MAD's relocation to 2 Columbus Circle in 2002. Laitman has also funded the Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.

References

  1. 1 2 Small, Zachary (July 27, 2021). "Design Museum Hopes 11th Director's the Charm". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  2. Pogrebin, Robin (September 4, 2013). "A Critic of a Design Museum Will Lead It". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  3. Bowley, Graham (January 22, 2016). "Director of Manhattan's Museum of Arts and Design to Step Down". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  4. Pogrebin, Robin (August 12, 2016). "Executive Director Is Leaving El Museo del Barrio". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  5. Pogrebin, Robin (January 19, 2017). "Director of Museum of Arts and Design Resigns Post". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  6. Greenberger, Alex (August 21, 2020). "Museum of Arts and Design Director Steps Down, Continuing Series of Departures". ARTnews.com. Retrieved September 24, 2020.