The Brooklyn Lyceum was the name of both a non-profit organization in Brooklyn, New York that was active from 1833 through 1843, and the structure which housed that institution. The building Brooklyn Lyceum, located at 182-184 Washington Street, was built in 1835. In 1841 the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library , the first free library in Brooklyn, moved into the building, and the two organizations shared the building until they merged to form the Brooklyn Institute in 1843. The building continued to be known as the Brooklyn Lyceum for two more years until the Brooklyn Lyceum building was purchased in 1845 by Augustus Graham and donated to the Brooklyn Institute at which point the building became known by that name. During its history, the building housed several organizations, often simultaneously, including the Brooklyn City Library , the Brooklyn Institute Free Library , the Youth's Free Library , and The Hamiltonians. The building remained the home of the Brooklyn Institute until it was destroyed by fire in 1890.
91-729: Brooklyn Institute may refer to Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, now the Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, now the Polytechnic Institute of New York University Brooklyn Lyceum , also known as Brooklyn Institute, the first building which housed the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
182-490: A 12-year renovation of the Asian galleries. To make way for additional exhibition space, in early 2024 the museum sold off 200 objects and the contents of four period rooms. In January 2024, the museum opened its Toby Devan Lewis Education Center, which contains three studios and a gallery. The museum started using a new logo that September. The Brooklyn Museum building is a steel frame structure clad in masonry, designed in
273-484: A Persian art gallery opened two months later. The remodeled entrance was officially dedicated on October 5, 1935. That December, the museum's medieval art gallery opened. A gallery for industrial art was also proposed behind the western wing but was not built. The museum's remodeling was completed in October 1937. Several collections, including Egyptian and Assyrian art, Renaissance art, and textiles were displayed to
364-482: A coalition of Brooklyn-based arts organizations. The gallery occupied a narrow corridor at ground level. Henri Ghent, the director of the Community Gallery, estimated in 1970 that "perhaps 100,000" additional patrons had been attracted to the museum after the gallery opened, including black patrons who had never before visited a museum. The Brooklyn Museum continued to experience financial shortfalls in
455-407: A dedicated space adjoining the museum; the gallery was popular among guests but did not have enough funding from the museum itself. By late 1973, twenty percent of the museum's staff professionals had resigned amid a dispute involving director Duncan F. Cameron 's firing of another employee, eventually prompting Cameron's own resignation that year. Further staff disputes complicated the search for
546-502: A low saucer dome . The modern main entrance, dating to Polshek's 2004 renovation, consists of a glass pavilion with four metal pylons, as well as a semicircular plaza just outside. A set of brick piers , which had supported the original entrance staircase, was repurposed into a brick arch in 2004. The pavilions at either end of the Eastern Parkway facade protrude only slightly from the facade and contain engaged columns in
637-496: A master plan in March 1986. The plan involved doubling the amount of exhibition space in the building from 450,000 to 830,000 square feet (42,000 to 77,000 m ). At the time, the museum could only exhibit about five percent of its collection simultaneously, as its building was one-sixth as large as originally planned. The museum was to expand its storage, classroom, and conservation facilities and add an auditorium. Buck met with
728-778: A new "Community Gallery", supported at first by the New York State Council on the Arts ; he worked at the museum till 1972. Ghent's first exhibition, Contemporary Afro-American Arts (1968), included artists Joe Overstreet , Kay Brown , Frank Smith, and Otto Neals . In 1999–2000, the Sensation exhibition of Charles Saatchi 's collection provoked controversy for its inclusion of works such as Chris Ofili 's The Holy Virgin Mary . The exhibition prompted then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani to threaten to withhold city funding from
819-622: A replacement director, and many employees went on strike in 1974 because they wanted to form a labor union. By the mid-1970s, there were plans to split the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the Brooklyn Museum Art School from the Brooklyn Museum. At the time, the museum received $ 1.5 million per year from the city. Four galleries for Korean and Japanese art opened at the museum in October 1974, and
910-573: A series of lectures in November 1833 which were held at Theodore Eames and Samuel Putnam's Brooklynn English and Classical Hall; a boys' school built by Eames and Putnam on Washington Ave. that opened in March 1831. With funds largely provided by the philanthropist Josiah Dow (1782-1850), the organization placed the cornerstone of their own building, also known as the Brooklyn Lyceum, on October 31, 1835. Located at 182-184 Washington Street,
1001-581: A series of special exhibits and events in 2024. The Brooklyn Museum has been building a collection of Egyptian artifacts since the beginning of the twentieth century, incorporating both collections purchased from others, such as that of American Egyptologist Charles Edwin Wilbour , whose heirs also donated his library to become the museum's Wilbour Library of Egyptology, and objects obtained during museum-sponsored archeological excavations. The Egyptian collection includes objects ranging from statuary, such as
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#17327726853731092-551: Is an art museum in the New York City borough of Brooklyn . At 560,000 square feet (52,000 m ), 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 . The Brooklyn Museum
1183-556: Is the site of the annual Brooklyn Artists Ball which has included celebrity hosts such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Liv Tyler . Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic , the Brooklyn Museum had an endowment of $ 108 million, but the museum applied for federal funding through the Paycheck Protection Program after its endowment declined by one-fifth in 2020. Amid the pandemic and its negative impact on museum revenue,
1274-649: The Brooklyn Academy of Music , the Brooklyn Botanic Garden , and the Brooklyn Children's Museum , until these organizations all became independent in the 1970s. Brooklyn mayor Charles A. Schieren agreed in January 1895 to issue $ 300,000 per year in bonds for the Brooklyn Institute museum's construction. Initially, only a single wing and pavilion on the western portion of the museum's site, measuring 210 by 50 feet (64 by 15 m) across,
1365-697: The Brooklyn Apprentices' Library in Brooklyn Heights . The library was formally incorporated November 24, 1824, and the cornerstone of the library's first building was laid in 1825 on Henry and Cranberry Street. The Library moved into the Brooklyn Lyceum building on Washington Street in 1841. The two institutions merged into the Brooklyn Institute in 1843; the institute offered exhibitions of painting and sculpture and lectures on diverse subjects. The Washington Street building
1456-482: The Hagop Kevorkian Gallery. Brooklyn Lyceum The non-profit Brooklyn Lyceum organization was formed on October 10, 1833 with the goal of providing "rational amusement, to promote the intellectual and moral improvement of its members, and especially the interests of the young; also to improve the condition of schools, and advance the cause of popular education." The organization began with
1547-604: The neoclassical style by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White and built by the Carlin Construction Company. The original museum building is a New York City designated landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1978. The museum shares a large city block with Brooklyn's Central Library , Mount Prospect Park , and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to
1638-430: The 20 classical sculptures (10 Greek and 10 Roman) on the northern elevation, as well as five Persian and five Chinese sculptures on the side elevations. The eastern elevation of the facade faces Washington Avenue, where only the pavilion at the northern end was built. The rest of the eastern elevation is similar to that on Eastern Parkway, with pilasters dividing it vertically into seven bays . Unlike on Eastern Parkway,
1729-538: The African art galleries reopened in December 1976 following an expansion and renovation. The Brooklyn Museum also began renovating 21 American period rooms in 1976. Following a 1978 investigation into some of the museum's acquisitions, state attorney general Louis J. Lefkowitz recommended that the museum implement "a comprehensive code of ethics". The same year, the Brooklyn Museum partnered with Designgroup and
1820-546: The Board of Estimate appropriated $ 1.05 million for the new wings. McKim, Mead & White drew up new plans for wings F and G; by that September, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) was about to award contracts for the wings. A picture gallery opened at the museum in November 1925. The next month, museum officials dedicated the Ethnological Gallery, which was nicknamed "Rainbow House";
1911-688: The Brooklyn Institute (later known as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts). That organization later founded numerous cultural institutions in Brooklyn, including the Brooklyn Museum , the Brooklyn Botanic Garden , the Brooklyn Children's Museum , and the Brooklyn Academy of Music among other cultural, scientific, and education programs. The Brooklyn Institute founded the Brooklyn Institute Free Library in
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#17327726853732002-534: The Brooklyn Museum as part of the institute's long-term plan to convert the museum into a cultural center. The museum's Egyptian galleries began undergoing renovations the same year. The renovation of the Egyptian galleries, the first phase of the museum's $ 3.5 million overhaul, was finished in November 1953. Brown, Lawford & Forbes designed a rear annex for the museum in 1955. The museum's furniture, sculpture, and watercolor galleries reopened in 1957 following
2093-553: The Brooklyn Museum's collection in the 1950s, as did the interior of a room in John D. Rockefeller Jr. 's Midtown Manhattan home. In 1967 the Federated Institutes of Cultural Enrichment (FICE), a coalition of Brooklyn-based arts organizations, demanded that the Brooklyn Museum exhibit more works by artists from the borough, especially African American artists. The museum then hired black curator Henri Ghent to direct
2184-508: The Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn officials hosted an architectural design competition for the building, eventually awarding the contract to McKim, Mead & White . The competition was characterized in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as "one of the most important in the history of architecture", as the museum was to contain numerous divisions. The museum remained a subdivision of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, along with
2275-542: The Crown" in November 2020. From June through September 2023, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of Pablo Picasso 's death, the museum hosted It's Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby , curated by Hannah Gadsby ; though the exhibition was popular, it was also highly controversial. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library's incorporation, the museum launched
2366-485: The Egyptian government to restore the Cairo Museum 's collection. Due to budget cuts, the Brooklyn Museum eliminated its Middle Eastern art division in 1979, despite the fact that the museum had frequently applied for federal grants in the preceding years, most of which had been approved from 1976 to 1978. Two of the museum's period rooms reopened in 1980 following a renovation. By then, director Michael Botwinick
2457-455: The Ionic order. The west and east wings are divided vertically by pilasters ; between each set of pilasters are windows with architraves . The entablature above the pilasters contains a frieze with inscribed names of figures who represent knowledge. The Eastern Parkway facade is topped by 20 monolithic figures on the cornice: one above each pilaster on the west and east wings, and four above
2548-689: The New York City government and derive part of their yearly funding from the city. It was also part of the Brooklyn Educational Cultural Alliance during the late 20th century. During the late 1980s, the museum was part of a group called Destination Brooklyn, which sought to attract visitors to Brooklyn; this initiative had stalled by the early 1990s. Franklin Hooper was the Brooklyn Institute's first director, serving for 25 years until his death in 1914. Hooper
2639-611: The Youth's Free Library (also located inside the Brooklyn Lyceum) and the Long Island Historical Society . In 1841 the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library, the first free library in Brooklyn, moved from its original location in Brooklyn Heights at the corner of Henry and Cranberry Streets into the Brooklyn Lyceum. In 1843 the Brooklyn Lyceum organization and the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library merged to form
2730-517: The association allowed such sales to proceed for a two-year window through 2022 in response to the effects of the pandemic. The Brooklyn Museum's collection contains around 500,000 objects. In the twentieth century, Brooklyn Museum exhibitions sought to present an encyclopedic view of art and culture, with a focus on educating a broad public. By the 21st century, the Brooklyn Museum frequently hosted shows that promoted cultural diversity and, in particular, underrepresented demographic groups. In 1923,
2821-472: The building was built at the intersection of Washington and Concord Streets on the opposite corner from the English and Classical Hall where the Brooklyn Lyceum originally held it meetings. The Brooklyn Lyceum building housed more than just the activities of the Brooklyn Lyceum organization and multiple organizations used its premises simultaneously. Shortly after the building's completion, the building became
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2912-452: The city's capital budget. Museum officials held an architectural design competition to redesign the west wing, attracting 103 competitors; they hired Arata Isozaki of James Stewart Polshek Partners that October. Isozaki's design retained much of McKim, Mead & White's original plan but included a "great hall" and trapezoidal courtyards, as well as an angled rear wall and an obelisk. Buck expressed optimism that media coverage of
3003-489: The creation of the observatory in 1907. The Brooklyn Institute awarded a construction contract for wings F and G, extending south of the central pavilion, to Benedetto & Egan in May 1911. Extending 120 feet (37 m) south and measuring 200 feet (61 m) wide, this addition was to contain a central court with a glass roof. That July, McKim, Mead & White filed plans for wings F and G. The Brooklyn Institute converted
3094-414: The design competition would attract additional visitors, even if the master plan was never completely carried out. The scope of the renovation grew quickly, with estimated costs reaching $ 200 million by early 1988. Iris and B. Gerald Cantor donated $ 3.5 million for the museum's auditorium in 1989, and the city gave another $ 2 million for other work. The Brooklyn Museum announced in 1990 that it would begin
3185-626: The directorship's endowment. According to the museum's website, it receives funding from the city government , Brooklyn borough president 's office, mayor's office, New York City Council , state government , federal government , and other agencies. In 2005, the museum was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $ 20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation , in turn funded by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg . Major benefactors have historically included Frank Lusk Babbott . The museum
3276-420: The early 1970s. Due to a shortage of security guards, in mid-1971, museum officials announced that they would close the museum two days per week, allowing all galleries to remain open even with limited security. The museum also reopened its 23 period rooms that October after a yearlong closure, and they also opened a new period room, themed to a private study. Officials planned to move the Community Gallery to
3367-532: The elaborate decoration which so often clutters up the entrances of public building." Following a 2011 renovation, the lobby was redesigned as a double-height central gallery surrounded by 25-foot-tall (7.6 m) columns. The Brooklyn Museum is operated by a nonprofit of the same name, which was established in 1935. The museum is part of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), a group of institutions that occupy land or buildings owned by
3458-403: The first phase of renovation, which was to cost $ 31 million. This involved converting the offices in the west wing to about 64,000 square feet (5,900 m ) of gallery space for its Egyptian collection, as well as building storage space and an auditorium. The same year, budget cuts prompted museum officials to lay off employees and close its doors on Mondays. The auditorium opened in 1991; at
3549-478: The formal opening of the museum. The Brooklyn Institute's museum formally opened on October 2, 1897, and was one of the last major structures built in the city of Brooklyn before the formation of the City of Greater New York in 1898. The Brooklyn Institute approved the construction of the central entrance pavilion in May 1899, and Hooper requested $ 600,000 for this addition the next month. The four-story structure
3640-469: The gallery was designed by curator Stewart Culin . A Japanese art gallery opened at the museum in April 1927, and the museum's Swiss Gothic, German, and Venetian galleries opened that May. Construction of the Brooklyn Museum stalled in 1928 after years of attempts to complete it. At the time, only 28 of the 80 proposed statues atop the building's facade had been installed, and the main north–south corridor
3731-441: The ground-level auditorium, was built during the mid-20th century as a modern-style space. Although then-director Philip Newell Youtz was the architect of record , the lobby's design may have been influenced by William Lescaze , who was Youtz's friend. The lobby, containing black-glass panels and indirect lighting, was described in the 1939 WPA Guide to New York City as "an example of the best in modern architecture... devoid of
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3822-545: The heads of all of the museum's departments to determine how much exhibit and storage space they needed. The museum also planned a new entrance from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which had twice as many annual visitors; the Botanic Garden entrance had been planned by McKim, Mead & White but never executed. The project was expected to cost $ 50 million to $ 100 million, which was to be funded by
3913-488: The home of The Hamiltonians, a Brooklyn Literary Society that had also previously used the English and Classical Hall. In 1838 the Brooklyn Lyceum of Natural History was founded as a sub-organization under the Brooklyn Lyceum. In 1839 the Brooklyn City Library, a subscription library , was established inside the Brooklyn Lyceum building. It remained active until 1851 when its collection was divided between
4004-514: The lack of space in the building, the lobby and auditorium were being used to exhibit artwork. The Brooklyn Institute had been forced to decline some donations of artwork, as the works could not be displayed, while other works of art had to be placed in storage. By 1920, the New York City Subway 's Institute Park station had opened outside the Brooklyn Museum, greatly improving access to the once-isolated museum from Manhattan and
4095-418: The last remaining storage rooms in the eastern wing into galleries in October 1911. The next month, a temporary access road was built from Flatbush Avenue to the rear of the building. Wills & Martin, one of the firms that had been hired to erect the new wings, declared bankruptcy in November 1913. Work stopped completely in November 1914, and the incomplete structures started to deteriorate. Because of
4186-690: The late 20th century following major renovations. Significant areas of the collection include antiquities, specifically their collection of Egyptian antiquities spanning over 3,000 years. European , African , Oceanic , and Japanese art make for notable antiquities collections as well. American art is heavily represented, starting at the Colonial period. Artists represented in the collection include Mark Rothko , Edward Hopper , Norman Rockwell , Judy Chicago , Winslow Homer , Edgar Degas , Georgia O'Keeffe , and Max Weber . The Brooklyn Museum's origins date to August 1823, when Augustus Graham founded
4277-480: The mid-2010s, the museum was facing financial difficulties, and half of the 465,000 annual patrons did not pay admission because of the museum's suggested admission policy. The Brooklyn Museum's Chinese-art gallery reopened in 2019. The museum was temporarily closed from March to October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City . During the George Floyd protests in New York City in June 2020,
4368-524: The museum began providing a larger variety of programs and adding interactive exhibits and programming. The Brooklyn Museum announced in 1964 that it would build a special-exhibit gallery on the first floor and an open study/storage gallery on the fifth floor. The Hall of the Americas opened on the museum's first floor the following May. A sculpture garden, consisting of architectural details salvaged from demolished buildings across New York City, opened at
4459-419: The museum building to a movie set. The primary elevation of the facade, facing north along Eastern Parkway, is 510 feet (160 m) wide and consists of the west and east wings, which flank a projecting pavilion with a portico . Additional pavilions project from the facade at either end. The center portico contains six Ionic columns that support a pediment with sculptures in its tympanum . The portico
4550-578: The museum building. The Henry Luce Foundation gave the museum a $ 10 million grant in 2001, which funded the construction of the Luce Center for American Art on the fifth floor. The museum's renovation was completed in April 2004. At the same time, the museum announced that it would revert to its previous name, Brooklyn Museum. By then, the Brooklyn Museum was focusing on attracting Brooklyn residents, rather than visitors from other boroughs. The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art opened on
4641-560: The museum had natural-history exhibits, which had not been the case since 1934. Brooklyn Museum officials hired architect James Polshek in 2000 to design a new glass-clad entrance for the building at a cost of $ 55 million. Polshek described the front entrance as a "wasteland" at the time, and he said he wanted to build "Brooklyn's new front stoop". The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Polshek's design, despite opposition from preservationists. The renovation cost $ 63 million and also added air conditioning throughout
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#17327726853734732-705: The museum in April 1966. The Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art began coordinating joint programs and exhibitions in 1967. By the late 1960s, the museum was again facing a funding shortage; several galleries had been temporarily closed due to a lack of money, and its director Thomas Buechner was considering closing the museum two days a week. Brooklyn Museum officials also wanted to hire additional security guards to deter crime. The Brooklyn Museum's Community Gallery, exhibiting black New Yorkers' art, opened in October 1968 following advocacy from Federated Institutes of Cultural Enrichment (FICE),
4823-557: The museum participated in the Open Your Lobby initiative, being one of two major art institutions in New York City (along with MoMA PS1 ) to provide protesters with shelter or resources. The Brooklyn Museum received $ 50 million from the New York City government in 2021, the largest such gift in the museum's history. The money was to be used to renovate 40,000 square feet (3,700 m ) into gallery space. The museum's South Asian and Islamic galleries reopened in 2022, completing
4914-512: The museum raised funds for an endowment to pay for collections care by selling or deaccessioning works of art. The October 2020 sale consisted of 12 works by artists including Lucas Cranach the Elder , Gustave Courbet , and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot , while other sales throughout that month included Modernist artists. Though usually prohibited by the Association of Art Museum Directors ,
5005-417: The museum was forced to close some galleries part-time. Another Egyptian gallery opened in April 1959, and a "pattern library" for teaching opened that July. A continued shortage of security guards forced the Brooklyn Museum to close two days a week at the beginning of 1961; the museum went back to seven-day operations in June 1961 after the city provided money for additional guards. To attract visitors,
5096-414: The museum was hosted on December 14 of the same year. Two of the museum's three stories had been completed by April 1896. The Brooklyn Institute museum's building was completed in March 1897 after a sidewalk was built between the museum's entrance and Eastern Parkway. The museum's first exhibit was a collection of almost 600 paintings, which had opened to the public on June 1, 1897, several months before
5187-568: The museum was one of the first U.S. institutions to exhibit African cast-metal and other objects as art, rather than as ethnological artifacts. The museum's acquisitions during this time also included such varied objects as the interior of a Swiss house, a stained glass window, and a pipe organ. The museum's first period room opened in 1929; these period rooms represented middle-class and non-elite citizens' homes, in contrast to other museums. which tended to focus on upper-class period rooms. The 17th-century Jans Martense Schenck house became part of
5278-404: The museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art . In 2004, the Brooklyn Museum featured Manifest Destiny , an 8-by-24-foot (2.4 m × 7.3 m) oil-on-wood mural by Alexis Rockman that was commissioned by the museum as a centerpiece for the second-floor Mezzanine Gallery and marked the opening of the museum's renovated Grand Lobby and plaza. Other exhibitions have showcased
5369-590: The museum's collection—second-largest in North America are fake. The artworks were exhibited starting in 2009. In early to mid-2018, the museum hosted what was the final stop of the touring exhibit David Bowie Is , which had begun in 2013 in London and visited nearly a dozen countries before reaching the Brooklyn Museum. Costumes from The Crown and The Queen's Gambit television series were put on display as part of its virtual exhibition "The Queen and
5460-602: The museum's director in April 1997, and Lehman announced in September 2014 that he would retire the next year. In May 2015, Creative Time president and artistic director Anne Pasternak was named the museum's next director; she assumed the position on September 1, 2015. Since 2014, the director's position has formally been known as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum , after Leon Levy Foundation cofounder Shelby White donated $ 5 million to
5551-475: The museum's fourth floor in March 2007. The museum extensively renovated its Great Hall, which reopened in early 2011, and it relocated and reopened its African art gallery on the first floor the same year. A 4,150-square-foot (386 m ) museum shop opened at the Brooklyn Museum in early 2012, followed later that year by a new cafe. The upscale restaurant Saul opened within the Brooklyn Museum in October 2013, changing its name to The Norm in 2016. By
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#17327726853735642-431: The museum's permanent collections, and the light courts would have exhibited large objects. The second floor would have housed more collections and lecture rooms, while the third floor would have had the library, music room, and galleries for images, domestic art, and science. An additional story, above the central part of the building, would have housed more departments of the museum. The main lobby, originally occupied by
5733-461: The museum's sixth floor the same year. The department store chain Abraham & Straus donated $ 50,000 in 1948 for the establishment of a "laboratory of industrial design" at the Brooklyn Museum. By the following year, Brooklyn Institute officials sought to expand the museum as part of a "vast cultural program". The plans involved an annex with a 2,500-seat auditorium behind the west wing, which
5824-617: The museum, which struggled to compete with more famous institutions in Manhattan. In 1984, the museum completed the renovations of its last period rooms and opened a gallery for "early-19th-century decorative arts". The unprofitable Brooklyn Museum Art School was closed the same year, and the museum obtained $ 14 million in city funding to upgrade the climate-control systems. The museum resumed Monday operations in late 1984 after receiving additional city funding, and it started running TV advertisements in 1985. The Brooklyn Museum announced
5915-403: The museum. In the resulting lawsuit, a U.S. district court judge ruled that the New York City government could not withhold city funds from the Brooklyn Museum on First Amendment grounds. In 2002, the museum received the work The Dinner Party , by feminist artist Judy Chicago , as a gift from The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation. Its permanent exhibition began in 2007, as a centerpiece for
6006-445: The opening of the eastern wing, the museum building had reached one-eighth of its total planned size. Although the museum's collections continued to grow, the New York City government was only willing to give the museum as little funding as necessary for essential maintenance. Several of the institute's donors proposed in 1905 to give $ 25,000 for the upkeep of an "astronomical observatory" at the Brooklyn Museum. City officials endorsed
6097-410: The other boroughs. In April 1922, governor Nathan L. Miller signed legislation authorizing the New York City government to issue bonds to fund wings F and G of the Brooklyn Museum. The New York City Board of Estimate refused to approve the Brooklyn Institute trustees' request for $ 875,000, and mayor John Francis Hylan also blocked the funding. Hylan changed his mind after visiting the museum, and
6188-538: The pavilion, but they had not done so by the end of 1899. Work on the central wing started in June 1900. The museum's central section was nearly completed by January 1903, but work proceeded slowly due to labor disputes. New York City mayor Seth Low signed a bill in August 1902, approving $ 150,000 for the construction of the Brooklyn Institute's eastern wing and pavilion. The eastern wing cost $ 344,000 to construct, and it officially opened on December 14, 1907. With
6279-682: The pavilions. An additional ten figures, five each on the western and eastern elevations of the outermost pavilions, were sculpted. The sculptures were carved by the Piccirilli Brothers , who sculpted a total of 30 figures on the museum's facade. Fourteen sculptors were hired to design the sculptures, which each measure 12 feet (3.7 m) high. Had the full building been completed, there would have been 80 sculptures in total, with 20 each depicting classical subjects, medieval and Renaissance subjects, modern European and American subjects, and Asian subjects. The 30 extant sculptures consist of
6370-423: The pilasters are topped by shorter pilasters rather than sculptures. The southern elevation faces a parking lot and contains a masonry facade and some windows. There is also an annex to the south, designed by Brown, Lawford & Forbes, which contains a secondary entrance and a stairway. The oldest portion of the building measured 193 by 71 feet (59 by 22 m) and comprised only about three percent of what
6461-570: The project diminished. Only the wings on the northern end, as well as the northeastern light court (known as the Auditorium Court), were built; the resulting L-shaped building covers a site of about 4.5 acres (1.8 ha). Although additional wings were built behind the original east wing over the years (creating the current light court), nothing was built behind the west wing. This led the New York Daily News to liken
6552-514: The public for the first time. By early 1938, museum officials sought more than $ 300,000 for repairs to the museum building, and then-director Philip Newell Youtz said that parts of the building were crumbling. The Brooklyn Museum Art School , formerly a part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music , was moved to the Brooklyn Museum in 1941. An art distribution center sponsored by the Works Progress Administration opened on
6643-466: The second stage of the renovation. The rear annex contained a new stairway, which led to new galleries on the fourth through sixth stories of the center section. By the late 1950s, the museum was running low on funds, with director Edgar C. Schenck blaming the museum's fiscal woes on Manhattan residents' unwillingness to cross the East River to visit Brooklyn. Due to a shortage of security guards,
6734-488: The time, there had not been an auditorium at the museum for over half a century. About 33,000 square feet (3,100 m ) in the museum's west wing reopened as gallery space in November 1993. The renovation retained the original layout of the west-wing spaces. The New York Times described Isozaki and Polshek's renovation as aiming for "clean, serene spaces"; the rooms had rooms with maple floors, white walls, horizontal lighting strips, and granite baseboards . The west wing
6825-491: The title Brooklyn Institute . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brooklyn_Institute&oldid=1171606103 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum
6916-633: The well-known "Bird Lady" terra cotta figure, to papyrus documents (among others the Brooklyn Papyrus ). The museum has nine mummified Egyptians. The Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern collections are housed in a series of galleries in the museum. Egyptian artifacts can be found in the long-term exhibit, Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity , as well as in the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Galleries. Near Eastern artifacts are located in
7007-405: The west and south. The original design for the Brooklyn Museum proposed a structure four times as large as what was built from 1893 through 1927, when construction ended. As designed, the three-story museum building was supposed to have several wings, centered around a memorial hall and clustered around four light courts . After Brooklyn became part of greater New York City in 1898, support for
7098-543: The works of various contemporary artists including Patrick Kelly , Chuck Close , Denis Peterson , Ron Mueck , Takashi Murakami , Mat Benote , Kiki Smith , Jim Dine , Robert Rauschenberg , Ching Ho Cheng , Sylvia Sleigh William Wegman , Jimmy de Sana , Oscar yi Hou , Baseera Khan , Loraine O'Grady , John Edmonds , Cecilia Vicuña , and a 2004 survey show of work by Brooklyn artists, Open House: Working in Brooklyn . In 2008, curator Edna Russman announced that she believes 10 out of 30 works of Coptic art held in
7189-399: Was appointed as acting director in early 1974, serving for a few months. He was succeeded by Michael Botwinick, who was appointed in 1974 and stepped down in 1982. Robert T. Buck became director in 1983 and served until he resigned in 1996, upon which Linda S. Ferber became acting director. From 1992 to 1995, Stephanie Stebich was Buck's assistant director. Arnold L. Lehman was named as
7280-445: Was appointed director shortly afterward, served until his death in 1959. Thomas S. Buechner became the museum's director in 1960, making him one of the youngest directors in the country. During Buechner's tenure, Donelson Hoopes was hired as Curator of Paintings and Sculptures from 1965 to 1969. Duncan F. Cameron assumed the directorship in 1971, following Buechner's resignation; Cameron himself resigned in 1973. Michael Kan
7371-496: Was considering several measures to reduce the museum's budgetary shortfalls, including halving the number of art classes, closing the museum during the workweek, and hosting fewer exhibits per year. At the time, the museum received 31 percent of its funds from the city, a higher percentage than other New York City museums; the city still owned the building itself. After Robert Buck became director in 1983, he began hosting additional art classes, attracting members, and raising money for
7462-446: Was destroyed in a fire in 1891. In February 1889, several prominent Brooklyn citizens announced that they would begin fundraising for a new museum for the Brooklyn Institute. The museum's proponents quickly identified a site just east of Prospect Park , on the south side of Eastern Parkway . The next year, under director Franklin Hooper , Institute leaders reorganized as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and began planning
7553-399: Was founded in 1823 as the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library and merged with the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1843. The museum was conceived as an institution focused on a broad public. The Brooklyn Museum's current building dates to 1897 and has been expanded several times since then. The museum initially struggled to maintain its building and collection, but it was revitalized in
7644-547: Was not complete. Nineteen American period rooms opened at the museum at the end of 1929. In May 1934, NYC Parks approved plans for the removal of the main entrance steps, which were replaced by ground-level doors. The project also included the construction of two galleries next to the lobby, as well as new landscaping and parking lots. This work was carried out by Public Works Administration laborers. A gallery dedicated to living artists' work opened in February 1935, and
7735-501: Was originally accessed by a staircase that was removed in 1936–1937. Daniel Chester French was responsible for the pediment sculptures. French also designed the two allegorical figures Brooklyn and Manhattan flanking the museum's entrance; they were created in 1916 for the Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge and relocated to the museum in 1963. Above the pediment is a copper cresting with anthemia , as well as
7826-428: Was originally planned. The center of the first floor would have contained a memorial hall, while a "great hall of sculpture" would have extended to the north and south of the memorial hall. To the west of the memorial hall would have been gallery space for artwork on loan, while to the east would have been a multi-story auditorium. The remaining corners of the first floor would have included several additional galleries for
7917-401: Was planned to cost $ 500,000, as well as a general renovation of existing facilities, which was to cost $ 1.5 million. A new 400-seat lecture hall opened at the museum that September, within space formerly occupied by two Egyptian galleries. To attract visitors, the museum expanded its educational programs greatly in the late 1940s. Brooklyn Institute officials announced plans in 1951 to repair
8008-426: Was renamed for investor Morris A. Schapiro and his brother, art historian Meyer Schapiro , in early 1994 after Morris Schapiro donated $ 5 million. The Brooklyn Museum changed its name to Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1997. According to acting director Linda S. Ferber, the renaming was necessary because "there was more confusion about the museum's identity than we supposed"; for instance, many visitors still believed
8099-441: Was succeeded by William Henry Fox, who served from 1914 to his retirement in 1934. Fox was followed by Philip Newell Youtz from 1934 to 1938. Laurance Page Roberts was director from 1938 to 1942, when his wife Isabel Spaulding Roberts became interim director on his behalf; L. P. Roberts formally resigned in 1946. His immediate successor, Charles Nagel Jr., served for nine years until he resigned in 1955. Edgar Craig Schenck, who
8190-464: Was to be built. Engineers began surveying the site that May and found that the bedrock under the site was several hundred feet deep, making it impossible to build the foundations on solid rock. Nonetheless, the engineers had determined that the gravel fill under the site was strong enough to support a building. Construction on the Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences' west wing officially began on September 14, 1895. A groundbreaking ceremony for
8281-440: Was to measure 140 by 122 feet (43 by 37 m). The central pavilion was to include a 1,250-seat lecture hall in the basement (actually at ground level), as well as a hall of sculpture on the first floor, which would serve as the museum's main lobby. The second story was to contain natural-history exhibits, while the third story was to include paintings. The New York State Legislature needed to authorize $ 300,000 in bonds for
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