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75-748: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn . It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the Smithsonian Institution . It was conceived as the United States' museum of contemporary and modern art and currently focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning mainly on

150-470: A sword , could be hired from shops outside. The treasuries of cathedrals and large churches, or parts of them, were often set out for public display and veneration. Many of the grander English country houses could be toured by the respectable for a tip to the housekeeper, during the long periods when the family were not in residence. Special arrangements were made to allow the public to see many royal or private collections placed in galleries, as with most of

225-537: A bequest. The Kunstmuseum Basel , through its lineage which extends back to the Amerbach Cabinet , which included a collection of works by Hans Holbein the Younger and purchased by the city of Basel in 1661, is considered to be the first museum of art open to the public in the world. In the second half of the 18th century, many private collections of art were opened to the public, and during and after

300-621: A building that works as a museum." An original plan with a reflecting pool across the Mall was approved in July 1967. When excavation started, a controversy arose, resulting in a revised design, with a smaller footprint, which was approved on July 1, 1971. In 2013, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden drew around 645,000 visitors. It has a budget of $ 8 million, which does not include the $ 10 to $ 12 million in operational support supplied by

375-449: A collaboration of museums and galleries that are more interested with the categorization of art. They are interested in the potential use of folksonomy within museums and the requirements for post-processing of terms that have been gathered, both to test their utility and to deploy them in useful ways. The steve.museum is one example of a site that is experimenting with this collaborative philosophy. The participating institutions include

450-488: A female singer performing outdoors. In 2019, Barbara and Aaron Levine donated their entire Marcel Duchamp collection, one of the largest in the world, to the museum. The exhibit "Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection" ran from November 9, 2019, to October 12, 2020. In 2009, then Director Richard Koshalek announced that an inflatable structure would be erected over the Hirshhorn's central plaza to create

525-512: A lack of transparency, trust, vision and good faith". Four of the board's 15 members resigned between June 2012 and April 2013, and three more (including Caplan) in May, June and July 2013. The museum was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft (1909–1990) and provides 60,000 square feet (5,600 m) of exhibition space inside and nearly four acres outside in its two-level Sculpture Garden and plaza. The New York Times described it as "a fortress of

600-433: A major factor in social mobility (for example, getting a higher-paid, higher-status job). The argument states that certain art museums are aimed at perpetuating aristocratic and upper class ideals of taste and excludes segments of society without the social opportunities to develop such interest. The fine arts thus perpetuate social inequality by creating divisions between different social groups. This argument also ties in with

675-422: A new public space. The Seasonal Inflatable Structure, to be called the "Bloomberg Bubble," was due to be erected in 2013 and would be inflated annually for one two-month period. It was supposed to create a 14,000-square-foot space for performance and lectures. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro , the proposal won a progressive architecture award from Architect magazine . Hirshhorn officials began reconsidering

750-402: A number of online art catalogues and galleries that have been developed independently of the support of any individual museum. Many of these, like American Art Gallery, are attempts to develop galleries of artwork that are encyclopedic or historical in focus, while others are commercial efforts to sell the work of contemporary artists. A limited number of such sites have independent importance in

825-432: A scholar's cloister, rooms for seminars and other events, and a conservation lab, all wrapped around three courtyards. On June 13, 2012, a 22-year-old museum visitor named Uriel Landeros defaced an original Picasso at the museum, Woman in a Red Armchair , using black spray paint to stencil a bull and a matador and the word Conquista on the work of art. The vandal, a self-proclaimed artist, said that he did it to make

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900-688: A separate building near the main collection, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel formerly housed two 13th century Byzantine church frescoes, an apse semi-dome of the Virgin Panagia and a dome featuring a depiction of Christ known as Christ Pantocrator . After having been removed from a church in Lysi in Turkish-occupied North Cyprus by the illegal art trade, they were recovered during the 1980s. According to

975-526: A site for long-term contemporary installation work. The first exhibition in the reopened space is "The Infinity Machine", a new work commissioned by the Menil by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller . In 1992, Renzo Piano was commissioned by Dominique de Menil to build a small, independent pavilion dedicated to the work of Cy Twombly , Jr. in the grounds of the Menil Collection. In contrast to

1050-481: A statement, and did not intend to destroy the painting. Landeros was sentenced to two years in prison for felony graffiti and criminal mischief. The museum continues to be governed by the Menil Foundation. The foundation has been solely responsible for acquisition funds, which during the first years averaged more than $ 1 million annually, and operating disbursements of between $ 2.7 million and $ 2.9 million

1125-479: A vote to proceed with the project in May 2013. In the wake of the vote, seen as a referendum on his leadership, museum director Richard Koshalek announced he would resign by the end of 2013. Constance Caplan, chair of the museum's board of trustees, resigned on July 8, 2013. She cited what the Washington Post characterized as "a board, a museum and the larger Smithsonian Institution at a crossroads, roiled by

1200-596: A year. Nearly half of the money for the museum building was derived from outside sources in Houston, in particular the Cullen Foundation and the Brown Foundation , which contributed $ 5 million each. By 2001, the Menil Foundation's endowment is $ 200 million. The budget pays in part for the museum's operation and for exhibitions, research, and catalogs. Brown & Root heir Louisa Stude Sarofim

1275-567: Is a building or space for the display of art , usually from the museum 's own collection . It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although primarily concerned with visual art , art museums are often used as a venue for other cultural exchanges and artistic activities, such as lectures, jewelry, performance arts , music concerts, or poetry readings. Art museums also frequently host themed temporary exhibitions, which often include items on loan from other collections. An institution dedicated to

1350-557: Is generally considered to have been the first art museum in the United States. It was originally housed in the Renwick Gallery , built in 1859. Now a part of the Smithsonian Institution , the Renwick housed William Wilson Corcoran 's collection of American and European art. The building was designed by James Renwick Jr. and finally completed in 1874. It is located at 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Renwick designed it after

1425-609: Is located near the southern edge of the Menil campus, adjacent to the Cy Twombly Gallery and north of the Dan Flavin Installation. Modestly scaled, the flat-roofed building tops out at 16 feet (4.9 metres), no taller than the neighboring gray bungalows on the 30-acre campus. Half of its space is for underground storage, while the ground level will contain a large, flexible central living room, about 3,000 square feet (280 square metres) of exhibition space,

1500-559: Is provided by a dedicated print room located within the museum. Murals or mosaics often remain where they have been created ( in situ ), although many have also been removed to galleries. Various forms of 20th-century art, such as land art and performance art , also usually exist outside a gallery. Photographic records of these kinds of art are often shown in galleries, however. Most museums and large art galleries own more works than they have room to display. The rest are held in reserve collections , on or off-site. A sculpture garden

1575-557: Is similar to an art gallery, presenting sculpture in an outdoor space. Sculpture has grown in popularity with sculptures installed in open spaces on both a permanent and temporary basis. Most larger paintings from about 1530 onwards were designed to be seen either in churches or palaces, and many buildings built as palaces now function successfully as art museums. By the 18th century additions to palaces and country houses were sometimes intended specifically as galleries for viewing art, and designed with that in mind. The architectural form of

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1650-462: Is the Rothko Chapel . The Menil Foundation began buying bungalow -style homes in the area in the 1960s, painting each the same shade of gray to establish a commonality. When the museum building was constructed, it was painted what has become known as "Menil gray" to coordinate with the bungalows. In 2013, the landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh was appointed to enhance and expand

1725-468: Is the first ground-up building in the United States dedicated to the exhibit, study, storage and conservation of modern and contemporary artworks on paper, according to the Menil Collection. Los Angeles–based architecture firm Johnston Marklee and New York–based landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates designed the Drawing Institute. They worked in close collaboration with

1800-502: Is to shape identity and memory, cultural heritage, distilled narratives and treasured stories. Many art museums throughout history have been designed with a cultural purpose or been subject to political intervention. In particular, national art galleries have been thought to incite feelings of nationalism . This has occurred in both democratic and non-democratic countries, although authoritarian regimes have historically exercised more control over administration of art museums. Ludwig Justi

1875-768: The Alte Pinakothek , Munich) was opened to the public in 1779 and the Medici collection in Florence around 1789 (as the Uffizi Gallery). The opening of the Musée du Louvre during the French Revolution in 1793 as a public museum for much of the former French royal collection marked an important stage in the development of public access to art by transferring the ownership to a republican state; but it

1950-723: The Des Moines Art Center in Iowa for 14 years, succeeded Abram Lerner as the Hirshhorn's director. Art collector and retail store founder Sydney Lewis of Richmond, Virginia, succeeded Senator Daniel P. Moynihan as board chairman. Demetrion held the post for more than 17 years. Ned Rifkin became director in February 2002, returning to the Hirshhorn after directorship positions at the Menil Collection in Texas and

2025-649: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars , many royal collections were nationalized, even where the monarchy remained in place, as in Spain and Bavaria . In 1753, the British Museum was established and the Old Royal Library collection of manuscripts was donated to it for public viewing. In 1777, a proposal to the British government was put forward by MP John Wilkes to buy the art collection of

2100-772: The Guggenheim Museum in New York City by Frank Lloyd Wright , the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry , Centre Pompidou-Metz by Shigeru Ban , and the redesign of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by Mario Botta . Some critics argue these galleries defeat their purposes because their dramatic interior spaces distract the eye from the paintings they are supposed to exhibit. Museums are more than just mere 'fixed structures designed to house collections.' Their purpose

2175-587: The Guggenheim Museum , the Cleveland Museum of Art , the Metropolitan Museum of Art , and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art . There are relatively few local/regional/national organizations dedicated specifically to art museums. Most art museums are associated with local/regional/national organizations for the arts , humanities or museums in general. Many of these organizations are listed as follows: Menil Collection While

2250-635: The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Rifkin was previously chief curator of the Hirshhorn from 1986 until 1991. In October 2003, Rifkin was named Under Secretary for Art of the Smithsonian. In 2005, Olga Viso was named director of the Hirshhorn. Viso joined the curatorial department of the Hirshhorn in 1995 as assistant curator, was named associate curator in 1998, and served as curator of contemporary art from 2000 to 2003. In October 2003, Viso

2325-551: The Late Medieval period onwards, areas in royal palaces, castles , and large country houses of the social elite were often made partially accessible to sections of the public, where art collections could be viewed. At the Palace of Versailles , entrance was restricted to people of certain social classes who were required to wear the proper apparel, which typically included the appropriate accessories, silver shoe buckles and

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2400-540: The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo . The phrase "art gallery" is also sometimes used to describe businesses which display art for sale, but these are not art museums. Throughout history, large and expensive works of art have generally been commissioned by religious institutions or political leaders and been displayed in temples, churches, and palaces . Although these collections of art were not open to

2475-624: The Papacy , while the Vatican Museums , whose collections are still owned by the Pope, trace their foundation to 1506, when the recently discovered Laocoön and His Sons was put on public display. A series of museums on different subjects were opened over subsequent centuries, and many of the buildings of the Vatican were purpose-built as galleries. An early royal treasury opened to the public

2550-498: The Smithsonian Institution . In 2019, the museum drew around 890,000 visitors. The following year, the museum saw a significant decline in visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related museum closures. The Hirshhorn remained closed to the public from March 2020 until August 2021. In 2020, visitor numbers fell to around 133,000. In 2021, visitor numbers rose to around 167,000. Art museum An art museum or art gallery

2625-553: The mystification of fine arts . Research suggests that the context in which an artwork is being presented has significant influence on its reception by the audience, and viewers shown artworks in a museum rated them more highly than when displayed in a "laboratory" setting Most art museums have only limited online collections, but a few museums, as well as some libraries and government agencies, have developed substantial online catalogues. Museums, libraries, and government agencies with substantial online collections include: There are

2700-401: The 1970s, a number of political theorists and social commentators have pointed to the political implications of art museums and social relations. Pierre Bourdieu , for instance, argued that in spite the apparent freedom of choice in the arts, people's artistic preferences (such as classical music, rock, traditional music) strongly tie in with their social position. So called cultural capital is

2775-464: The Bubble in 2013. Construction cost estimates for the structure more than tripled to $ 15.5 million from $ 5 million, and no major gifts for the project were received between 2010 and May 2013. A Hirshhorn study also concluded that the cost of programming (such as symposia and special events) using the Bubble were likely to run a $ 2.8 million annual deficit. The Hirshhorn's board of directors evenly split on

2850-825: The Hirshhorn's new director. Chiu, who was born in Darwin, Australia , is a scholar of contemporary Chinese art. Chiu oversaw the Hirshhorn's 40th anniversary celebration in the fall of 2014. Chiu began her tenure at the Hirshhorn in September 2014. Notable artists in the collection include: Pablo Picasso , Henri Matisse , Mary Cassatt , Thomas Eakins , Henry Moore , Jackson Pollock , Joseph Glasco , Mark Rothko , Franz Kline , Hans Hofmann , Morris Louis , Kenneth Noland , John Chamberlain , Francis Bacon , Willem de Kooning , Milton Avery , Ellsworth Kelly , Ching Ho Cheng , Louise Nevelson , Arshile Gorky , Edward Hopper , Larry Rivers , and Raphael Soyer among others. Outside

2925-602: The Louvre's Tuileries addition. At the time of its construction, it was known as "the American Louvre". University art museums and galleries constitute collections of art developed, owned, and maintained by all kinds of schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities. This phenomenon exists in the West and East, making it a global practice. Although easily overlooked, there are over 700 university art museums in

3000-736: The Marxist theory of mystification and elite culture . Furthermore, certain art galleries, such as the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris are situated in buildings of considerable emotional impact. The Louvre in Paris is for instance located in the former Royal Castle of the ancient regime , and is thus clearly designed with a political agenda. It has been argued that such buildings create feelings of subjugation and adds to

3075-595: The Menil Collection’s 30-acre campus. The master site plan, by David Chipperfield Architects , calls for the creation of additional green space and walkways, a cafe, and new buildings for art. The Menil Collection is open to the public, and admission is free. The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday 11 am to 7 pm. It is located near the University of St. Thomas in the Neartown area of Houston. Located in

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3150-508: The Menil’s main museum building and the surrounding bungalows, the Cy Twombly Gallery is built of sand-colored block concrete, is square in plan and contains nine galleries. Similar to the main museum, it is lit through the roof, but here with an external canopy of louvers, shading the sloping, hipped glass roof, below which a fabric ceiling diffuses the light, giving a reduced intensity of around 300 lux. The Menil Drawing Institute, opened in 2018,

3225-521: The New York–based structural engineering firm Guy Nordenson and Associates. Johnston Marklee was selected to design it after winning a competition that also included David Chipperfield , SANAA and Tatiana Bilbao. Rhode Island–based Gilbane Building Company , a subsidiary of Gilbane, Inc. , was selected as the general contractor. The $ 40-million building, with a total of 30,000 square feet (2,800 square metres) on two floors, one of them below ground,

3300-536: The US alone. This number, compared to other kinds of art museums, makes university art museums perhaps the largest category of art museums in the country. While the first of these collections can be traced to learning collections developed in art academies in Western Europe, they are now associated with and housed in centers of higher education of all types. The word gallery being originally an architectural term,

3375-433: The active lending-out of a museum's collected objects in order to enhance education at schools and to aid in the cultural development of individual members of the community. Finally, Dana saw branch museums throughout a city as a good method of making sure that every citizen has access to its benefits. Dana's view of the ideal museum sought to invest a wider variety of people in it, and was self-consciously not elitist. Since

3450-418: The art world. The large auction houses, such as Sotheby's , Bonhams , and Christie's , maintain large online databases of art which they have auctioned or are auctioning. Bridgeman Art Library serves as a central source of reproductions of artwork, with access limited to museums, art dealers , and other professionals or professional organizations. There are also online galleries that have been developed by

3525-584: The breadth of Hirshhorn's holdings. Word of his collection of modern and contemporary paintings also circulated, and institutions in Italy, Israel, Canada, California, and New York City vied for the collection. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley successfully campaigned for a new museum on the National Mall. In 1966, an Act of Congress established the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Most of

3600-837: The building of new facilities that garnered architectural acclaim. He worked with architect Frank Gehry on the design and construction of MOCA 's Geffen Contemporary (1983), a renovated warehouse popularly known as the Temporary Contemporary. He also worked with the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki on the museum's permanent home in Los Angeles (1986). Koshalek resigned in 2013 after the Bloomberg Bubble controversy (see below). On June 5, 2014, Hirshhorn trustees announced that they had hired Melissa Chiu , director of Asia Society Museum in New York City, to be

3675-1118: The bulk of the collection is made up of a once-private collection, Menil Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, public charity corporation formed under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Additionally the Menil receives public funds granted by the City of Houston, the State of Texas, and the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts. The museum's holdings are diverse, including early to mid-twentieth century works of Yves Tanguy , René Magritte , Max Ernst , Man Ray , Marcel Duchamp , Henri Matisse , Jackson Pollock , and Pablo Picasso , among others. The museum also maintains an extensive collection of pop art and contemporary art from Andy Warhol , Mark Rothko , Robert Rauschenberg , Vija Celmins and Cy Twombly , Jr., among others. Also included in

3750-664: The display of art can be called an art museum or an art gallery, and the two terms may be used interchangeably. This is reflected in the names of institutions around the world, some of which are considered art galleries, such as the National Gallery in London and Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin , and some of which are considered museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and

3825-695: The display rooms in museums are often called public galleries . Also frequently, a series of rooms dedicated to specific historic periods (e.g. Ancient Egypt ) or other significant themed groupings of works (e.g. the gypsotheque or collection of plaster casts as in the Ashmolean Museum ) within a museum with a more varied collection are referred to as specific galleries, e.g. Egyptian Gallery or Cast Gallery . Works on paper, such as drawings , pastels , watercolors , prints , and photographs are typically not permanently displayed for reasons of conservation . Instead, public access to these materials

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3900-704: The entire building solely intended to be an art gallery was arguably established by Sir John Soane with his design for the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1817. This established the gallery as a series of interconnected rooms with largely uninterrupted wall spaces for hanging pictures and indirect lighting from skylights or roof lanterns . The late 19th century saw a boom in the building of public art galleries in Europe and America, becoming an essential cultural feature of larger cities. More art galleries rose up alongside museums and public libraries as part of

3975-491: The founder of the Newark Museum , saw the traditional art museum as a useless public institution, one that focused more on fashion and conformity rather than education and uplift. Indeed, Dana's ideal museum would be one best suited for active and vigorous use by the average citizen, located near the center of their daily movement. In addition, Dana's conception of the perfect museum included a wider variety of objects than

4050-562: The funding was federal, but Hirshhorn later contributed $ 1-million toward construction. Joseph and his fourth wife, Olga Zatorsky Hirshhorn , visited the White House . The groundbreaking was in 1969 and Abram Lerner was named the founding director. He oversaw research, conservation, and installation of more than 6,000 items brought from the Hirshhorns' Connecticut estate and other properties to Washington, DC. Joseph Hirshhorn spoke at

4125-424: The general public, they were often made available for viewing for a section of the public. In classical times , religious institutions began to function as an early form of art gallery. Wealthy Roman collectors of engraved gems and other precious objects, such as Julius Caesar , often donated their collections to temples. It is unclear how easy it was in practice for the public to view these items. In Europe, from

4200-464: The inauguration (1974), saying: It is an honor to have given my art collection to the people of the United States as a small repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived here as immigrants. What I accomplished in the United States I could not have accomplished anywhere else in the world. One million visitors saw the 850-work inaugural show in the first six months. In 1984, James T. Demetrion, who had served as director of

4275-463: The late Sir Robert Walpole , who had amassed one of the greatest such collections in Europe , and house it in a specially built wing of the British Museum for public viewing. After much debate, the idea was eventually abandoned due to the great expense, and twenty years later, the collection was bought by Tsaritsa Catherine the Great of Russia and housed in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg . The Bavarian royal collection (now in

4350-409: The main building: Cy Twombly Gallery (also designed by Piano); The Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall, which houses Dominique de Menil's last commission (a series of three site-specific installations by Dan Flavin that were installed in 1998); The Byzantine Fresco Chapel ; and the Menil Drawing Institute. Another building founded by the de Menils, but now operating as an independent foundation,

4425-461: The monarch, and the first purpose-built national art galleries were the Dulwich Picture Gallery , founded in 1814 and the National Gallery, London opened to the public a decade later in 1824. Similarly, the National Gallery in Prague was not formed by opening an existing royal or princely art collection to the public, but was created from scratch as a joint project of some Czech aristocrats in 1796. The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

4500-413: The municipal drive for literacy and public education. Over the middle and late twentieth century, earlier architectural styles employed for art museums (such as the Beaux-Arts style of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or the Gothic and Renaissance Revival architecture of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum) succumbed to modern styles , such as Deconstructivism . Examples of this trend include

4575-457: The museum is a sculpture garden , featuring works by artists including Auguste Rodin , David Smith , Alexander Calder , Jean-Robert Ipoustéguy , Jeff Koons , and others. Yoko Ono 's Wish Tree for Washington, DC , a permanent installation in the Sculpture Garden (since 2007), now includes contributions from all over the world. In 2018, the collection acquired its first piece of performance art, by Tino Sehgal : This You (2006), features

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4650-446: The museum's permanent collection are antiquities and works of Byzantine , Medieval and tribal art . The Renzo Piano -designed museum opened to the public in June 1987. It is governed by The Menil Foundation, Incorporated, a non-profit charitable corporation established in 1954 whose stated purpose was to promote understanding and culture, primarily through the arts. Initially, the Foundation also pursued land banking to stabilize

4725-403: The museum, they were the only such frescoes in the Americas. They were held at the museum by agreement with their owners, the Church of Cyprus . In September 2011 the Menil Collection announced that the frescoes would be permanently returned to Cyprus in February 2012, an example of art repatriation . In January 2015, the Menil disclosed its plans to reuse the former consecrated chapel space as

4800-510: The neighborhood surrounding the museum, and structured the administration and operations of the collection. With Dominique de Menil (a member of the Schlumberger family) serving as president, early board members included the Menils' son Francois, daughter Philippa Pellizzi, Malcolm McCorquodale , Edmund Snow Carpenter , Miles Rudolph Glaser, and Mickey Leland . Dominique de Menil ran the museum until her death in December 1997. The museum campus has grown to include four satellite galleries to

4875-414: The north, also mark this pivotal axis, a key element of both the 1791 city plan by Pierre L'Enfant and the 1901 MacMillan Plan. The building itself is an attraction, an open cylinder elevated on four massive "legs", with a large fountain occupying the central courtyard. In the late 1930s, the United States Congress mandated an art museum for the National Mall. At the time, the only venue for visual art

4950-416: The paintings of the Orleans Collection , which were housed in a wing of the Palais-Royal in Paris and could be visited for most of the 18th century. In Italy, the art tourism of the Grand Tour became a major industry from the 18th century onwards, and cities made efforts to make their key works accessible. The Capitoline Museums began in 1471 with a donation of classical sculpture to the city of Rome by

5025-458: The post– World War II period, with particular emphasis on art made during the last 50 years. The Hirshhorn is situated halfway between the Washington Monument and the US Capitol , anchoring the southernmost end of the so-called L'Enfant axis (perpendicular to the Mall's green carpet). The National Archives/National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden across the Mall, and the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art building several blocks to

5100-399: The traditional art museum, including industrial tools and handicrafts that encourage imagination in areas traditionally considered mundane. This view of the art museum envisions it as one well-suited to an industrial world, indeed enhancing it. Dana viewed paintings and sculptures as much less useful than industrial products, comparing the museum to a department store. In addition, he encouraged

5175-403: Was a continuation of trends already well established. The building now occupied by the Prado in Madrid was built before the French Revolution for the public display of parts of the royal art collection, and similar royal galleries were opened to the public in Vienna , Munich and other capitals. In Great Britain, however, the corresponding Royal Collection remained in the private hands of

5250-492: Was for example dismissed as director of the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) in Berlin in 1933 by the new Nazi authorities for not being politically suitable. The question of the place of the art museum in its community has long been under debate. Some see art museums as fundamentally elitist institutions, while others see them as institutions with the potential for societal education and uplift. John Cotton Dana , an American librarian and museum director, as well as

5325-402: Was named deputy director of the Hirshhorn, a post she held until her 2005 promotion to director. After two years, Ms. Viso accepted the position of director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, departing in December 2007. Chief Curator and Deputy Director Kerry Brougher served as acting director for more than a year until an international search led to the hiring of Richard Koshalek, who

5400-517: Was named the fifth director of the Hirshhorn in February 2009. Richard Koshalek (born 1942) was president of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, from 1999 until January 2009. Before that, he served as director of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years. At both institutions, he was noted for his commitment to new artistic initiatives, including commissioned works, scholarly exhibitions and publications, and

5475-465: Was president of the Menil Collection and Foundation starting in 1998, following the death of Dominique de Menil. She has since become one of the museum's largest donors. The Board of Trustees includes, among others, Suzanne Deal Booth . The museum's first director was Walter Hopps . Before joining the Menil Collection as director in 1983, he had worked with Mrs. de Menil on planning the museum and its program. Between 1999 and 2003, Ned Rifkin served as

5550-571: Was the Green Vault of the Kingdom of Saxony in the 1720s. Privately funded museums open to the public began to be established from the 17th century onwards, often based around a collection of the cabinet of curiosities type. The first such museum was the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford , opened in 1683 to house and display the artefacts of Elias Ashmole that were given to Oxford University in

5625-824: Was the National Gallery of Art , which focuses on Dutch , French , and Italian art . During the 1940s World War II shifted the project into the background. Meanwhile, Joseph H. Hirshhorn , then in his forties and enjoying great success from uranium -mining investments, began creating his collection from classic French Impressionism to works by living artists, American modernism of the early 20th century, and sculpture. Then, in 1955, Hirshhorn sold his uranium interests for more than $ 50-million. He expanded his collection to warehouses, an apartment in New York City, and an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut , with extensive area for sculpture. A 1962 sculpture show at New York's Guggenheim Museum awakened an international art community to

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