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Jul. 21st, 2005 11:35 pmI am really tired.
Today Tom and I went to the Columbus Museum of Art to see the show Selections from the Carnegie Museum of Art. We weren't really impressed with it. The pieces I liked most were by John Currin and Kara Walker, and I'd like their pieces in any show, so.... (The Currin piece was not Pink Tree, but it was very similar, the same models in a different pose without the tree. The Walker piece was silkscreened, a more portable variation on a larger show she did a few years ago, Emancipation Approximation. "Scene 26" was one of the three panels we saw today.)
The CMA has also made some maddening decisions about its long-term collection, emphasizing a lot of frankly mediocre early-20th-century American work. Every painting they have that was done prior to 1900 is currently being displayed salon-style in a smallish dark-green room. That means that some very small medieval paintings that were meant to be viewed at close quarters (they're mostly private devotional works) are hung at a height of 7 or 8 feet, and many paintings are hung in such a way that it's very difficult to view them without a glare. So you have a large Gentileschi on one wall, a large Rubens on another wall, and a large Van Dyck on another wall, and you can't really get a good view of any of them, let alone the smaller paintings surrounding them, as many as three to a column. They also own a very famous Interior of the Oude Kirk, Delft which is displayed almost as an afterthought. This is the worst-curated area I've ever seen in a remotely-major museum. Your museum is not TGI Friday's or Buca di Beppo.
Apparently the museum owns a few Rembrandts, but I didn't see them, which horrifies me. Please don't have sold them to buy something like the huge, awful Frank Stella piece that dominates the staircase, or the Butterfield horse sculpture (not one of her better ones), or the giant Chihuly monstrosity in the sculpture court. (Chihuly has taken over Columbus in the last few years; he has a permanent exhibition down the road a bit from the CMA.) They're known for selling off their better stuff to try to buy newer stuff that will make them a "more important" museum in a few decades. The room I was discussing in the last paragraph refers to "the re-evaluation of the collection" - I am hoping that they don't try to sell off any more of what they call the "Old World Collection." Almost anything in the museum that surprises or delights is in that room, with a few exceptions. I think they are leaving alone the remainder of what they have, though, because they do have a fun children's exploratory exhibit based on 17th Century Dutch painting. (Honestly, fun enough for adults.) They also have some nice stuff by Picasso, Klee, Gris, Renoir, and a few others.
I need to go to the Cleveland Museum of Art - which has a great 20th century collection, but not at the expense of anything else. However, I can't. It's closing for the next few years for renovation. I could cry. They say they're leaving the armor court alone, but the thing is, they already screwed that up a few years ago by sticking everything in glass cases and filling the room with a warren of them. I HOPE they leave the fountain court and the rotunda alone too. (Given that IIRC they're right by the armor court, it's a good bet they'll be fine. And some of the things being redone, like the Asian collection, really needed a new home. They have a great Asian collection but it's basically been in a basement for years.)
If you're ever in Columbus and go to the CMA, hit the museum gift shop, the Old World Room, the rooms near it that feature a lot of Klee (8 pieces?), the Hall of Picasso, Matisse, and Gris that is on the opposite side of the same floor as the others (noting the Ringold quilt and the Nevelson sculpture on the way), and the kids' exploratory area on the downstairs level. Skip the rest. Such a disappointment. (Which CJ warned me about before I moved here, actually.) Go to Cleveland when it reopens.
Today Tom and I went to the Columbus Museum of Art to see the show Selections from the Carnegie Museum of Art. We weren't really impressed with it. The pieces I liked most were by John Currin and Kara Walker, and I'd like their pieces in any show, so.... (The Currin piece was not Pink Tree, but it was very similar, the same models in a different pose without the tree. The Walker piece was silkscreened, a more portable variation on a larger show she did a few years ago, Emancipation Approximation. "Scene 26" was one of the three panels we saw today.)
The CMA has also made some maddening decisions about its long-term collection, emphasizing a lot of frankly mediocre early-20th-century American work. Every painting they have that was done prior to 1900 is currently being displayed salon-style in a smallish dark-green room. That means that some very small medieval paintings that were meant to be viewed at close quarters (they're mostly private devotional works) are hung at a height of 7 or 8 feet, and many paintings are hung in such a way that it's very difficult to view them without a glare. So you have a large Gentileschi on one wall, a large Rubens on another wall, and a large Van Dyck on another wall, and you can't really get a good view of any of them, let alone the smaller paintings surrounding them, as many as three to a column. They also own a very famous Interior of the Oude Kirk, Delft which is displayed almost as an afterthought. This is the worst-curated area I've ever seen in a remotely-major museum. Your museum is not TGI Friday's or Buca di Beppo.
Apparently the museum owns a few Rembrandts, but I didn't see them, which horrifies me. Please don't have sold them to buy something like the huge, awful Frank Stella piece that dominates the staircase, or the Butterfield horse sculpture (not one of her better ones), or the giant Chihuly monstrosity in the sculpture court. (Chihuly has taken over Columbus in the last few years; he has a permanent exhibition down the road a bit from the CMA.) They're known for selling off their better stuff to try to buy newer stuff that will make them a "more important" museum in a few decades. The room I was discussing in the last paragraph refers to "the re-evaluation of the collection" - I am hoping that they don't try to sell off any more of what they call the "Old World Collection." Almost anything in the museum that surprises or delights is in that room, with a few exceptions. I think they are leaving alone the remainder of what they have, though, because they do have a fun children's exploratory exhibit based on 17th Century Dutch painting. (Honestly, fun enough for adults.) They also have some nice stuff by Picasso, Klee, Gris, Renoir, and a few others.
I need to go to the Cleveland Museum of Art - which has a great 20th century collection, but not at the expense of anything else. However, I can't. It's closing for the next few years for renovation. I could cry. They say they're leaving the armor court alone, but the thing is, they already screwed that up a few years ago by sticking everything in glass cases and filling the room with a warren of them. I HOPE they leave the fountain court and the rotunda alone too. (Given that IIRC they're right by the armor court, it's a good bet they'll be fine. And some of the things being redone, like the Asian collection, really needed a new home. They have a great Asian collection but it's basically been in a basement for years.)
If you're ever in Columbus and go to the CMA, hit the museum gift shop, the Old World Room, the rooms near it that feature a lot of Klee (8 pieces?), the Hall of Picasso, Matisse, and Gris that is on the opposite side of the same floor as the others (noting the Ringold quilt and the Nevelson sculpture on the way), and the kids' exploratory area on the downstairs level. Skip the rest. Such a disappointment. (Which CJ warned me about before I moved here, actually.) Go to Cleveland when it reopens.
