Displaying items by tag: move

Fans are breathing a sigh of relief after Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art decided against selling its historic Beaux-Arts home and moving to the suburbs. The cash-strapped institution shocked fans with the proposal, which was announced this summer. Ultimately, the Corcoran’s board of trustees decided that the museum and its associated College of Art and Design, which is in close proximity to the White House, should stay put.

Designed by Ernest Flagg, the Corcoran Gallery opened to the public in 1897 and remains the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, D.C. The museum, which specializes in American art, is currently in need of $130 million worth of renovations. While the institution’s façade was restored last year, the galleries are still in need of a major overhaul, which is the main reason why Corcoran officials were considering the sale to begin with.

Although the institution has been struggling financially for years, strong reaction to the potential move has proved inspirational. The Corcoran is considering embarking on partnerships with like-minded institutions and collaborations with other D.C. museums, including the National Gallery of Art, have been explored.

Earlier this month the Parrish Art Museum opened its new 34,400 square-foot building in Water Mill, NY to the public. Founded in 1898 by New York lawyer, Samuel Longstreth Parrish, to house his growing art collection, the museum had been a staple in Southampton, NY before moving to its new location that boasts seven sky-lit galleries and three times the exhibition space than that of the museum’s former home.

Now that the $26.2 million move is complete, the result of years of painstaking fund-raising, the Parrish hopes to become the area’s artistic epicenter. Designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & Meuron in collaboration with the landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand, the new Parrish building sits on 14 acres of land right off of the Montauk Highway. The building is meant to blend into the landscape and consists of connected, stretching barn-like structures that sit under a white corrugated metal roof. Large sections of glass allow the line between the natural and artificial worlds to blend.

An American art museum with about 2,600 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper in its collection, the Parrish pays extra attention to the art of the East End of Long Island. The former Southampton location was simply too small to exhibit many of the exemplary works from the museum’s permanent collection that spans from the 19^th century to the present. Now, American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and the realist Fairfield Porter each have their own permanent galleries and there are three galleries just for temporary exhibitions.

Inaugurating the space is Malcolm Morley: Painting, Paper, Process, an exhibition devoted to the English-born artist known for exploring paper’s many artistic possibilities including watercolors, scale models, and freestanding sculptures. Approximately 50 works from the 1980s to present will be on view through January 13, 2013.

The Parrish’s new building also includes offices, a café, an expanded lobby, and a theater where film screenings, lectures, and performances will be held.