One of the reasons I started writing this newsletter is because I love making art more engaging and accessible — from little musings on art history to how to find art in almost any city, I love sharing my thoughts and (hopefully) empowering anyone and everyone to get curious and comfortable with art.
This leads me to my focus for this month’s edition; museums. Not all are created equally when it comes to art museums, some are inviting while others are, quite frankly, hard to navigate. Additionally, the higher-profile the museum, the more likely a highly sought-after architect has been involved, for better and sometimes for worse. So this month, I thought I’d provide a little insight into four incredible architects and the museums they’ve created, sharing the highlights and careful criticisms of some of the most interesting museums I’ve visited so far.
🌊 Deep Dive: A Little Rant on Museum Architecture
First — a note on architecture: while I believe architectural structures can often be works of art in and of themselves, I believe the inherent and primary function of architecture (and what separates it from art) is the ability to create space for which one can occupy that makes living more enjoyable. I also wholeheartedly believe that the art-viewing experience should be welcoming, and a large role in creating that experience boils down to the structures that house them. If you aren’t understanding what you are seeing AND you can’t find your way around — there goes the experience. To that end, while there are some incredibly stunning and whimsical museum buildings out there designed by leading architects, it seems that they might not always agree with my above logic. Let’s start with one of the biggest offenders in the overly complicated art-viewing experience; Frank Gehry and work our way to a familiar and iconic space that set my ideal art-wandering precedent.
Frank Gehry
Guggenheim Bilbao Bilbao, Spain | Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris, France
Gehry’s buildings are without a doubt gorgeous and over the top; iconic and instantly recognizable. However, I have to say they create the most unwelcoming art-viewing experience. If you’ve been into any of these museums and haven’t gotten lost or hit a dead end, I am impressed. While I think that getting mentally lost in a museum is actually kind of magical, I think getting physically lost takes away from the works on the wall, not to mention the fact that you will most likely miss some of the art - which is always a huge bummer in my books.
OMA / Rem Koolhaas ⚱️
Fondazione Prada Milan, Italy
The Fondazione Prada is the brainchild of Prada founder, Miuccia Prada, and her husband Patrizio Bertelli, CEO of the Prada Group, and is, on the surface, not particularly welcoming. There are several different buildings with different agendas, and some make more sense than others. However, while it takes a little conviction to start exploring, the space really does reward you. Traversing through the different buildings feels somewhat like going to the movie theater for one film and sneaking into another room in the theatre for a second and a third. The buildings create such different experiences within them that actually add to the exhibitions on view. They are all so unique yet prescriptive in their own way and the only way you really miss any of the art on view here is by missing a building entirely. Plus, if you do miss something, ignorance can be bliss as you sit and enjoy a cocktail in the Wes Anderson-designed cafe accompanied by the most beautiful bathrooms I’ve ever seen.
While I am a huge fan of this OMA-designed Milan outpost, I have yet to visit their other museums. Hoping this changes soon with the forthcoming expansion of the New Museum in New York. I will report back!
Tadao Ando
Chichu Art Museum Noashima, Japan | Punta della Dogana Venice, Italy | Bourse de Commerce Paris, France
Tadao Ando is the master of taking challenging spaces with historic pasts and turning them into legitimate, fun-to-navigate temples to art.
Working within a city context, Ando has made a few favorite spaces of mine — one, in particular, involves taking a presumably difficult-to-transform customs building in Venice and turning it into a flexible space for a rotating and complicated contemporary art collection — that of Francis Pinault. Walls are carefully placed to enhance the art-viewing space while still honoring the original structure, so you enjoy the work and then have a carefully calculated moment in between to marvel at the building’s history. I do not doubt that Ando was also able to impart this same reverence for structure and history characterized by a minimalist backdrop for art with his most recent project, the Bourse de Commerce in Paris (I have yet to visit but have only heard great things about it).
When working with a blank slate, such as the site of the Chi Chu Museum on the remote Naoshima Island, Ando is able to create even more structural magic. One of the unique elements of this particular museum is the fact that the works on view are by artists like James Turrell and Walter De Maria and are meant to exist in the same place forever, therefore the architecture could be conceived with this idea in mind. The carefully arranged geometric spaces (triangles, rectangles, squares) carve into the island and are inter-connected by clear pathways that lead you through rooms honoring the artworks within. Even the landscaping outside alludes to the art — they mimic Claude Monet’s gardens, which carries deep inside the structure, where there is an Ando-conceived room of Monets that is truly perfect — the walls have no seams and the floor is composed of tiny blocks of hand placed marble, all of which is in unignorable reverence to the Impressionist Master’s work on the walls.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, USA
While this institution has the same name as the previously criticized Spanish counterpart, experiencing this New York building is a directly opposite experience to that of its Gehry counterpart thanks to the mid-western sensibility of Frank Lloyd Wright. Now, you might think at first, an inverted, cone-shaped building in the middle of Manhattan being one of the most practical museums is a bit of a stretch but bear with me. I’d go so far as to say this museum is one of the most welcoming museum-going experiences; one where form truly follows function. Once inside the space, you are directed to head up the elevators to the top of the iconic spiral and follow the slopped hall down to the center core of the structure. This allows you to follow the narrative of an exhibition seamlessly and without second-guessing your chosen path, which I love. Now, in terms of displaying the art, technically it is a bit more of a feat because art most often sits on a flat wall and these are curved, however, the talented art installers make it work.
I’ve found the intuitive groundwork laid by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim is my absolute preferred way to experience art in a museum. This experience, I’ve noticed is echoed in other museums as well, despite the lack of visual spiral that defines the Guggenheim, the carefully considered flow exists elsewhere quite successfully. In the most recent visit to the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, for example, I was so pleased to find the same, simple one foot in front of the other mentality was in place — hop in the elevators straight to the top, and follow an intuitive path down and around the building, and soak up art all along the way. Yes, please.
In summary, it may come as a surprise with so many fantastic ultra-contemporary architects, that I would choose a classic architect like Frank Lloyd Wright as the gold standard, however, I suppose when it comes to museum layout, I can appreciate tradition.
🔥 Trending
Some articles and art-world news items that have caught my attention this month:
The Whitney Museum recently announced the curators and artists taking part in the 2022 edition of the Whitney Biennial. This exhibition is one of the most interesting representations of contemporary art as its mission is to show the best of art in America today. It will be open from April through September and I highly recommend you visit if you can. Side note: the exhibition is always pretty intense and, in my experience, requires a few visits to really digest and form thoughts so be sure to visit multiple times if you can!
Wikipedia editors made the definitive decision that NFTs are not art, others beg to differ, with some considering the NFT movement a parallel to the Italian Renaissance (embracing new technology - then, printing press; now, digital media and a new wave of patronage.)
Art Basel has announced a new edition in the iconic Grand Palais in Paris coming in October 2022.
💸 Advisory Picks
Some art events I’ll be visiting virtually
I am increasingly obsessed with female artists lately and looking forward to AMANITA’s exhibition “I do my own stunts” opening on Feb. 14th in Los Angeles.
If you are in Los Angeles visit the above show and do not miss the upcoming art fairs; Frieze and Felix, taking place Feb. 17th - 20th.
Or if Mexico City is more your style Salon Acme and ZonaMaco will also be taking place mid-month from Feb. 9th - 13th.
👋 Parting Words…
Want more museum recommendations or have thoughts on my synopsis? Let me know! Until next time…
XX, B