I’ve never heard Anne D’Harnoncourt speak in person, but I doubt that the famously poised director of the PMA is often as giddy as she was yesterday during the press preview for the Art Museum’s brand new Perelman Building, open to the public on the 15th. Giddy was the general tone of the morning. Later, a docent showing around a group of reporters stopped at a second floor window and gushed, “And you have to see this flagpole! This is the greatest flagpole in the city!” Indeed the flagpole was quite handsome.
For me, the best part was hearing architect Richard Gluckman explain his vision. I’ve enjoyed his spaces before, at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. And he was behind the subtle tweaking of the Art Museum’s modern galleries a few years ago. And honestly I’m really just a sucker for hearing architects talk about their work.
Gluckman said that the addition is a result of thinking about how to mediate between a large-scale institutional presence and a pedestrian-scale rowhouse neighborhood. (Is that why he blocked the view of the neighborhood at one end of the gallery with a huge cement box, as Inga Saffron pointed out? Dunno…) He also talked about highlighting the “clean, modernist” brick rear of the original art deco building with the torqued worked-cement wall that is the same color and of a similarly populist material. He called it a “poetic and pragmatic response.”
And of course, another exciting aspect is the 2,300-square-foot Collab Gallery, gifted to the museum by Lisa S. Roberts and David Seltzer. A who’s who of chairs and other large pieces snake around the gallery on a raised catwalk in the inaugural show, Designing Modern: 1920 To the Present (through February).
It’s a fun representation of design’s evolution from 1920, including some work by Philadelphia designers, like Virgil Marti‘s Lotus wallpaper. A few pieces by Joe Colombo, whose first international retrospective I saw recently in Paris, are here, including the efficient 1963 Mini-Kitchen whose uber-efficiency and portability predicts loft living. Apparently the museum has 2,500 objects in their collection of modern and contemporary decorative art. This exhibition displays 140, which gives you an idea of the scope of what’s in storage.
In the main building the decorative arts always felt overshadowed by the museum’s incredible collection of modern art, so it’s nice to see it get its own space. It’s like when a younger sibling finally gets her own room. Hooray! Something Gail Harrity said during her remarks, which I guess I knew but I’d never really thought about: This is the first time the museum has expanded its footprint since 1928.
The walls are hung with wallpapers, textiles, and posters, including two 1958 advertising posters for the Inquirer by German graphic designer Michael Engelmann, one of which pictures an egg in an egg cup wearing a newspaper hat–”Good mornings begin with the Inquirer.” These days, good mornings start with your bookmarked Daily Reads and egg mush stuck between the keys of your computer keyboard.
There are also cases displaying table services, household objects, silver, and some functional products, like Ettore Sottsass’s Olivetti Valentine typewriter which is unfortunately placed above eye-level on a high shelf so you can’t really see it. Maybe the museum will strategically place mirrors so that the items on the highest shelves can be seen? Hint, hint?
Gluckman said that in some sense the building is more an educational facility than a museum facility. And this light-flooded second floor library is an exciting feature for students, teachers, curators and anyone who loves art and design. It’s not a lending library, but the new space is a beautiful spot for perusing obscure art and design periodicals and books. The librarian said that the catalog will be online shortly.
And last but not least–the gift shop. It’s a small space right inside the main entrance and it’s heavy on modern design. Some of the items in the Designing Modern exhibit are on display here, like that red phone in the photo above.
All in all, it was very exciting to finally see Philly’s beautiful new building and to see modern design getting its due. Another cool annoucement made yesterday–admission to the Perelman is free through December. And as I understand it, there will be shuttles between the Perelman and the main museum building for easy access.
