Endlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism, 2007 Josiah McElheny (American, born in 1966) Hand-blown mirrored glass, low iron and transparent mirror, metal, wood, electric lighting *Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Linde Family Foundation *© Josiah McElheny 2007 *Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
On September 18, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston opened the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, an 8,000-foot space showing about 250 works of contemporary art from all over the world.
Named for museum benefactors Joyce and Edward Linde, the new contemporary art space is located in the MFA’s recently-renovated west wing, which was designed by I.M. Pei. Featured just outside the new wing is a gigantic blue neon sign that reads, “All Art Has Been Contemporary.” This is the title of the 1999/2011 piece by Maurizio Nannucci, and for MFA’s Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Jen Mergel, it is the concept that the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art will establish.
Divided into seven galleries, the wing features works by countless artists, from Andy Warhol and Charles LeDray to Gerhard Richter and Christian Boltanski. Prominently featured are El Anatsui’s Black River (2009), a vibrant metal tapestry made of aluminum bottle labels, caps, and copper wire, and Josiah McElheny’s Endlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism (2007), which uses a hall-of-mirrors effect on hand-blown glass sculptures to create an enthralling illusion. The statuesque wooden works of Ellsworth Kelly are in a special exhibit in the Henry and Lois Foster Gallery downstairs, and what contemporary art wing would be complete without a provocative mural by Kara Walker, who was also featured at MoMA’s “Contemporary Art from the Collection” exhibit last year? But this is only a fraction of the artists represented, and the works themselves vary from paintings to photographs, sculptures to video.
Despite its diverse group of artists and media, the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art has been organized not by region or era, but rather by a suggested method for analysis. For example, the John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Gallery is established around the theme “Familiar – Altered,” containing works in which artists have modified everyday objects in order to make a particular statement. “We carry around ideas and expectations about the everyday,” the caption reads. “In this gallery, they’re questioned.” Other topics include “How is it Made?” “What’s it about?” and “Quote? Copy? Update?” This approach to presenting contemporary art attempts to engage viewers and generate a dialogue. Director of the Museum Malcolm Rogers noted that “as one of the world’s greatest encyclopedic museums, the MFA can bridge past and present by placing contemporary art into a historical and global context.” Considering the 24-hour celebration of the wing’s opening in September, and the special programs the MFA has established to coincide with the wing’s unveiling, such as the new educational series “Contemporary Thursdays,” the MFA’s enthusiasm for contemporary art is undeniable, and the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art is a must-see.
Visitors viewing Black River, 2009 (detail) El Anatsui (Ghanaian, born in 1944, active in Nigeria)
Aluminum, bottle caps and copper wire *Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Towles Fund for Contemporary Art, Robert L. Beal and Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Acquisition Fund, Henry and Lois Foster Contemporary Purchase Fund, Frank B. Bemis Fund, and funds donated by the Vance Wall Foundation 2010.586 *Photograph © Tony Renaldo.
All Art Has Been Contemporary, 1999, fabricated in 2011 Maurizio Nannucci (Italian, born in 1939) Neon, transformer *Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum purchase with funds donated by members of the
2010-2011 Contemporary Art Visiting Committee: Erica Gervais and Ted Pappendick, James and Audrey Foster, Robert and Jane Burke, The Fine Family Foundation, Martin and Deborah Hale, Jamie and Ashley Harmon,
Woody and Elizabeth Ives, Joyce Linde, Davis and Carol Noble, Susan W. Paine, Ann and
Graham Gund, Alan and Lorraine Bressler, John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille, Joan
Margot Smith, Ronald and Ronni Casty, Marvin and Ann Collier, Rodney and Nancy Gould,
Alvin and Barbara Krakow, Richard and Nancy Lubin, Beth and Richard Marcus, Myles
Slosberg and Diane Krane, The Trust Family Foundation, Peter H. Creighton, Judith and Bruce
Eissner, Robert A. Radloff Ann M. Beha, Steven Rogowski, Barbara L. and Theodore B. Alfond,
Hope and Mel Barkan, Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser, Barbara Lee, Jay Reeg and Jan
Colombi, Stephen B. Kay and Lisbeth L. Tarlow, Dorothy and Stephen Weber, Eloise W. and
Arthur C. Hodges, Marcia and Louis Kamentsky, Allison D. Salke, Stokley and Jeanne Towles,
Rhonda and Michael J. Zinner, M.D., Timothy Phillips, William Pirl, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel
Thorne, Jr., Lois B. Torf, and funds donated in honor of David P. Blackman *© Maurizio Nannucci. Courtesy of Maurizio Nannucci and 401contemporary. *Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
