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Curatorial Logic
R afae l Viñoly’s expansion of the Cleve l an d M use u m of art
fu lfill s the promise of the orig inal desig n . By J onat h an Lop e z
entire presentation of the permanent col- late easily through the building’s gracious,
lection. To this end they have been explor- well-appointed halls. Skylights that had been
ing new installation plans that will bring hidden by dropped ceilings since the 1950s
greater clarity to the sequence and display of were reopened, flooding the interior with nat-
objects, periods and cultures, allowing the ural light. New parquet floors were installed,
curatorial logic behind one of the country’s as were modern climate control, storage and
From top: Artist’s rendering of the expanded Cleveland Museum of Art, scheduled to be
completed in 2012; the original building from 1916; an interior gallery view.
T h e C l e v e l a n d M u s e u m o f A r t / E s t a t e o f P a b l o P i c a s s o / A r t i s t s R i g h t s S o c i e t y ( ARS ) , N e w Y o r k ; T h e C l e v e l a n d M u s e u m o f A r t / L e o n a r d C . H a n n a , J r . F u n d
Cleveland-area industrialist Leonard Hanna mostly in glass and white marble in order to
Jr., the museum’s famed mid-century director blend in unobtrusively with the classicizing
Sherman Lee (who died last year at the age of tendencies of Hubbell and Benes. Each time
90) was able to acquire major Old Masters, Viñoly’s facade turns a corner, it incorpo-
such as Jacques-Louis David’s Cupid and rates increasingly prominent registers of gray
Psyche; iconic works of European modern- granite, which, by the time one reaches the
ism, including Picasso’s La Vie; and a large rear of the campus, harmonize perfectly with
and varied array of East Asian art, now one Breuer’s white-and-gray-striped box.
of the museum’s greatest strengths. The West Wing and central atrium com-
Viñoly’s expansion plan could perhaps be plex are scheduled to open in the summers
called curatorial in its aesthetic and intellec- of 2010 and 2012, respectively. Asked about
tual conception. His new wings have been the feasibility of this timetable given the
designed with an eye toward showcasing abrupt downturn in the economy, which has
the distinctive forms of beauty embodied led to operating cutbacks at virtually every
in the museum’s stately original structure museum in the country, including Cleve-
and Breuer’s boxy, angular addition, which land, Rub indicates that the capital plan
lies at some distance to the north, formerly for the renovation is on schedule, with two-
connected by a series of undistinguished out- thirds of the total $350 million sum already
security systems. Several projects that had buildings that have now been demolished. raised and three years left to go. Half of the
been envisioned by the original architects but One of the primary virtues of the origi- funds brought in to date have come from
never completed, such as a gallery space in nal building is its classical plan of galleries the museum’s own trustees. “It’s going to
what had been left for 70 years as a semi- arranged in a ring around a central court: be challenging,” says Rub. “But we’ve been
finished garden court, were brought to frui- Viñoly’s design repeats this pattern, creat- very successful so far, and I remain confi-
tion—and all with outstanding results. ing a larger ring that will incorporate the dent that we’ll get it done.”
The reinstallation of the collection in the
1916 building—which houses Old Masters
as well as American art from before 1920—
and the East Wing’s new arrangement of
the museum’s celebrated 19th- and 20th-
century holdings have both been revelatory.
The Cleveland Museum possesses perhaps
the most scrupulously rigorous collection
of its size in the country. Out of the muse-
um’s 40,000 objects, roughly half will be
on display when the expansion project is
complete, and the majority of the remaining
works could easily be rotated into the gal-
leries with little or no loss of quality.
Unlike many American museums of simi-
lar age, where the storerooms are filled with
redundant or second-tier works acquired
through bequests, Cleveland has formed its
collection through a systematic plan of pur-
chases, directed by successive generations of
curators and continuing up to the present
day. Historically, most of Cleveland’s major
benefactors have not been collectors them- From top: Pablo Picasso, La Vie, 1903, oil on canvas;
selves but civic-minded individuals commit- Jacques-Louis David, Cupid and Psyche, 1817, oil on canvas.