25. The MFA

25. Visit the new wing at the MFA

Ok, well when I wrote that the new wing was the refurbished Art of the Americas wing, not the even newer Contemporary Art wing, so I stuck with my original plan.

The new little bistro in this atrium space is sort of weird, honestly.

So I popped in for a couple hours and tried to use my time wisely in such a large space. I get museum fatigue pretty easily, so I try to pick out specific rooms and objects to spend time with. This was inordinately difficult in this wing, however, because the MFA has neglected to put together any useful publications for finding your way through it. It’s four stories of galleries, with another 4 story annex and the only thing the museum has for you is a list of featured works and where they are. Luckily there were still copies of the Boston Globe special for the opening that included a map of all the galleries and their contents. I don’t know what I’ll do when they run out of those. Anyway, the galleries in general are hung with pieces in context, which I think is a great choice. This is probably influenced by my preference for decorative art.

Mixed format presentation of the Arts and Crafts movement works particularly well

The strength of this strategy is most on display in multi-medium galleries. The Arts and Crafts movement didn’t just influence one format, it showed itself in ceramics, furniture, glassware, and also fine are forms like painting and sculpture. The small gallery really evokes the atmosphere of the time and synthesizes conversation between the pieces by putting them in a natural arrangement.

The elusive red glaze

If you read The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt, you’ll recognize the significance of these little red vases. The glaze was based on an old Chinese style and was very difficult to achieve. It’s like somebody just painted them with blood.

A temporary exhibit of American embroidery

During my visit there was a temporary gallery of embroidery, mostly from a family on the North Shore, I think? Skirt panels, stomachers, and bed curtains, all in beautiful vibrant palettes like this one. The work was precise and amazing, and always had a little bit of humor – check out that tiny squirrel up in the tree!

Mate cups and bombillas in the Latin room

One thing I appreciated about the new interpretation in this wing of the permanent collections was the transparency about gaps in the collection. There is only one small gallery of Latin American works (although the pieces there are some of the most extraordinary in the whole wing – just look at this silver!), but the signage and placards honestly detail the culturally bigoted reasons the museum did not pay much attention in acquiring Spanish and Native art throughout its history, and the efforts they are putting into aggressively collecting in these gaps.

So that was my trip to the museum! More to come…