Boston Museum Essay

Malcolm Rogers was the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston during this time period of change within the Contemporary Wing. In a PR Newswire Malcolm Rogers addressed the upcoming changes to the museum: 'The designs embody an architectural statement that is not only intensely beautiful but also innovative and precisely functional. The architects have responded magnificently to the needs of the Museum. Their designs will stimulate a revitalized visitor experience within the Museum as well as a greater connection to our neighbors and the city of Boston,' said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. 'This first phase of the Master Site Plan will truly transform the MFA and how our visitors interact with art, and how
Its first opening was celebrated strictly as a member event, where one could listen to Malcolm Rogers talk about the new wing. People paid upwards of twenty-five to fifty dollars, but parking and refreshments were included. There was also a clear rise in the number of people that attended the museum. In the annual report of 2009, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston listed having 961,148 people attend the museum. That number dropped in 2010 to 876,605 people. With a base ticket sale of twenty-five dollars per ticket for an adult, the museum lost upwards of $2,113,575 in a year. This data assertion, however, is based on the loss of 84,543 people all being new individuals without memberships and them all being adults. With the addition of the new American wing and the Contemporary wing, conversely, in 2011, the museum was able to come out of its slump. In 2011, the annual report listed 1,202,531 people attending the museum. That was a rise of 325,926 people from 2010. Certain companies also starting backing the museum. In a PR newswire in 2011, Atlantic Trust, who is a private wealth management division of Invesco Ltd. was "'pleased to support the opening party for the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art' [...] 'This new space is a milestone for the MFA, presenting the art of our times through fresh perspectives.'" With the addition of a new space, the museum was able to
The New York Times was more critical of the new Contemporary wing. Ken Johnson wrote on September 22, 2011 that "there are too many gaps in the collection to create a credible representation of recent art history. So they opted for a thematic approach. The gallery is divided into five sections, each devoted to a different elementary topic. Regrettably the themes sound as if they were conceived by the education department to persuade the uninitiated that art is fun." The New York Times writer noticed how few objects the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston had in its contemporary collection. This statement underscores, nevertheless, the museum's goal of education in this wing. The writer also recognized a cluttered, aimless feeling in the exhibition. Johnson, however, enjoyed the black-box gallery for video, and labeled it as "fiscally doable." The Boston Globe, on the other hand, focuses more on the features of the new wing. For instance, Sebastian Smee wrote about the Linde Family Wing in March of 2014 as a reflection of change throughout the museum. Smee stated that "the galleries for contemporary art in the repurposed Linde Family Wing have meanwhile not stopped changing. New acquisitions and loans are being installed all the time (according to the MFA, over 80 percent of works in the wing have been reinstalled or rotated), and if the galleries themselves can still seem somewhat lackluster, at least new