Jump to content

Weisman Art Museum: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 44°58′22″N 93°14′17″W / 44.97278°N 93.23806°W / 44.97278; -93.23806
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m →Expansion: it's → its (possessive)
No edit summary
Line 12: Line 12:
| established = 1934
| established = 1934
| dissolved =
| dissolved =
| location = [[University_of_Minnesota#East_Bank|East Bank]], [[University of Minnesota]], [[Minneapolis]]
| location = [[University_of_Minnesota#East_Bank|East Bank]], [[University of Minnesota]], [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]]
| type = [[Art museum]]
| type = [[Art museum]]
| collection = 20,000+
| collection = 20,000+

Revision as of 06:27, 11 January 2012

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum
As viewed from the west, from the Washington Avenue Bridge
Map
Established1934
LocationEast Bank, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
TypeArt museum
Collection size20,000+
DirectorLyndel King
Public transit accessCoffman Memorial Union, Metro Transit/SouthWest Transit
Websitehttp://weisman.umn.edu

The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum is an art museum located on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. A teaching museum for the university since 1934, the museum is named for Frederick R. Weisman, and was designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry. Often called a "modern art museum," the 20,000+ image collection has large collections of Marsden Hartley, Alfred Maurer, Charles Biederman, Native American Mimbres pottery, and Korean furniture.

Building

The museum's current building, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry,[1] was completed in 1993. The stainless steel skin was fabricated and installed by the A. Zahner Company, a frequent collaborator with Gehry's office.

It is one of the major landmarks on campus, situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River at the east end of the Washington Avenue Bridge. The building presents two faces, depending on which side it is viewed from. From the campus side, it presents a brick facade that blends with the existing brick and sandstone buildings. On the opposite side, the museum is a playground of curving and angular brushed steel sheets.[1] This side is an abstraction of a waterfall and a fish.

The most stunning views of the building are from the pedestrian and highway decks of the adjacent Washington Avenue Bridge. Some locals critical of the radical architectural style frequently point out that the building's design could unexpectedly reflect the light of the sun into the eyes of motorists on the bridge. Studies commissioned by MNDOT have found that the museum is not hazardous to motorists.

Expansion

A new addition, also designed by Gehry, was expected to open in 2009.[2] However, due to economic conditions, construction did not begin until the spring of 2010. The Weisman closed its doors on Sunday, October 10, 2010 until the fall of 2011 as a part of this major expansion.[3] The museum finally reopened its doors with a Grand Reopening celebration sponsored by Target on Sunday, October 2, 2011. The Weisman's five new galleries allow the museum to share more than three times as many objects from the permanent collection at any given time. One new gallery is filled with highlights from their noted ceramics collection (master potter Warren MacKenzie helped select the work); two house master works of American modernism; and another showcases the Weisman's considerable collection of photography, prints, and drawings. The fifth new gallery, the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration, houses experimental collaborations between artists and students, faculty, and the community. As of the fall 2011 reopening the Target studio focuses on designs for a new plaza in front of the museum, the end of the pedestrian bridge, and a new university building across Washington Avenue. [3]

Frederick R. Weisman

Frederick R. Weisman was a Minneapolis native who became well known as an art collector in Los Angeles who died in 1994. There is another Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Additionally, there is the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, the Los Angeles estate designed to serve as a showcase for his personal collection of 20th-century art. When he opened the art collection at his Los Angeles estate to the public, he wanted to share the experience of living with art— rather than the usual, more formal protocol of seeing art in a gallery or museum. The Weisman Foundation estate, located in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, is a two-story Mediterranean Revival house designed in the late 1920s by Los Angeles architect Gordon B. Kaufmann. The Weisman home exhibits the fine craftsmanship characteristic of the period, including custom decorative treatments on the walls and ceilings. Today the Foundation estate, annex, and surrounding gardens is made accessible to the public by appointment only on guided tours.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b "University of Minnesota Art Museum". Progressive Architecture. 73 (1): 74–5. 1992. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Abbe, Mary (March 8, 2007). "A twist in the tinfoil - Gehry doing Weisman addition". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  3. ^ a b "Goodbye for a Year, but not really".
  4. ^ Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation Collection, 2007
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum.

44°58′22″N 93°14′17″W / 44.97278°N 93.23806°W / 44.97278; -93.23806

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Weisman_Art_Museum&oldid=470748516"