Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. It is most well known for its distinctive concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
facade, its collection which includes two windows from Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's Darwin D. Martin House
Darwin D. Martin House
The Darwin D. Martin House Complex, also known as the Darwin Martin House State Historic Site, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built between 1903 and 1905...
, and more than 32,000 other works. The Museum hosts over 80,000 visitors every year and presents over 20 special exhibitions annually.
History
President Deane Waldo MalottDeane Waldo Malott
Deane Waldo Malott was an American academic and administrator.The son of a banker, Malott was born in Abilene, Kansas and went on to study at the University of Kansas. While at school there, he wrote for the University Daily Kansan and was a brother in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity...
established the original University Art Museum in 1953. The A. D. White House
Andrew Dickson White
Andrew Dickson White was a U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, who was the co-founder of Cornell University.-Family and personal life:...
was renovated to house Cornell's art collections. The current museum, constructed in 1973, is named after its primary benefactor, Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr.
Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr.
Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. , grandson of company founder Samuel Curtis Johnson, Sr., was the third generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc of Racine, WI.-Cornell:...
, a Cornell Class of 1922 graduate, head of S.C. Johnson & Sons of Racine
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
("Johnson Wax"), and a former member of the university's Board of Trustees.
Architecture
The Johnson Museum of Art was designed by architect I.M. Pei. It can be characterized by its fifth floor, which cantilever over the open aired sculpture garden. It was designed so that it would not block the view of Cayuga LakeCayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area and second largest in volume. It is just under 40 miles long. Its average width is 1.7 miles , and it is at its widest point near Aurora...
, and offers a panoramic view of the same from its north and west sides. It also houses a room for meetings on the sixth floor, which was used for many years by Cornell's Board of Trustees.
The unique location of the museum presented several architectural challenges; building space was limited, and it could not overwhelm the view of Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area and second largest in volume. It is just under 40 miles long. Its average width is 1.7 miles , and it is at its widest point near Aurora...
or the nearby Arts Quad. Moreover, it would sit atop the knoll where tradition said Ezra Cornell
Ezra Cornell
Ezra Cornell was an American businessman and education administrator. He was a founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University...
chose the site for his university, at the north end of the Stone Row of McGraw, Morrill
Morrill Hall (Cornell University)
Justin Morrill Hall, known almost exclusively as Morrill Hall, is an academic building of Cornell University on its Ithaca, New York campus. As of 2009 it houses the Departments of Romance Studies, Russian Literature, and Linguistics...
, and White Halls. The design sought to visually terminate the north end of Library Slope. The resulting design was a narrow tower and a bridge, which critics have likened to a giant sewing machine
Sewing machine
A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric, cards and other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...
.
One element of the original design, which was never constructed, was an underground Asian art gallery which would have included windows breaching the Southern face of Fall Creek Gorge.
The building was awarded the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
Honor Award in 1975. The building's design also appeared on the cover of Scientific American as an early example of computer graphics.
Extension
To meet the needs of the expanding collection, Cornell will construct a new wing next to the original building. The extension will mirror the original plans drawn up by Pei Cobb Freed & PartnersPei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an architectural firm that was founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei as I. M. Pei & Associates, in 1966 called I. M. Pei & Partners, and received its current name and organization in 1989. The founders were I. M. Pei, Henry N. Cobb, and Eason H. Leonard. Pei and Leonard retired...
, and is expected to be completed by 2011. The architect in charge was John L. Sullivan III, Cornell Class of 1962. The 16000 sq ft (1,486.4 m²) project costs $22 million, which includes some renovations to the main building, and is funded by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
and the Kresge Foundation. The Asian art storage area is relocated from the center of the fifth floor to the lower level of the addition, which will permit an expansion of public gallery space on the fifth floor. Galleries in the new wing will be used to display contemporary art. The upper level of the addition includes an outdoor Japanese Garden. Although the original plans called for the addition to tunnel under Campus Road and penetrate the wall of the Fall Creek gorge, that plan was dropped out of environmental concerns.
Collections
The permanent collection consists of more than 32,000 works of art. Most notable is the George and Mary Rockwell Asian Art collection. There are also extensive holdings of American artists, including Stuart DavisStuart Davis (painter)
Stuart Davis , was an early American modernist painter. He was well known for his jazz influenced, proto pop art paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, bold, brash, and colorful as well as his ashcan pictures in the early years of the 20th century.-Biography:He was born in Philadelphia to Edward Wyatt...
and Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
, as well as members of the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
and the American Impressionists to contemporary art. The Collection of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs consists of more than 15,000 works, including works by Berenice Abbott, Robert Frank, Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form...
, and Garry Winogrand.. Its fifth floor observation level houses the museum's extensive Asian collection. The permanent collection also includes works from Africa, pre-Columbian America, and Oceania, ranging from ancient to contemporary societies,
Education
Although for-credit classes are conducted by Cornell's academic departments rather than the museum, The museum does provide curriculum-structured gallery sessions for specific classes. It also hosts faculty-conducted gallery tours and course-related exhibitions. The museum also hosts thematic tours for local school student field trips, and draws 7,000 schoolchildren visitors annually. The Johnson Museum Club is a Cornell student group that promotes student awareness of the Johnson Museum's vast collections, exhibitions, and resources. It hosts hosts concerts, scavenger hunts and other events.External links
- Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, official Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
website. - Cornell University Image Collections : Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Collection (with photographs from museum).