You just need to "know what you like when you see it"!
Written: Feb 19 '00 (Updated Feb 19 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A great way to spend a "bad weather" day. Uplifting
Cons: Not a place for kids to run free.
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| vickie's Full Review: Boston |
The Boston Museum of Fine Art is a wonderful place to spend a few hours, and I highly recommend it. This is a place in which art can be enjoyed equally by artists as well as those of us who "just know what we like"!
The MFA is located at 405 Huntington Street, across from the main campus of Northeastern University. It was founded in 1879 and moved to it's present location in 1907. Huntington Avenue is home to many cultural institutions. Symphony Hall was built here in 1900 and shortly after that the Horticultural Hall and an Opera house. I love the fact that the site of the MFA was originally a circus grounds! Today, the main entrance of the MFA is located around the corner, in the West Wing.
This art museum is robust, but very "manageable" in a single visit. It is 2 stories tall and laid out in quadrants. The first floor of the West Wing contains the Museum Bookstore and (gift) Shop, a lovely little Galleria Café (more about this later), an auditorium that shows films and hosts lectures, a seminar room and a couple of small galleries. This is also the location of the Information Center, which has helpful assistants and materials which explain featured installations. It also contains small and medium sized galleries for Islamic, Southeast Asian, Japanese, Korean and Indian art. There is a lot of furniture, ceramics, sculpture and literature from these cultures located here.
The second Story of the West Wing contains larger galleries for Chinese and Japanese art. Here are collections of ceramics, more furniture, jewelry and metalwork and all kinds of "goodies." There is a Japanese Temple Room that is a very refreshing stop for a few minutes. The MFA began collecting Japanese Buddhist art more than a century ago and the collection is considered to be the finest outside of Japan. The curators have done a spectacular job with the Asian viewing galleries. The spaces are decorated with appointments that add to the viewing of the individual art works. There is also quite a bit of seating available-unusual in some museums. There are the usual benches, but also several chairs that are works of art themselves and which visitors are encouraged to rest in. Two that I love are a Sam Maloor chair from 1975 and another chair by George Nakashima, 1979. Both are part of the museum's permanent collection! There is a wonderful exhibit called "Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th Centuries" that will knock your socks off!
The first floor of the East Wing contains small galleries which exhibit paintings( landscapes, colonial portraits, 17th-18th - and 19th Century, English) as well as English sliver, American silver and a print study room. There is also a lovely garden courtyard and the Fraser Garden Court Terrace which has food in nice weather so you can sit outside! There are small galleries for Egyptian Funerary Arts (yes-you guessed it-the mummies!), ancient Near Eastern artifacts, Nubian artifacts and sculpture, musical instruments and some Greek and Etruscan artifacts. There is a stairway up to the main Egyptian, Greek and Roman galleries.
The second floor contains fabulous exhibits of Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, sculpture, personal effects, and artifacts. There is a really intense Medieval gallery with furniture, weaponry, religious articles, etc. There are also large galleries for European decorative arts, porcelains, ceramics, French silver and 17th century Dutch paintings…as well as more 18th century paintings. I'm afraid that I am not doing justice to the lay-out as it seems much more unified, when you're walking through it, than my description does! Oh well, it's really one of those things you have to see for yourself!
Two of the MFA's "jewels" lie in the center of the building: the gallery of European Paintings (this is a world class collection of Impressionist paintings (as good as any I have seen in NYC or Paris!) and the Rotunda, which has allegorical ceiling murals by John Singer Sargeant. Actually, the Rotunda has painting, sculpture and architecture by Sargeant which were installed in 1925. They have undergone a complete restoration for the MFA's world-class Sargeant exhibit held in the summer of 1999. Everything is bright and beautiful and it simply takes your breath away. There is a video exhibit with headphones where you can learn about the original work and the restoration. I should mention that there is also a 20th century painting and sculpture hall in the center of the building on the first floor. It's really impressive-but doesn't capture my attention the way the Impressionists and the Rotunda do!
It helps to take a break once or twice while visiting the MFA so that you can give your eyeballs a rest-seriously! There is a great little café that I mentioned on the first floor of the West Wing. It has small, marble-topped tables with flowers and gourmet food-of course it is NOT CHEAP! My husband and I usually share a ""Country Farm Cheese Plate" (sampler of imported cheeses, lots of fresh fruit, olives and French bread) for $10.25. Nothing else has servings big enough to share-but they are really fresh and beautifully presented. There is a Pate Sampler ($8.25), Chilled Gulf Shrimp ($10.25) and you can choose a $4.25 desert from among: Fruit Tart, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pineapple Carrot Cake, Chocolate Mousse Torte and Cranberry and Apple Bread Pudding. The café serves beer and wine. If you have children with you, my advice is: bring your own bag of snacks and treats for the kids! There is a more formal dining room on the second floor, which is open for lunch Tuesday through Sunday and for dinner Wednesday through Friday. Dinner entrees range from $15-20. I've never tried it.
Speaking of kids, this is not the place to let kids roam very far or very free. If you are a tourist with children, either keep them with you (and pay attention to them as well as the art) or go someplace else. Kids are welcomed here, but only in the (close) company of adults. On weekends between October and June the museum has something called "Family Place" which is self-guided activities in the galleries (sketching, puzzles, games) for children ages 4 and up. During the week the "Children's Room" is open from 3:30-4:45. It is a free, drop-in program for children ages 6-12. It lets children explore the museum collections using art projects, drama, poetry and music.
I could go on-since I really love to go to the MFA, but I'll spare you!
Boston Museum of Fine Art
(617) 267-9300
www.mfa.org
Hours:
M and T: 10 am to 4:45pm
W-F: 10 am - 9:45 pm
S, Sun: 10 am- 5:45pm
Admission: $12 Adult; $10 Senior; $10 Student 18+; $5 Youth 7-17; Free Youth 17 and under
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vickie
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Location: Waltham, MA
Reviews written: 75
Trusted by: 113 members
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