Museums & Museum Studies

Invitation to Art: a history of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Maureen Melton; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Staff (Contribution by)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; a centennial history by Walter M. Whitehill

"With Éclat" the Boston Athenaeum and the origin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Hina Hirayama Winner of the Historic New England Book Prize (2013) The Boston Athenæum played a vital role in founding the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a fact that is not widely known. This book details this important relationship, from its inception through the museum's early years when the Athenæum's continued support ensured the young institution's survival. This historic partnership was remarkable in its intensity, intimacy, and informality, yet its details have never been fully documented. Based on extensive new research, With Éclat chronicles the joint endeavor in greater detail than ever before and places it in the context of Boston's changing cultural landscape. This extraordinary story will appeal to those who know these wonderful institutions or are interested in the history of American museums.

Art for Boston : a decade of acquisitions under the directorship of Jan Fontein ; introduction by Seymour Slive. by Museum of Fine Arts Curatorial Staff; Cynthia M. Purvis (Editor); Seymour Slive (Introduction by)

The MFA : a guide to the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Gilian Shallcross (Text by); Rogers, Malcolm As Hippocrates said, "Art is long and life is short." Through an inexhaustible variety of media, in forms as diverse and surprising as history itself, artists and craftspeople have always expressed the common needs and yearnings of humankind. From ancient works in wood, clay and precious metals to Modern painting, metalwork, sculpture and video, the varied collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, provide an unrivaled telling of the story of art. This new, fully updated and redesigned edition of the definitive guide to the MFA's most enduring masterpieces provides a window on works that have surprised, delighted and inspired visitors since the museum opened in 1876. Featuring more than 500 objects, from Native American ceramics to European shoes, Egyptian funerary arts and Warhol silk screens, The MFA Handbook reproduces these works in vibrant color, accompanied by brief, incisive commentaries.

A Musem of One's Own Private Collecting, Public Gift by Anne Higonnet The collection museum reflects the shift in economic power from the European aristocracy to the American entrepreneur. This title studies the Wallace Collection, the J P Morgan Library, and the Henry Clay Frick Collection.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by Hilliard T. Goldfarb The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is home to one of the pre-eminent collections of art in the United States, with more than 2,500 treasures ranging from Chinese bronzes to Titian's Europa.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: daring by design by Anne Hawley (Text by); Robert Campbell (Text by); Alexander Hilton Wood (Text by); Barbara Hostetter (Foreword by); Nic Lehoux (Photographer) An in-depth study of one of Boston’s treasured cultural landmarks, the pioneering patron behind the collection, and the Pritzker Prize–winning architect who modernized the Gardner Museum’s vision. When Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her exquisitely curated collection to the public in 1903, she could hardly have imagined the more than 250,000 visitors that now annually explore the art and furnishings housed in her historic re-creation of a Venetian palace. Tasked with the first addition to the museum since its founding, Renzo Piano Building Workshop has brought Gardner’s vision into the new millennium. In addition to sumptuous images of the courtyards, gardens, and galleries of the original stone palazzo and rarely seen journal pages and photographs, this beautifully designed volume features architectural renderings and new photographs of the 70,000-square-foot wing. Essays address Gardner’s life, including her friendships with Henry James, James McNeill Whistler, and John Singer Sargent; the museum’s interaction with Renzo Piano Building Workshop; and the new building within the firm’s distinguished museum work as a whole.

Photographs, Museums, Collections by Elizabeth Edwards (Editor); Christopher Morton (Editor)

Dress history : new directions in theory and practice by Nicklas, Charlotte (editor) ; Pollen, Annebella (editor)

Memory Commemoration and Medieval Europe by Elma Brenner; Meredith Cohen; Mary Franklin-Brown

Bernard Berenson: A life in the picture trade by Rachel Cohen

The Melancholy Art by Michael Ann Holly

Women's Culture : American philanthropy and art, 1830-1930 by Kathleen D. McCarthy

Diller, Scofidio and Renfro: Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston by Jill Medvedow (Preface by); Iwan Baan (Photographer); Diller Scofidio & Renfro (Artist); Diller Scofidio The Institute of Contemporary Art, designed by Diller + Scofidio (now Diller Scofidio + Renfro), was the first new art museum to be built in Boston in a century. Opened in December 2006, the ICA is located on a small parcel of land on Boston Harbor and this is the 25th location for the museum in its 75 year history and its first, permanent, free-standing home. "The ICA's decision to hire Diller + Scofidio reflected our belief in the firm's vision that architecture can shape as well as reflect contemporary experience," stated Jill Medvedow, director of ICA. The architects balanced use of cool and transparent glass with the warmth of wood and the energy of light, as well as their design of spare, flexible spaces for presenting contemporary art, was a revelation for a city and an architectural community. ''Their brilliant and beautiful design of the ICA was a harbinger of change: edgy, bold and breathtaking, transforming the landscape for contemporary art and culture in Boston and for the artists, art and ideas of our time," Medvedow has said. ILLUSTRATIONS Colour

Building with Water: concepts, typology, design by Zoë Ryan; Dieter Grau (Contribution by); Zeljka Carol Kekez (Contribution by); Chris Zevendingen (Contribution by) "Institute of Contemporary Art Diller Scofidio + Renfro," pp. 122-127.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro architecture after images by Edward Dimendberg "ICA". Chapter 3, pp. 161-169.

Dissent: the issue of modern art in Boston. by Elizabeth Sussman Includes the so-called "Boston manifesto" - "Modern Art" and the American Public - a statement by The Institute of Contemporary Art, formerly the Institute of Modern Art," pp. 52-53.

What Was Contemporary Art? by Richard Meyer "Midcentury Contemporary (1948)." Chapter 4, pp. 190-257. February 17, 1948--the Institute of Modern Art (previously, the Boston Museum of Modern Art) changed its name to the Institute of Contemporary Art.