The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
. It is the
20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. With more than 1.2 million visitors a year, it is the
52nd–most visited art museum in the world .
Founded in 1870 in
Copley Square
Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...
, the museum moved to its current
Fenway
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and Boston Braves (baseball), since 1953, i ...
location in 1909. It is affiliated with the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...
.
History
1870–1907
![MuseumOfFineArtsBoston CopleySquare 19thc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/MuseumOfFineArtsBoston_CopleySquare_19thc.jpg)
The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1870 and was initially located on the top floor of the
Boston Athenaeum
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
. Most of its initial collection came from the Athenæum's Art Gallery.
[ Francis Davis Millet, a local artist, was instrumental in starting the art school affiliated with the museum, and in appointing Emil Otto Grundmann as its first director.
In 1876, the museum moved to a highly ornamented brick ]Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
building designed by John Hubbard Sturgis and Charles Brigham, noted for its massed architectural terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
. It was located in Copley Square
Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...
at Dartmouth and St. James Streets. It was built almost entirely of brick and terracotta, which was imported from England, with some stone about its base.
After the MFA moved out in 1909, this original building was demolished, and the Copley Plaza Hotel (now the Fairmont Copley Plaza) replaced it in 1912.
1907–2007
In 1907, plans were laid to build a new home for the museum on Huntington Avenue
Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods. Huntington Avenue is signed as Route 9 ...
in Boston's Fenway–Kenmore
Fenway–Kenmore is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. While it is considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, it is composed of numerous distinct sections (East Fenway, West Fenway, Audubon Circle, Kenmo ...
neighborhood, near the recently opened Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Museum trustees hired architect Guy Lowell to create a design for a museum that could be built in stages, as funding was obtained for each phase. Two years later, the first section of Lowell's neoclassical design was completed. It featured a façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
of granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
and a grand rotunda. The museum moved to its new location in 1909.
The second phase of construction built a wing along The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
to house paintings galleries. It was funded entirely by Maria Antoinette Evans Hunt, the wife of wealthy business magnate
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
Robert Dawson Evans, and opened in 1915. From 1916 through 1925, the noted artist John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
painted the fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es that adorn the rotunda and the associated colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
s.
The Decorative Arts Wing was built in 1928, and expanded in 1968. An addition designed by Hugh Stubbins
Hugh Asher Stubbins Jr. (January 11, 1912 – July 5, 2006) was an architect who designed several high-profile buildings around the world.
Biography
Hugh Stubbins was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and attended Georgia Institute ...
and Associates was built in 1966–1970, and another expansion by The Architects Collaborative opened in 1976. The West Wing, now the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, was designed by I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
and opened in 1981. This wing now houses the museum's cafe, restaurant, meeting rooms, classrooms, and a giftshop/bookstore, as well as large exhibition spaces.
The Tenshin-En Japanese Garden designed by Kinsaku Nakane opened in 1988, and the Norma Jean Calderwood Garden Court and Terrace opened in 1997.
In 2007, the MFA announced its purchase of a nearby building then occupied by the Forsyth Institute, a dental and craniofacial research organization located at 140 The Fenway. The original Beaux Arts building dates from around 1910, and was later expanded with a Brutalist annex building.. The entire property comprised approximately on of land, located across the street from the main MFA building. , the building is leased to nearby Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...
.
2008–present
In the mid-2000s, the museum launched a major effort to renovate and expand its facilities. In a seven-year fundraising campaign between 2001 and 2008 for a new wing, the endowment
Endowment most often refers to:
*A term for human penis size
It may also refer to: Finance
*Financial endowment, pertaining to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals (e.g., college endowment)
*Endowment mortgage, a mortgage to b ...
, and operating expenses, the museum managed to receive over $500 million, in addition to acquiring over $160 million worth of art.
During the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2012, the museum's annual budget was trimmed by $1.5 million. The museum increased revenues by organizing traveling exhibitions, which included a loan exhibition sent to the for-profit Bellagio Bellagio may refer to:
* Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town
* Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas
* Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building
* Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution
* 79271 Bellag ...
in Las Vegas in exchange for $1 million. In 2011, Moody's Investors Service
Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...
calculated that the museum had over $180 million in outstanding debt. However, the agency cited growing attendance, a large endowment, and positive cash flow as reasons to believe that the museum's finances would become stable in the near future.
In 2011, the museum put eight paintings by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Gauguin, and others on sale at Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
, bringing in a total of $21.6 million, to pay for ''Man at His Bath
''Homme au bain'' (English title: ''Man at His Bath'') is an 1884 oil painting by French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte.
The canvas measures . It was held in private collections from the artist's death in 1894 until June 2011, when it was acq ...
'' by Gustave Caillebotte
Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...
at a cost reported to be more than $15 million.
A renovation included the new Art of the Americas Wing, featuring artwork from North, South, and Central America. In 2006, the groundbreaking ceremonies took place. The new wing and adjoining Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard (a bright, cavernous interior space) were designed in a restrained, contemporary style by the London-based architectural firm Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide.
...
, under the directorship of Thomas T. Difraia and Childs Bertman Tseckares Architects (CBT). The landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol redesigned the Huntington Avenue and Fenway entrances, gardens, access roads, and interior courtyards.
The wing opened on November 20, 2010, with free admission to the public. Mayor Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...
declared it "Museum of Fine Arts Day", and more than 13,500 visitors attended the opening. The glass-enclosed courtyard now features a high glass sculpture, titled the ''Lime Green Icicle Tower
''Lime Green Icicle Tower'' is a 2011 glass and steel sculpture by American artist Dale Chihuly. Housed in the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, Massachusetts, it has been on display in the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard since the ...
'', by Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly () (born September 20, 1941) is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is best known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture".
Early life
Dale Patrick Chihuly was born on September 20 ...
. In 2014, the Art of the Americas Wing was recognized for its high architectural achievement by the award of the Harleston Parker Medal
The Harleston Parker Medal was established in 1921 by J. Harleston Parker to recognize “such architects as shall have, in the opinion of the Boston Society of Architects
One of the oldest and largest chapters of the AIA, the Boston Society of ...
, by the Boston Society of Architects.
In 2015, the museum renovated its outdoors Japanese garden
are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...
, Tenshin-en. The garden, which originally opened in 1988, had been designed by Japanese professor Kinsaku Nakane. The garden's ''kabukimon''-style entrance gate was built by Chris Hall of Massachusetts, using traditional Japanese carpentry
Japanese carpentry was developed more than a millennium ago through Chinese architectural influences from the 12th century. It is a form of ancient Chinese wooden architecture and woodworking joints that involves building wooden furniture with ...
techniques.
On March 12, 2020, the museum announced that it would close indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. All public events and programs were canceled until August 31, 2020. The museum reopened on September 26, 2020.
Collection
The Museum of Fine Arts possesses materials from a wide variety of art movements and cultures. The museum also maintains a large online database with information on over 346,000 items from its collection, accompanied with digitized images. Online search is freely available through the Internet.
Some highlights of the collection include:
* Ancient Egyptian artifacts including sculptures, sarcophagi, and jewelry
* Dutch Golden Age painting, including 113 works given in 2017 by collectors Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie. The gift includes works from 76 artists, as well as the Haverkamp-Begemann Library, a collection of more than 20,000 books, donated by the van Otterloos. The donors are also establishing a dedicated Netherlandish art center and scholarly institute at the museum.
* French impressionist and post-impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...
works by artists such as Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Born ...
, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...
, Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, Camille Pissarro
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
, and Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
* 18th- and 19th-century American art, including many works by John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...
, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
, and Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...
* Chinese painting
Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...
, calligraphy
Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
and imperial Chinese art
* The largest collection of Japanese artworks under one roof in the world outside Japan
* The Hartley Collection of almost 10,000 British illustrated books, prints and drawings from the late 19th century
* The Rothschild Collection, including over 130 objects from the Austrian branch of the Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
. Donated by Bettina Burr and other heirs
* The Rockefeller collection of Native American work
*The Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art includes works by Kathy Butterly
Kathy Butterly is an American sculptor born in Amityville, New York in 1963. She lives and works in New York City. Butterly received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1986 and her Master of Fine A ...
, Mona Hatoum, Jenny Holzer, Karen LaMonte, Ken Price, Martin Puryear
Martin L. Puryear (born May 23, 1941) is an American artist known for his devotion to traditional craft. Working in wood and bronze, among other media, his reductive technique and meditative approach challenge the physical and poetic boundaries ...
, Doris Salcedo
Doris Salcedo (b. 1958) is a Colombian-born visual artist and sculpture, sculptor.["Doris Salcedo"](_blank)
Art 21, ...
, and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
.
*A collection of over 1,100 historical music instruments, with selected items displayed in a dedicated music room, with occasional talks, live demonstrations, and concerts
Japanese art
The collection of Japanese art at the Museum of Fine Arts is the largest in the world outside of Japan. Anne Nishimura Morse, the William and Helen Pounds Senior Curator of Japanese Art, oversees 100,000 total items that include 4,000 Japanese paintings, 5,000 ceramic pieces, and over 30,000 ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...
prints.
The base of this collection was assembled in the late 19th century through the efforts of four men, Ernest Fenollosa, Kakuzo Okakura, William Sturgis Bigelow
William Sturgis Bigelow (1850–1926) was a prominent American collector of Japanese art. The art collection trips he funded in the 1880s helped to form the standards by which Japanese art and culture were appreciated in the West.
In 1909, Bigelo ...
, and Edward Sylvester Morse, each of whom had spent time in Japan and admired Japanese art. Their combined donations account for up to 75 percent of the current collection. In 1890, the Museum of Fine Arts became the first museum in the United States to establish a collection and appoint a curator specifically for Japanese art.
Another notable part of this collection is a number of Buddhist statues. In the later Meiji era
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
of Japan, around the turn of the 20th century, government policy deemphasizing Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
in favor of Shintoism
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists ...
and financial pressures on temples resulted in a number of Buddhist statues being sold to private collectors. Some of these statutes came into the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. Today, these statues are the subject of preservation and restoration efforts, which have been at times viewable by the public in special exhibits. In recent years, the museum has also collected a number of works by contemporary Japanese artists. In 2011, they acquired ''Zetsu'' ''no. 8'' (絶), the largest work in ceramicist Jun Nishida
Jun Nishida (西田潤, Nishida Jun, 1977 – March 26, 2005) was a Japanese ceramicist. He is best known for his massive conceptual pottery pieces, which experiment with the material capacities of clay and the imaginative forms that ceramics cou ...
's ''Zetsu (絶)'' series.
Also important for this collection is the exhibition of its items in Japan. From 1999 to 2018, regular exchange of items was conducted between the Museum of Fine Arts and its sister museum, the now-closed Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The was an art museum in Nagoya, Japan, that operated from 1999 to 2018.
History
A sister institution of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the MFA), the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts was established in partnership with the Foundation for t ...
. In 2012, the traveling exhibition ''Japanese Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'' visited the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka, and was well received.
Libraries
The libraries at the Museum of Fine Arts collectively house 320,000 items. The main branch, the William Morris Hunt Memorial Library, is named after the noted American artist. For decades, it was located off-site in Horticultural Hall, two stops away on the MBTA Green Line. The main library had been open to the public, and the catalog could be searched online.
In 2021, the Horticultural Hall location was closed, in preparation for a move into the main MFA complex. The new entrance for the library is on the first floor of the museum near Sharf Information Center, in front of the Nina Saunders Suite. About a quarter of the collection is to be housed on the third floor of the museum along with the book conservation space, with the remainder stored off-site.
, the library has not been re-opened to the public, although staff access has been restored. the library is open to researchers a total of 6 hours per week, but only by appointment arranged and approved in advance.
Exhibitions organized by the library staff in coordination with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...
are debuted two to three times per year.
CAMEO
The Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia Online, (CAMEO) is a database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
that "compiles, defines, and disseminates technical information on the distinct collection of terms, materials, and techniques used in the fields of art conservation and historic preservation". CAMEO uses MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...
.
Community relations
The MFA has gradually been expanding its programs of community outreach to people who have not been traditional visitors, and this trend accelerated after Matthew Teitelbaum was appointed as Director in 2015. This expansion has included improved accessibility for visitors who may be visually, audibly, or physically impaired. Special programming and tours are available for blind, ASL
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
-fluent, cognitively-impaired, autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
, and medically-assisted guests. In addition, the MFA has welcomed LGBTQ visitors with exhibitions like ''Gender Bending Fashion'' (2019), and in spring 2019 it installed universally welcoming signage for restrooms.
Starting in July 2017, the MFA has offered a free one-year family membership to all newly naturalized US citizens under its "MFA Citizens" program.
The MFA publicly apologized in May 2019 after African-American and mixed-race 12- and 13-year-old visitors were allegedly targeted by employees and told "No food, no drink, and no watermelon", which is considered a racial slur in the US. A museum spokesperson said that the warning was actually "no water bottles", but conceded that there was no way of definitively proving what was actually said. Regardless, all museum staff dealing with school groups were to be retrained in interactions with their guests. The MFA also concluded that two of its members had been deliberately racist, and permanently banned them from visiting its grounds.
On October 14, 2019, the MFA debuted its newly renamed "Indigenous Peoples’ Day" (formerly Columbus Day) celebrations, with a focus on Native American art and culture. The events included special displays related to Cyrus Dallin
Cyrus Edwin Dallin (November 22, 1861 – November 14, 1944) was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the ''Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere'' in Boston, Massac ...
’s 1908 '' Appeal to the Great Spirit'', a popular and sometimes controversial sculpture of a Native American warrior located in front of the Huntington Avenue main entrance since 1912. Community comments and feedback concerning the monumental artwork were solicited and displayed. Earlier, in March 2019, the MFA had held a special public symposium to discuss the historical background and present-day significance of the iconic sculpture.
In 2020 the MFA had planned to offer 11 annual Community Celebrations, featuring free admission for all visitors, and special events such as dance performances, music, tours, craft demonstrations, and hands-on art making. This series included day-long Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monda ...
, Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or lunisolar calendar.
The Lunar New Year as a celebration is observed by numerous cultures. It is also named " Chinese New Year" becau ...
, Memorial Day, Highland Street Foundation
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
Free Fun Friday, and Indigenous Peoples' Day
Indigenous Peoples' Day is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. It is celebrated across the United States on the second Monday in October, and is an ...
celebrations. In addition, on Wednesday evenings, which were already free from 4pm to 10pm, special celebrations of Nowruz, Juneteenth, Latinx Heritage Night, ASL Night, Diwali
Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
, and Hanukkah
or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem)
, nickname =
, observedby = Jews
, begins = 25 Kislev
, ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet
, celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...
were featured. However, this ambitious program of large community gatherings was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and the March 2020 closure of the museum, followed by partially-restricted public access.
To commemorate its 150th anniversary, the MFA offered a free one-year family membership to anyone who attended one of its special Community Celebrations or MFA Late Nite programs during 2020. This "First Year Free Membership" program was available to anyone who had not previously been a member of the museum. The 150th year exhibitions included major shows and events featuring art by women and minority artists.
In November 2020 a significant number of MFA employees voted to unionize due to a long history of unaddressed issues related to workplace conditions and compensation inequities. The workers unionized with the local chapter of the United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
. After over 96% of the union agreed in a vote, MFA staff went on a strike for the first time on November 17, 2021. Union representatives cited unresponsive engagement from MFA management over multiple issues including stagnant wages, job security, and workplace diversity, as the reason for the strike. The union pointed out that employee wages had been frozen for two years, and that management had so far only offered a 1.75% percent raise over the course of four years. Union representatives contrasted this with MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum's salary which, clocking in at nearly 1 million USD, was almost 19 times larger than the average MFA worker.
In September 2022, as the MFA sought to recover from a precipitous drop in attendance caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
and branding
Branding may refer to:
Physical markings
* Making a mark, typically by charring:
** Wood branding, permanently marking, by way of heat, typically of wood (also applied to plastic, cork, leather, etc.)
** Livestock branding, the marking of animals ...
campaign were announced, along with renewed community outreach efforts. These changes were announced in tandem with the opening of the traveling exhibition of an official portrait of former US president Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
by Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977)["Kehinde Wiley"](_blank)
''Artnet''. Retrieved October 13, 2010. i ...
and the accompanying portrait of Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
by Amy Sherald
Amy Sherald (born August 30, 1973) is an American painter. She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings. Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects. Since 2012, her work ...
, both on loan from the National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
*National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
*National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
in Washington DC.
Highlights
Among the many notable works in the collection, the following examples are in the public domain and have photographs available:
American
European
Antiquities
File:Ramesses III prisoner tiles from Tell el-Yahudiya, catalogued in 1908 by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, Ramesses III prisoner tiles
The Ramesses III prisoner tiles are a collection of Egyptian faience depicting prisoners of war, found in Ramesses III's palaces at Medinet Habu (adjacent to the Medinet Habu (temple), Mortuary Temple at Medinet Habu) and Leontopolis (Heliopolis), ...
File:King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and queen.jpg, ''King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and queen'', 2490–2472 BCE
File:Winged protective deity, Northwest Palace at Calakh, Northern Iraq, Assyrian, reign of Assurnasirpal II, 883-859 BC, alabaster - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - DSC02821.JPG, ''Winged Protective Deity'', 883–859 BCE
File:Tawaret figurine (Boston MFA).jpg, ''Goddess Tawaret'', 623–595 BCE
File:Marine mosaic (central panel of three panels from a floor) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Marine Mosaic'', 200–230 CE
Notable people
Directors
* Emil Otto Grundmann – first Director
* Edward Robinson – second Director
*Arthur Fairbanks
Arthur Fairbanks (November 13, 1864 Hanover, New Hampshire – January 13, 1944 Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an art historian and administrator who lived and worked in the United States. From 1908 to 1925, he was director of the Museum of Fine A ...
– third Director
*George Harold Edgell
George Harold Edgell (March 4, 1887 – June 29, 1954) was a renowned American architectural and fine arts historian, author, and expert on Sienese paintings. He served as dean of the Harvard University School of Architecture and director of the ...
– fifth Director
*Perry T. Rathbone
Perry Townsend Rathbone (July 3, 1911- January 22, 2000) was one of the leading American art museum directors of the 20th century. As director of the St. Louis Art Museum from 1940–1955, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1955–1972, he ...
– sixth Director
*Merrill C. Rueppel Merrill may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska
*Merrill, Iowa
* Merrill, Maine
*Merrill, Michigan
*Merrill, Mississippi, an unincorporated community near Lucedale in George County
*Merrill, Oregon
*Merrill, Wis ...
– seventh Director
*Jan Fontein Jan Fontein (22 May 1927 – 19 May 2017) was a Dutch art historian and former museum director. From 1966 to 1992 he served as curator of Asiatic art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fontein was its director from 1975 to 1987.
Career
Fontein was ...
– eighth Director
*Alan Shestack
Alan may refer to:
People
*Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname
*Alan (given name), an English given name
**List of people with given name Alan
''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.''
*Al ...
– ninth Director
* Morton Golden - interim Director 1993-1994
* Malcolm Rogers – tenth Director
* Matthew Teitelbaum – eleventh Director
Curators
*Sylvester Rosa Koehler Sylvester Rosa Koehler (11 February 1837 Leipzig - 15 September 1900 Littleton, New Hampshire) was a German-born American author and museum curator. He was the first curator of prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Biography
His grandfather wa ...
– first Curator of Prints (1887–1900)
* Ernest Fenollosa – Curator of Oriental Art (1890–1896)
*Benjamin Ives Gilman
Benjamin Ives Gilman (1852–1933) was notable as the Secretary of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1893 to 1925. Beginning with the museum as a curator and librarian, he held a variety of positions during this time. As Secretary, he focused ...
– Curator (1893–1894?); Librarian (1893–1904); Secretary (1894–1925) Assistant Director (1901–1903); Temporary Director (1907)
*Albert Lythgoe
Albert Morton Lythgoe (March 15, 1868 – January 29, 1934) was an American archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is best known for his work for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and for the support he gave to the excavation of Tutankhamun ...
– first Curator of Egyptian Art (1902–1906)
*Okakura Kakuzō
(also known as 岡倉 天心 Okakura Tenshin) was a Japanese scholar and art critic who in the era of Meiji- Restoration reform defended traditional forms, customs and beliefs. Outside Japan, he is chiefly renowned for ''The Book of Tea: A Japa ...
– Curator of Oriental Art (1904–1913)
*Fitzroy Carrington Fitzroy Carrington (1869 – December 31, 1954) was an English-born American editor who became known as a leading authority on prints, particularly those of the 15th and 16th centuries. – Curator of Prints (1912–1921)
*Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, ''Ānanda Kentiś Muthū Kumāraswāmī''; si, ආනන්ද කුමාරස්වාමි ''Ānanda Kumārasvāmī''; 22 August 1877 − 9 Septem ...
– Curator of Oriental Art (1917–1933)
*William George Constable
William George Constable (born Derby, England, 27 October 1887, died Cambridge, Massachusetts, 3 February 1976, was an art historian and gallery director. He was the father of Medieval Historian Giles Constable.
Education
Distantly related t ...
– Curator of Paintings (1938–1957)
*Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III
Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III (August 10, 1925 – November 27, 2008) was an Americans, American scholar of ancient art and curator of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1957 to 1996. He was also well known as a numismatis ...
– Curator of Classical Art (1957–1996)
*Jonathan Leo Fairbanks
Jonathan Leo Fairbanks (born February 19, 1933, in Ann Arbor) is an American artist and expert of American arts and antiques. Fairbanks created the American Decorative Arts and Sculpture department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and served ...
– Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture (1970–1999)
*Theodore Stebbins
Theodore Ellis Stebbins, Jr. (born August 11, 1938) is an American art historian and curator. Stebbins is currently the Consultative Curator of American Art at the Harvard Art Museums.
Career
From 1977 to 1999, Stebbins was the John Moors Cabot ...
– Curator of American Paintings (1977–1999)
*Anne Poulet
Anne Poulet (born March 20, 1942) is a retired American art historian. Poulet is an expert in the area of French art, particularly sculpture. In her career, she organized two major monographic exhibitions on the French sculptors Clodion and Jea ...
– Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts (1979–1999)
Bulletin
A bulletin appeared under various titles from 1903 to 1983:
* 1903–1925: ''Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin''
* 1926–1965: ''Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts''
* 1966–1977: ''Boston Museum Bulletin''
* 1978–1980: ''MFA Bulletin''
* 1981–1983: ''M Bulletin (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)''
See also
* List of most-visited museums in the United States
* '' The Lonely Palette'' (art history podcast hosted by MFA lecturer Tamar Avishai)
* Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The was an art museum in Nagoya, Japan, that operated from 1999 to 2018.
History
A sister institution of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the MFA), the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts was established in partnership with the Foundation for t ...
(defunct sister institution in Nagoya, Japan)
* School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...
References
External links
Official site
Virtual tour of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
provided by Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...
*
{{Authority control
1870 establishments in Massachusetts
Art museums established in 1870
Art museums and galleries in Massachusetts
Asian art museums in the United States
Cultural infrastructure completed in 1909
Culture of Boston
Egyptological collections in the United States
Fenway–Kenmore
Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums
Landmarks in Fenway–Kenmore
Mesoamerican art museums in the United States
Museums in Boston
Museums of American art
Museums of ancient Greece in the United States
Museums of Ancient Near East in the United States
Museums of ancient Rome in the United States
Museums of Japanese culture abroad in the United States
African art museums in the United States