The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

devoted to the collection and exhibition of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

academic art Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...

of the 19th and 20th century. The collection, located in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, originated with Lebanese writer and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Salim Moussa Achi (1909–1984), whose pen name was

Dr. Dahesh Dr. Dahesh (Arabic language, Arabic: الدكتور داهش) (June 1, 1909 – April 9, 1984) was the title and pen name of Salim Moussa Achi (Arabic language, Arabic: سليم موسى عشّي), a writer, poet, philosopher, and the founder ...

. The core of the museum's holdings consists of Dahesh's collection of more than 2,000 academic paintings, which includes many notable Orientalist paintings. The museum's regular exhibition space closed in 2008, leaving the museum temporarily available only online and in traveling exhibitions. In early 2012, the museum reopened an office and gift shop in Manhattan's

Hudson Square Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Varick Street to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. To the north of the neig ...

neighborhood, near

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

. Renovations began in 2015 on the museum's new permanent home at 178 East 64th Street. According to the museum's website, the opening is anticipated in winter 2019–2020.

Collection

The museum is noted for its outstanding collections of

orientalist paintings Orientalist may refer to: *A scholar of Oriental studies *A person or thing relating to the Western intellectual or artistic paradigm known as Orientalism *''The Orientalist'', a biography of author Lev Nussimbaum Lev Nussimbaum (October 17, 1 ...

and works by American illustrators.

History

The museum's creation stems from the Zahid family's inheritance of Dahesh's collection upon his death. Five members of the family serve on the museum's Board and chose to create the museum in Manhattan rather than Lebanon due to the challenges of the city's art community arising from the political instability of the country. Despite some concerns about the art's origins, the museum was incorporated in 1987 and opened officially in 1995 at an gallery on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

. It struggled in the early years, due in part to the relatively obscure nature of its founder's legacy, and the perception of illustration as an art form. Despite the struggles, the museum attracted an annual attendance of about 20,000 people and it was able to amass a $30m endowment in a little more than five years, rivaling that of the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

. In September 2003, it opened in a new space at 580 Madison Avenue and 56th Street three years after an unsuccessful bid on a

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

property and a year after the new location was announced. This property, the former IBM Gallery, was completely redesigned by

Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates' (HHPA) was an internationally recognized American architecture firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Established by Hugh Hardy, Malcolm Holzman and Norman Pfeiffer in 1967 in New York, HHPA was noted f ...

. The museum moved out of the Madison Avenue space in January 2008, due to rent related issues that caused it to look for a subletter for the remainder of its lease. While the museum did not have a physical presence in New York City, the collection continued to travel and the website has been redesigned in order to make the collection virtual. While seeking a permanent home, the Dahesh described its mission as a museum without walls, engaging in a regular program of loan exhibitions to museums and galleries, and, in early 2012, opening a gift shop and salon space on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan's Hudson Square neighborhood. The space enabled some public programming and a small presentation of the museum's holdings.
A Wave of Public Art for New York City, Carol Vogel, March 7, 2013.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Fifth Avenue Art museums established in 1995 Proposed museums in the United States Art museums and galleries in New York City Museums in Manhattan 1995 establishments in New York City Upper East Side

Collection

History

See also

References

External links