Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

infobox Museum
name= Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art


imagesize= 260px
established= 1973
location= Central & University Avenues, Ithaca, New York
visitors=
director= Franklin W. Robinson
website= [http://www.museum.cornell.edu http://www.museum.cornell.edu]

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is an art museum located near the Cornell University Arts quad in Ithaca, New York State. It is most well known for its controversial concrete facade, its collection which includes two windows from Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin D. Martin House and more than 30,000 other works.

Its fifth floor observation level houses the museum's extensive Asian collection. Prior to the 1973 opening of this museum, Cornell's art collection was housed in the Andrew D. White House.

The building is named in honor of Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. (Cornell Class of 1922) who headed the S.C. Johnson & Sons of Racine, Wisconsin ("Johnson Wax"), funded the construction of the museum, and served as a Cornell Trustee.

Architecture

The Johnson Museum of Art was designed by architect I.M. Pei in 1973. It can be characterized by its top two floors, which cantilever over the open aired sculpture garden. It was designed so that it would not block the view of Cayuga Lake, and offers a panoramic view of the same from its fifth floor. It also houses a room for meetings.

An essay that Pei's firm wrote about the building can be found [http://www.museum.cornell.edu/HFJ/about/design.html here] . It explains some of the challenges raised by the building's location: the top of Libe Slope and at the very end of the "Stone Row" formed by McGraw, Morrill, and White Halls.

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.

Extension

To meet the needs of the expanding collection, Cornell will construct a new wing next to the original building. [ [http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May07/Johnsonexpansion.html Johnson Museum to expand ] ] The university will break ground in 2008 and the building is projected to be completed by 2010. [Ibid.] The extension will mirror the original plans drawn up by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. [Ibid.]

Collections

The permanent collection consists of more than 30,000 works of art. Most notable is the George and Mary Rockwell Asian Art collection. There are also extensive holdings of American artist, including Stuart Davis and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as members of the Hudson River School and the American Impressionists to contemporary art. The Collection of Prints, Drawings, and Photographsconsists of more than 15,000 works.

References

External links

* [http://www.museum.cornell.edu/ Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art] , official Cornell University website.
* [http://images.library.cornell.edu/index_gh.html Cornell University Image Collections : Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Collection] (with photos from museum).
* [http://www.artcom.com/Museums/nv/gl/14853-b.htm Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art] , "Artcom.com".
* " [http://ithaca.different-day.com/2005/04/08/herbert-f-johnson-museum-of-art/ Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art] ", "Life in Ithaca" blog (April 8, 2005).