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American Folk Art Museum
USINFO | 2013-05-31 15:33
The American Folk Art Museum is a museum devoted to American folk art, as well as the work of international self-taught artists. It is located at 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street, in Midtown Manhattan (New York City USA).
From 2001 to 2011, the museum’s main branch was located at 45 West 53rd Street. Due to debt from its 2001 building campaign coupled with investment losses in 2009, the museum sold its main branch to the nearby Museum of Modern Art. The institution considered, among other options, transferring its collection to the Smithsonian Institution. Eventually, the museum was able to move to its current location at 2 Lincoln Square. The museum pays $1/year for its 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) Lincoln Square space, which is one-sixth the size of its former location.
The museum was founded on June 23, 1961, and opened its doors to the public for the first time on September 27, 1963, in the rented parlor floor of a townhouse at 49 West 53rd Street.[2] In 1979, the museum purchased two townhouses adjacent to 49 West 53rd Street.
While plans for a development of these properties were being devised, the institution continued to present its exhibitions in the rented gallery until 1984, when it opened facilities in a former carriage house at 125 West 55th Street. That building, however, was razed just two years later, leaving the museum without galleries of its own for almost four years. During that time, the institution continued to organize a full schedule of exhibitions and educational programs, utilizing public spaces and corporate galleries, and offered an extensive traveling exhibition program to museums throughout the country. In 1989, exhibition facilities at 2 Lincoln Square, opposite Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, were opened.
Diversity in programming became a growing emphasis for the institution in the 1990s. Major presentations of African American and Latino artworks became a regular feature of the museum's exhibition schedule and permanent collection. In 1998, the formation of the Contemporary Center was announced, a division of the museum that is devoted entirely to the work of 20th- and 21st-century self-taught artists, as well as non-American artworks in the tradition of European art brut. Within a short time, the Contemporary Center established a leadership role in this field. In 2001, the Center announced the acquisition of twenty-four works by Chicago artist Henry Darger, as well as a huge archival collection of Darger’s books, tracings, drawings, and source materials, which combined now form the basis of the Henry Darger Study Center.
From 2001 to 2011, the museum’s main branch was located at 45 West 53rd Street. Due to debt from its 2001 building campaign coupled with investment losses in 2009, the museum sold its main branch to the nearby Museum of Modern Art. The institution considered, among other options, transferring its collection to the Smithsonian Institution. Eventually, the museum was able to move to its current location at 2 Lincoln Square. The museum pays $1/year for its 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) Lincoln Square space, which is one-sixth the size of its former location.
The museum was founded on June 23, 1961, and opened its doors to the public for the first time on September 27, 1963, in the rented parlor floor of a townhouse at 49 West 53rd Street.[2] In 1979, the museum purchased two townhouses adjacent to 49 West 53rd Street.
While plans for a development of these properties were being devised, the institution continued to present its exhibitions in the rented gallery until 1984, when it opened facilities in a former carriage house at 125 West 55th Street. That building, however, was razed just two years later, leaving the museum without galleries of its own for almost four years. During that time, the institution continued to organize a full schedule of exhibitions and educational programs, utilizing public spaces and corporate galleries, and offered an extensive traveling exhibition program to museums throughout the country. In 1989, exhibition facilities at 2 Lincoln Square, opposite Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, were opened.
Diversity in programming became a growing emphasis for the institution in the 1990s. Major presentations of African American and Latino artworks became a regular feature of the museum's exhibition schedule and permanent collection. In 1998, the formation of the Contemporary Center was announced, a division of the museum that is devoted entirely to the work of 20th- and 21st-century self-taught artists, as well as non-American artworks in the tradition of European art brut. Within a short time, the Contemporary Center established a leadership role in this field. In 2001, the Center announced the acquisition of twenty-four works by Chicago artist Henry Darger, as well as a huge archival collection of Darger’s books, tracings, drawings, and source materials, which combined now form the basis of the Henry Darger Study Center.
