First appeared 2/18214 at http://artsfuse.org/100717/fuse-museum-notes-the-american-folk-art-museum-goes-down-harvard-art-museums-go-dark/
Significant changes in the world of the art museum can trigger roiling controversy or transpire in problematic quiet.
Significant changes in the world of the art museum can trigger roiling controversy or transpire in problematic quiet.
In New York City, the imminent demolition of the American
Folk Art Museum has triggered an uproar likely to leave echoes and scars. In
2001, the AFAM moved from its small, storefront quarters on Broadway to a
building designed by Tod Williams and Billie Stein. AFAM houses the main
collection of the works of Henry Darger, who, though he could never have suspected
it, having died unknown to the art world, was foundational for the genre to be
known as outsider art. The AFAM always had some Darger on display and regularly
mounted exhibits such as "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The
Synagogue to the Carousel", unlikely to be seen elsewhere.