95380084

Mark Moran Prof. Elizabeth Marlowe Masterpieces of Western Art November almost eight, 1999 Formal Comparison of Two Museums The Frick Collection and The Guggenheim Museum are both museums upon 5th Avenue in New York’s Upper East Side neighborhood, and they are both equally named pertaining to famous American tycoons from the early 20thcentury. But their commonalities pretty much end there.

The Frick Collection is the previous residence of steel baron Henry Clay Frick who also spent four decades assembling a big collection of artwork for his personal enjoyment.

The Guggenheim Art gallery, on the other hand, was always meant as a general public museum to show off various fine art exhibits. These fundamental variations are many evident in the architectural design of the buildings themselves: the Frick building is a calm, warm house built for a family to live in while the Guggenheim building is known as a cold, open public hall designed to accommodate a huge selection of art fanatics at a time. The styles of the architecture are very different, and they reflect the very different styles of artwork inside.

Furthermore, the styles and structure of the structures lend themselves to pretty many viewing encounters for the visitor. From the outside, the only things both the buildings share is that they equally dominate a complete block of 5th Avenue plus they are both white colored. The Frick building, designed by architect Thomas Hastings, was built from 1913-1914 in the neo-classical style widespread in New york city at the time. Time-honored arches, ionic columns, and outdoor landscapes and fountains remind the viewer associated with an ancient Roman villa, much like guy baron and art extractor J. G.

Getty’s museum in Malibu, CA. Elaborate decoration in the doorways and columns as well as ornamented cort�ge and figurine niches even more enhance the classic design and tranquil setting. House is relatively horizontal, primarily one particular story that sprawls away much lower compared to the towering structures which surround it. The Guggenheim building is just the opposing. Built in 1956 from you Frank Lloyd Wright’s design, it is as much a vision of the future since Frick’s home is a great homage to antiquity. The Guggenheim is known as a giant concrete floor and cup spiral designed with mathematical figure and no correct ngles. The surfaces are all completely soft and there is zero decoration or perhaps ornamentation inside or away. The strange structure invokes images of alien civilizations and problems the viewers with its unconventional shape. The Guggenheim is similar to and upside-down wedding pastry, which gives that a much more up and down feeling compared to the Frick, even though it is also short than the around buildings. There are no living areas in the Guggenheim, only one huge holding chamber with a lengthy spiral that visitors usually are meant to wind straight down and watch all the art work from.

Artwork is mainly installed along the large get out of hand, although there are also small rooms which come off of the spiral ramp. Because site visitors take the escalator to the leading, they have nowhere to go but for follow the spin out of control down. This ensures that they see the art in a certain order and supplies the rewarding feeling the viewer has seen all there is to find out. The Frick, however , does not have set buy. Even though some alterations were made simply by architect Ruben Russell P�re in the 1930’s to convert it to get public employ, the building mainly retains the feeling of a residence.

Just as one want of a house, it is a blend or slim hallways, living areas, significant banquet areas, and outdoor courtyards which will sprawl in various guidelines from the front entrance. The areas are designed for comfort and practical living, not for effectively taking a travel. Visitors must wander throughout the rooms in any particular purchase without guidebooks, simply enjoying the bits as Frick himself would. This provides a relaxing and relaxed setting pertaining to viewing the assorted art work inside, nevertheless also leaves the visitor uncertain of if he has finished seeing the whole collection.

Considering that the collection will not change very much, seeing all of it is not the point. Using the environment is. This very different home designs display the different priorities of the museums. The Frick Collection is usually primarily static, that is, it truly is almost completely the varied art collected simply by Frick himself (although we have a small region in the cellar for momentary exhibits). There is no unifying theme of the pieces inside and Japanese urns sit right beside Western paintings. Frick’s goal was going to collect works of art that he found pleasurable to live with, regardless of all their genre or perhaps origin.

That is why, he had a family house built to keep his art work rather than a museum, even though this individual always designed to eventually bequeath it being a public collection. The Guggenheim, on the other hand, changes itself every several months as it rotates in a new display. One month it may be almost entirely 20th century French paintings as well as the next month generally Harley-Davidson motorcycles. That permanent collection of the Guggenheim is actually small and not its key focus. The main objective of the Guggenheim is to show off a particular motif or genre of a muslim assembled by simply professional art gallery curators.

Since the exhibits simply last a several months, the art gallery encourages duplicate viewers who also benefit from the spin out of control design which allows them to efficiently see the entire new show. What is consistent about that Guggenheim’s exhibits is they are generally modern day and difficult, just like the building. The design of the Frick home is to motivate tranquility. The painting, �charpe, furniture, and pottery are the Renaissance towards the late 19th century, and there are simply no violent or startling works in the collection.

The building’s layout, in the peaceful fountains to the elegant columns and niches most enforce a feeling of serenity inside the building and out in it is gardens. The constantly changing Guggenheim aims to do only the opposite. Is actually goal is to be thought-provoking and shocking which is emphasized simply by its odd structure and lack of benches and sleeping areas, which are abundant in the Frick. Since Frick’s artwork is pre-20thcentury and to some degree traditional by simply today’s standards, the mansion built to residence the functions was designed to be as traditional as possible.

The building itself is known as a classically inspired artwork. Similarly, the Guggenheim building can be an summary, thought-provoking piece of 20th century art. The Guggenheim Museum and the Frick Collection are a pair of New York’s most famous museums. They have fundamentally different architectural designs, both inside and out, that reflect and enhance the several goals in the museums. However, they equally interact with all their environments in a similar manner. Neither building is a large rectangle such as the apartment properties and repr�sentation offices that tower more than them.

Their very own unusual patterns which master entire blocks instead suggest buildings that are open to the public, just as libraries or chapels do. Neither of them blends in with the surrounding buildings, yet each a single elegantly looks Central Recreation area and increases the neighborhood’s overall harmony. The initial shapes of these kinds of museums invite passersby to marvel by them and possibly to can be found in and appreciate the artwork, or at least browse through the gift retailers. In this impression, the different architecture of these complexes, one classical and a single futuristic, produce a similar feelings in the viewers and thus attain the same objective.