Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-06-17
ART MUSEUM
10Th CENTURY
New Building In Boston
Planned With Modern
Features

Gently opened Harvard Medical school,
Its present site on Copley Square, be-
tween the public library and Trinity I
church, is not large enough for it's
needs, and high buildings nearby have
cut off light from the galleries. and are
standing menace of fire. Twelve
acres have been secured on the border
on one of Bostons parks, within few
minutes ride by trolley from the pres
| ent site. The situation is an ideal one,
| accessible, beautiful safe, exempt from
noise and dust. and offering ample
room for growth. The building now to
be erected is less than half of COM
prehensive scheme for great museum
to cover the whole area, with wide
lawns separating 1t from the streets /
| and great graden courts and other
open spaces admitting ample light and |
air to the interior. i
/ The plans for the structure havd
just been made public. and contain
features which bid fair to revolution
ize our ideas Of what a public mu-
scum Of fine arts should be. The
projectors Of the scheme give good |
reasons for the innovtious they pro-
pose. The keynote Of them all is the
idea of eficient public service. Boston
is not proposing to add one more to
the existing number Of inert store
houses of pictures and statues. Its
aim is to make the treasures it
possesses tell upon the public by act
lively helping every one to get all the
pleasure and profit from them that any
one can. This clearly defined purpose
to distribute among many the bene-
fits that works of art now yield to few
lis the secret of the new building.
New Groupings the Feature.
, The first essential is to attract
many visitors. Public museums have
: now been in existence long enough to
= show that, as at present administered.
3 most people will not visit them be-
! cause they find them tedious when
2 they do. Yet there is a museum in
> stockholm devoted to Swedish history,
: whose yearly attendance is more than
. double the population of the city. This
! remarkable institution, the Skansen
. museum, consists, principally of a
number of small buildings gathered in
: park, and visiting it is like reading
a novel in chapters or seeing a play
: in, acts. There is never much to see
. at once, and before anything more
: can be seen, an opportunity offers fol
9 recreation and rest. The application
3 of this idea as far as may be, to 8
9 museum of fine arts is the first and
| 81, do of ha
9 building in Boston. Its motto is
divide and conquer. 1t is not to be
= one great agglomeration of art work!
. with no resting place for the visitol
: anywhere, but group of small dis.
tinct museums under one roof Eacl
of these contains the art of one race
or civilization, and Is separated from
. every other by stately halls. quiet cor,
Q ridors or loggias with outlooks.
A museum that has escaped being
. confusing or tedious has already pavet
4 the way to public interest in III
treasures OF imaginative genius. II
; visitors will increase and will be in |,
9 mood of mind and body to admire anS
learn from what they see. But muol
. can be done to aid them il only thos,
who themselves have admired and
learned from the same things can b
the companions Of their visits. Tn,
provision for this aid is the second Inn.
portant novelty in the new museum. A
large part OF the ground floor Of thu
building is devoted to purposes of in
struction, the exhibition galleries
mainly occupying the first floor. Be.
low, offices, libraries and lecture rooms
for the curators of departments anC
their audiences, and objects installed
conveniently for study. Above, gal
leries for general exhibition purposes
Both floors are to be freely accessible
to the public.
Attention to Lighting.
1t is di cult to believe that the thirt
chief feature of the new museum
building in Boston is really novelty
h The light in all the rooms will be s.
ample and so well directed that ever
v object in every part win be perfect
seen. Yet there is hardly another mu
scum building Of which this is true
al The matter is complex and difficul
m to arrange, and warned by It's ow
% experience and that OF others, tn
Boston Museum erected a temporaT
structure on its new site, where 70
two years experiments in the lightin
of galleries were conducted. The out
come of these has been a determinin
factor in all the plans and arrange
=. ments for the new building.
y Such are the main features of tn
81 new type Of museum of art which
% about TO be erected in Boston. D