Architecture for Art: American Art Museums, 1938-2008
This pictorial survey of three-dozen existing museums and works in progress suggests we are living in a golden age of cultural architecture. Once Western culture built cathedrals as expressions of wealth and power; today it's innovative architecture. And museum building has become an art in itself, one fraught with the peril of overshadowing the collection inside. Yet this is a celebratory book that matches museums and architects' statements with Rocheleau's flattering and seductive photos (works in progress are represented by renderings and models). There's a museum of wine and a museum of glass, but most of the buildings shown are repositories of art. It's a coast-to-coast tour, though not exhaustive. And the arrangement is alphabetical rather than chronological, so an opportunity to evaluate museum design as a continuum or evolution of ideas is largely lost. Still, the main ingredient in this browser's guide is what we can learn about visual dazzle, inventive building, and the lure of monumental space devoted to the wonders of art.Steve PaulCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.