The museum, a manual of the housing and care of art collections

Front matter

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

Preface

THE object of this little book is to put before those interested in the administration of collections the result of several years of study of the museums of Europe and America. It cannot claim the distinction of bringing new ideas to a field where so many men of genius have long been working ; it can only hope to call attention to the results of the constant experiments being made by those already in the field.

The author is under deep obligations to the many museum directors who have generously given their counsel and the results of their experience. Especial thanks are due to Professor Adolfo Venturi, Dr. J. B. Carter and the American Academy in Rome, His Excellency Dr. Bode, Dr. Karl Koetschau, Dr. Camille Enlart and Dr. Edward Robinson.

Cambridge, January, 1917.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGB

I. The Situation of the Museum Building 3

II. The Architectural Plan 13

Chapter II

UNTIL our American Trustees realize that the architect is not an omniscient being, blunders are going to be made in our museums. So far, few architects have specialized in museum buildings and the subject is so vast that it cannot be mastered offhand. It is the part of the museum specialist, the director, to guide the architect in the development of the plans. American museums are at a disadvantage because the exact line of their growth cannot be forecasted, but the only way by which a museum can be thoroughly consistent and adapted to its uses, is by having an understanding first of exactly what those uses are to be I To meet this difficulty the Director should study the conditions, and consult with the Trustees in regard to the possibilities in the city in which the museum is located. Therefore, the first step in planning a new museum is not to open a competition for the design of the building, but to choose a Director. Who the architect is, matters very little after that, provided both he and the Director understand their business. The Historical Museum in Hamburg has recently begun a new building on the plans of which the Director and architect had worked for three consecutive years before a single stone was laid. The consequence is, that the plan is as nearly perfect as one can hope to find in this present day. Whether in this country we should have the patience to spend three years on plans or not is a question, but time should be allowed for the Director and building committee to see that the plan is complete in all its details and to make changes and revisions.

Turning now to a consideration of the separate points, we find that the exterior may safely be left to the architect, but only after the interior has been carefully planned out. In the building of the Rautenstrauch-Joerst Museum in Cologne [Foy, Dr. W., Ethnologia, Stadtischen Rautenstrauch- Joerst Museum, Coin; Leipzig, 1909. Museums Journal, vol. VI, p. 408, discussion of Dr. A. B. Meyers' paper on Museum Cases] the type of cases which would best display the objects was first considered, then the kind of light and size of room that would be most effective, and finally the exterior which would fit this interior. It matters little what style is adopted, provided that it does not interfere with the needs of the interior. The material of which the museum is built will depend largely on the amount of money at the disposal of the committee, but it must always be borne in mind that a third must be added to the contractor's price to cover possible changes and mistakes in estimates, and that the cost of proper installation is very high. It would be perfectly possible to build a museum of concrete or brick that would be better adapted to the collections than the usual marble structure and the saving in expense would be sufficient to insure adequate equipment for carrying on the work of the institution. This is a point too often neglected. Having spent several hundred thousand dollars on the shell, the Trustees find themselves unable to provide funds for the expensive installation which is needed by most art objects.

The museum Director working with the architect must consider the following points:

ENTRANCES

In generaPlt may be^^aid^hat the^^ewer tihg, E!MS-.£flJEi;ailcesjttig_h^t^ in order to control both the number of people who go in and the number of people who go out of the museum. Two or more entrances have proved rather confusing, especially where umbrellas, walking sticks, etc., are checked at one entrance and the visitor leaves by another. Museum attendants complain of having umbrellas left from one rainstorm to the next by people who have entirely forgotten that they had an umbrella with them on entering the building. This, of course, is rather a minor matter, but the facility in controlling the exit in case of a theft is much greater where there is but one entrance. Every additional public entrance also increases the cost of service. This does not mean, however, that there should not be other entrances in the building. Indeed, a most important and often forgotten detail is the provision for the entrance into the museum of large objects of art. Many an architect seems to feel that objects grow in the museum and that it is not necessary to provide a special door for them to come in. Not only should there be some entrance, but that entrance should be large enough to admit even a crated statue of heroic size. Moreover, it should be arranged with a driveway and an unloading platform at the height of the ordinary truck and preferably also on a level with the floor of the receiving roqm. It is very necessary that wii£EeJthereisa lecture roo m in the museum there s hould be a spegl^ l entrancs-Adi ifh will adrm t people who go to th e l ecture witho ut ob lifflng th em to pass^throughthe exhibition room s. There is no doubt that the public gains something from passing thi-ough exhibition galleries in this way, and where the museum

^Italian Tatntings & Sculptixre

Upper Floor

Spree

Ground Floor ft_ua.^^ i , M||| Vbi"»iii , I ly I '?°r-"i is small and arranged for this contingency it may be permissible to expect to make one entrance serve both museum and lecture room. It must be borne in mind, however, that there are many occasions when it is advisable to use the lecture room at night, and if a separate entrance is provided, even if it is not always used, it is possible to do this without the expense of lighting and guarding the whole museum. A fourth entrance, which may have some connection with the last mentioned, should give access to the rooms of the staff. It should never be necessary for objects which are brought for the staff to examine to pass through the exhibition rooms. Even with every precaution in the way of checks it might be possible for a worthless object to be taken out of a checked bundle and some interesting and easily portable museum piece substituted. Again, on pay days, or when the museum is closed to the public, if there is no separate entrance to the rooms of the staff, it is necessary to admit free every person who says he wishes to speak to the Director, and then to provide him with an escort to see that he does not wander about the museum unattended. On the other hand, it does not do for the office of the staff to be accessible only to the public. It must be possible to have direct access to the galleries and exhibition halls. This can usually be arranged by placing the offices near the front door in such a way that a door leading from the vestibule gives direct access into one of the offices. The rooms then open, one, into another, with possibly a private corridor, and this in turn opens into the museum. When the new museum buildings in Berlin are completed, the plan of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum will be much more rational in this respect. At present the only entrance is from the west and all the offices of the staff are in the east end of the building. Later it is planned to make accessible the doorway in the east end, which at present is blocked by the construction of the new building. Thus it will not be necessary for the public to pass through the museum, although it would be more convenient to do so. The National Museum in Munich has a large tower at the entrance and from the vestibule a special staircase leads to the Director's rooms. In this tower also are the library and a smoking room for the use of the staff. The grand staircase separates this tower from the main building. In this way the danger of fire, incident to the work of an office is removed from the museum building, and yet there is a ready means of access from each of the offices into all parts of the building.

If the plans for the new Historical Museum

In Hamburg are ever carried out, the Director's offices there will be the best placed of any museum visited. The arr angement provi des for a vesti-i bule from whi ch tKglSiEIir^ntersd^^^ the main corridor of the museum. Xo-theJjftftjQf the vestibule a door l^eadsj£^the£irector's offices and to the right to the lecture hall. Thus it is possible for visitors to be admitted at once to the presence of the Director and to leave again without even entering the main corridor of the building, at the same time using only one front door. The staff, on the other hand, can go from their office into the museum by going out another door which opens~^into the main corridor.

STAIRCASES

Many mistakes are made in providing monumental staircases.' This is undoubtedly due to the fact that our American museums have been copied more or less from European museums, and Euro^ pean museums have been largely adaptations*of palaces for museum purposes. Thus, for instance, few buildings have more grand staircases than the Louvre, but that is because the Louvre was a royal palace and grand staircases were intimately connected with the needs of court life. There is an opportunity for the ambitious architect in the wonderful chance to produce an imposing architectural feature in these staircases. One of the worst examples of this fault is in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. As we have said elsewhere, the museum is so situated that it can never grow. Under the circumstances one would expect every available inch of space to be used for exhibition purposes, but, alas, two enormous staircases, one at either end of the building, absorb much useful exhibition space. Had the architect been willing to do without the huge structure in the front of the building he would have gained a large amount of space. The large staircase at the back of the building would have been quite sufficient for all ordinary purposes, especially when it is remembered that there are In addition three service staircases, any one of them large enough to amply take care of a good-sized crowd in case of fire or other danger. Two elevators add to the means of access from one floor to another. (See plan, page 17.)

Many officials are looking toward the future for a type of museum building all on one floor, which shall be without stairs (cf. the Glyptothek, Munich) . There is nothing more discouraging to the would-be museum visitor than to arrive inside the door and find himself confronted by a seemingly interminable flight of stairs which must be mounted before he attains his object. In the Boston Museum, for instance, the collections on the ground floor are for study and the visitor who wishes to see the exhibition collections must climb a flight of glaring white steps. How much better it would be to have an attractive vista of exhibition rooms opening out from the entrance hall and to hide the stairs somewhere in the ends of the wings where they need not be either costly or very large. By providing an elevator for the public and staircases six or eight feet wide, it would be possible to take care of even a rather large crowd. [In this connection let it be noted that there is an art in building stairs of the right proportion. The measure of the rise and tread of the stairs in the Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, is the most perfect so far as the author's experience goes.] Except for the one large staircase opposite the main entrance in the Metropolitan Museum, the wings are provided with staircases of normal size which are neither costly to build nor tiresome in appearance. Aside from all this the heating of a building which has huge stairways is always difficult. Elevators for the public are expensive. There must be licensed operators constantly in attendance and liability insurance must be carried. But if such an elevator is not provided there must be some means of taking lame persons or invalids over the stairs, in freight elevators if necessary.

CORRIDORS

There is hardly a more pernicious fa ult in, a museiSr'BunHingman the provision of corridors which are so wide that it seems a waste not to use them for exhibition purposes and yet which are so narrow that any exhibits crowd oppressively upon the visitor. In this respect the plan of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich is excellent. Here one passes from room to room without the interyention of corridors, and the temptation to go on and see just a little more is enhanced by the variety in the shape of the rooms and by the material displayed. On the other hand nothing is s o weari s om e as the Idng gallery in the Louvre, wJierejon^_passes_some of the most remarkable paintings the world has ever known but isjtoo wearied by the^£g£ression_of^Aeir nearness^ the interminable length oi[ the space that mu^ be covered to bejiWe to enjoy them. Again, take for example the long galleries in the Vatican. Who is there who has ever visited them that does not recall the words of Hare, who describes the Galleria Lapidaria as being 2 131 feet long? ^.Corjidor-s~-shaul4~p*0^i-d©-th« -^«ssih,ili£L.oX, j:gttmg- "IfroOLfiPe part of thebHlldiilg to another without ^vem^;_£joag,..sedjEa..oi.,XS^^ The plan of the"l^aiserFriedrich Museum in Berlin, which we have seen to be so poor in some respects, is in this respect remarkably good. A central axis is f o med Jb^jilfi-js™^

^^;^Aaar,,mii,.h^hSi«&X^J3i2,^!^^, and this in turn is connected with the side roorns _bj two trans]tionaL.gaILexiesr large enough to make interesting exhibition units, and so placed that the material they contain may be related—to that at either one side or the other. Again, at the back of the building, two more large galleries give access to the rooms on either side. I n^this manner it is possible to pass yery-rapidly-£i:Q m-jdie>xfl.ti:anc&

jJail£!l3fflHijei5«^'^®m«'«'M«66S^^ All space is valuable for exhibition and the corridors must take their place with the other rooms. As they are difficult units to arrange they should be subordinated where possible, and especial care must be taken that a corridor outside a gallery does not prove a disagreeable feature on account of cross light which enters through the doorways. A gallery may have the function of a corridor and is much more easily arranged and cared for than a regular hallway. Objection has been raised that in the museum without corridors people pass rapidly through room after room without stopping to look at the objects in the room. It is not possible for any one to pass through a room in this way without gaining something. The objection that passers-by interfere with those who wish to remain and look at the objects is hardly valid. If the visitor can be so easily disturbed he will gain little from his visit. On the other hand, corridors make a museum doubly hard tp guard. Where one room opens into another, half as many guards are necessary as where each room opens only into a corridor, for if it is possible for a man to stand in one room and see into one or two other rooms he can do his duty much better than where he has to go to the door of a room in order to see what is happening within it. Some sort of access must be provided, but the clever architect will carefully study the problem of corridor space.

GALLERIES

The tendency nowadays is to provide a series of exhibition rooms where only the finest objects are displayed and a second series of study rooms, where the reserve collection is kept. Long experience, especially with archaological material, has led Museum Directors to feel that a quantity of specimens illustrating any one class of objects failed to interest the public and that it is only by making a selection that they are able to appeal to the general visitor. It is often hard to draw th^ line between material which is important historically, and which the public should be induced to appreciate, and material which has no value except to the special student, particularly as it is usually the special student who is put in charge of the material. If one is to make a distinction, perhaps the easiest way to do it is by choosing for the public collections only material which has some artistic importance and leaving in the study series the replicas or less perfect specimens. With certain types of objects, as for instance, textiles, a changing exhibition is much to be preferred to the customary showing of all the pieces. This can easily be arranged and will take less space than if all pieces are exhibited. (See Chapter V.)

Starting then with this hypothesis, what are the rules in regard <-" .^"p^i-t lop^f rooms. ihat- ■ myst he qpi^sidei j-ed ? This Ts perhaps the most difficult point of all. No architect has yet succeeded in laying down rules which would always apply in regard to proportion, and much depends upon the material to be displayed in the rooms. Thus, for instance, rooms in which objects of various classes are displayed together according to period must partake somewhat of the general character of the century they represent. Should a museum be fortunate enough to possess actual interiors, special arrangement must, of course, be made for showing them. (cf. Zurich, Landesmuseum ; Stockholm, Northern Museum, and many

others.) Ga^mssJjOL sculpture. xsmSS-^^^^^^ height_J^^ galleries for pictures. Where one is -working with a collection already established it is much simpler to decide upon the necessary proportions of the rooms, but where the collections are yet to be made the only thing for the architect and Director to- do is to arrange a sufficient diversity in the size and shape of their galleries to provide for all classes of material. The^comz, monestjnisliake is that of makin g thfi-sl de-lightgd g^[leries too high and_jhe_topJight£d__gallerIj^ t oo low . Among the best proportioned and best adapted rooms used for the exhibition of paintings are the new picture galleries of the Vatican. For very large top-lighted rooms those in the Brera, Nos. Ill, IV, V, in Milan are very attractive, though it would be impossible to use the same height here (36 feet, 9 inches to skylight, no inner ceiling light) as the light is so different, and rooms 46, 61, 63, 29, 34 in the Kaiser Friedrich are also very effective. A masterly discussion of the question of proportion will be found in the Boston Museum Communications to the Trustees, _No. Ill, The Museum Commission in Europe. Nowhere else has this matter been studied so profoundly and nowhere have the results been so carefully tabulated as here.

The question of p roporti on is intimately con -

■S£Si£^-3i^-~*-i3£-^^^^*-^"" Q^ Ught, which leads us to our next subject.

LIGHT

Much the most important subject for consideration In the building of a museum is the relative advantage of top-light and side-light. Some twenty years ago no one would have considered for a moment the use of side-light in a museum. Now the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that there are some museum men who are unwilling to consider the use of top-light at all, except for modern painting. The usual reasoning is as follows. In the old days artists painted their pictures for rooms in palaces or churches or other places where side-light would be their portion. Now the artist must prepare for the fate which, if he is successful, awaits his pictures In the great exhibition halls all over the world. To put a modern picture, especially a large one. In an ordinary side-light. Is to lose entirely the nuances desired by the artist. On the other hand, to put Italian primitives under a top-light Is to lose much of their beauty. In this connection it is well to remember certain examples, as for instance Titian's Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, In the Academy In

Venice. This picture has now been restored to its original place and nothing can exceed its charm when seen in the afternoon, with the western sun shedding a golden glow over the light in the room and rendering all the color in the picture luminous and gay.

If we are to give pictures their full value it is necessary to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions under which they were painted or for which they were pair i. Thus in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, the room which is devoted to the earliest Italian painting, although top-lighted, is so screened by glass as to give quite the effect of the dimly lighted church. Aljnost all early p ainting was intended for ch urches, , and while it would be both unwise and stupid to try to reproduce the dimness of the church interior, ^tjs also poor policy to provide too strong a light . We have all suffered in visiting churches for the purpose of seeing paintings, not only from the obstruction of candles, but also from the dimness of the light. In Italy, where the light is so strong outside, the windows in the churches are correspondingly small, and most of us have to accustom ourselves to the lack of light before we can begin to see the treasures that are hidden in this darkness. In France and Germany, on the other hand, where the light outside is never strong.

the windows in the churches have become extraordinarily large, but they have been so filled with colored glass that the light within remains exceedingly dim. A British architect who has made a special study of museums both in this country and abroad, writes of "The excessive glare so loved by the American museum director" (American Museum Buildings, by Cecil Claude Brewer, F.R.I.B.A., Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 3rd Series, vol. XX, No. 10). Yet an excess of light is much more to be desired than the reverse, for while the former can be controlled by curtains, louvres, and other devices, the latter cannot be increased without great difficulty once the building is completed.

More than one student of the subject has pointed out that top-light striking down on oil paintings has the disadvantage of falling upon the top surface of the painting, which when magnified is seen to be composed of little ridges. Top-light, Instead of hitting the surface opposite the visitor, hits the upper part of the ridge and leaves the lower surface in darkness, thus giving improper values.

Top-light is unsatisfactory for rooms in which objects in cases are to be shown. If the cases are large, the reflection of the ceiling light in the glass seriously interferes with seeing the objects in the case. If, on the other hand, the objects are small and are placed in an ordinary desk case, the visitor in bending over the case finds his own image looking up at him from the glass, and it is only by a great effort that it is possible to see the objects on exhibition. Glass cases in general should be placed so that in looking at the objects the visitor should stand at right angles with the source of light. If the visitor is required to face the light, reflection takes place. If, on the other hand, the visitor's back is toward the light his own shadow obscures the objects.

The most difficult question to solve in an art museum is the light for sculpture. The consensus of opinion seems to be in favor of side-light. Let us consider some of the purposes for which sculpture is made. We have representation of religious personages; the decoration of gardens, including decorative monuments ; grave sculptures ; and portraits. In the first place let us consider what light there would be In a Greek or Roman temple. As we know, there were never any windows. All the light that entered came either from the great front door or, in some Roman structures, from a small aperture in the roof placed In the middle of the building and considerably in front of where the statue of the god would stand. In this way the top-light became in a measure side-light, through the distance that it had to fall. Of pieces intended for the decoration of gardens it is only necessary to say that the light in which they stood, though resembling in certain ways top-light, in that they stood in the open, was nevertheless modified by the presence of trees and shrubs which intercepted the direct rays of the light and made pleasing effects of shadow on and around the objects. Grave sculpture partakes of both these characters. Architectural sculpture, on the other hand, was never meant to be seen without some overhanging or projecting cornice which intercepted the rays of light sufficiently to give the shadow needed to show the modelling of the figures. Sculpture placed in a top-lighted room may lose much of the refinement the careful sculptor has given it. The shadows are all downward. Where it is necessary, however, to place sculpture in top-lighted rooms it is possible to arrange it in such a way that the figures, instead of standing directly underneath, will receive slanting rays. Who can doubt the beauty of the FanciuUa d'Anzio as she stands in the Terme Museum In Rome, with a softened side light falling upon her in such a way that the shadows play about all the lovely curves of her body? Another classic example is, of course, that of the Venus de Milo, who has stood for so many years in the

I

side-lighted room at the end of the long gallery in the Louvre. Again, who will not agree that the ancient sculpture shown in that same long gallery is infinitely more attractive by reason of the light and shadow that plays upon it from the windows along the side, than the gallery of modern sculpture in the Luxembourg, where there is strong top-light? [On this subject see Light and Shade and their Application, by M. Luckiesh. (D. vanNostrandCo., N. y., 191 6.)]

In the consideration of side-light much has been said in regard to the necessity of using light only from the north. Any one who is familiar with the side-lighted cabinets in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum will admit the beauty and attractiveness of the south light which streams so warmly into the rooms where hang the paintings of the Dutch and German schools. The only advantage in north light is its convenience to the museum director and the custodians. A north light is always the same.

Direct sunlight is harmfuljta^most jclasses of objecfs~but crpam^colored curtains can easily be provided, wfitclCwhen ~3rawn toge3ierp"3Iffuse tKeTigHt In the room, and when open are entirely unobjectionable, as they hang by the side of the window. (Compare Vatican picture gallery.)

Light conditions vary so extraordinarily in different places that it is necessary in each case to experiment with the amount of light required. (See Communications to the Trustees, No. 4, Boston Museum Publications.)

The difference between top-light and side-light will never mean anything to the museum director who has not at some time studied the same picture under varying conditions. The writer once had the opportunity of seeing Correggio's Leda in the little side-lighted, white-washed room with the grisaille decorations by Tiepolo in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, where the wonderful charm of the color and the warm and lively composition were a joy to the beholder. A few weeks later -the same picture was hung in its usual place in the top-lighted gallery No. 45. The drop in tone and the flatness of the color were very marked and the picture has lost immeasurably by the change. [On this subject see report of the Commission to Experiment upon Lighting of Rembrandt's Night Watch. (The Hague, 1902.) Abridged translation in Boston Museum of Fine Arts' Communication to the Trustees, vol. II. J

But when all has been said on both sides, we come back to the one matter of real importance which is that whether top-light or side-light is adopted, a proper diffusion of the light in the room is the one great desideratum. In order to obtain this, experiments must be made in side-lighted rooms with the height of the window sill from the floor, the size of the opening, and the proportion of glass to wall surface. In the same way with top-light, the height of the outer skylight from the floor, the treatment of the space between outer and inner lights, the height of the Inner glass ceiling, and the proportional size of this last must all be carefully studied, not only in already established and successful museums, but in the town and on the exact spot where the new gallery is to be located.