Bronx Museum of the Arts

infobox Museum
name= Bronx Museum of the Arts


established= 1971
location= 1040 Grand Concourse # 2, Bronx, New York, USA
visitors=
director= Holly Block
website= [http://www.bronxmuseum.org/ www.bronxmuseum.org] The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a fine art museum located on 165th Street and Grand Concourse. The museum was founded in 1971Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E2DF1530F937A35753C1A9609C8B63|title=Arts, Briefly; Bronx Museum of the Arts Is Set to Reopen|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=2006-10-04|author=Sewell Chan, Lawrence van Gelder|work=The New York Times] and is the foremost arts museum of its area, the New York City borough of The Bronx, New York City, USA.

Overview

The museum's exhibitions usually highlight work by culturally diverseCite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDB1130F936A1575AC0A96E948260|title=The Many Accents of Latino Art|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1988-09-25|author=Grace Glueck|work=The New York Times] and under-recognized artists, and often on themes of special interest to the Bronx community.Cite web|url=http://www.bronxmuseum.org/info/about.html|title=Bronx Museum of the Arts:Info|accessdate=2008-03-10|publisher=The Bronx Museum of the Arts] Growing from an uncertain beginning and extensive turnoverCite web|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F14FB3E5E1A7493C7A9178CD85F408785F9|title=Bronx Museum, in Fight, Vows to Keep Operating|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1974-07-05|author=Grace Glueck|work=The New York Times] to a computer headquarters in the late 1980sCite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5D7153DF936A15753C1A961948260|title=Art; Computer Reigns at Bronx Museum of Arts|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1987-10-25|author=Vivien Raynor|work=The New York Times] and a state of the art exhibition space in 2006, the BXMA superbly exemplifies what a neighborhood-based institution should be: pioneering and geographically relevant. Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DB1030F937A35752C0A961948260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/B/Bronx%20Museum%20of%20the%20Arts|title=A Glance at Romare Bearden at the Bronx Museum of the Arts|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1987-01-04|author=Vivien Raynor|work=The New York Times] The museum's importance in the area results in part to increased funding for the arts in the outer boroughs of New York City, Cite web|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D11FD3F59137B93CBA8178CD85F408785F9|title=Arts Take Root in Outer Boroughs; More Funds for Arts|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1974-07-19|author=Grace Glueck|work=The New York Times] but in many ways also due to Holly Block, director of the museum as of 2006.

Location in the Bronx

Located next to Yankee Stadium and on the Grand Concourse, the Bronx Museum exhibits works mainly emphasizing diversity and innovation, in all forms, in the world of contemporary art;Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDB1130F936A1575AC0A96E948260|title=The Many Accents of Latino Art|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1988-09-25|author=Grace Glueck|work=The New York Times] the museum also focuses on bringing recognition to these deserving artists that often reflect the geographical context of the institution itself, it being situated within a predominantly Hispanic and African American demographic.

Minutes away is Joyce Kilmer Park and its famed Heinrich Heine Memorial (also known as the Lorelei fountain). Heinrich Heine was an essayist and journalist among being one of the foremost lyric poets of Germany; Joyce Kilmer was an American journalist, critic, and poet who in his work "Trees and Other Poems (1914)" penned the lines :I think that I shall never see:A poem lovely as a tree.These artists and their memorials illuminate the surroundings of the Bronx Museum, the Bronx's diverse ethnic history, and the circumstances surrounding the museum's role as a noteworthy cultural institution within a neighborhood's context.

History

The Bronx Museum began in 1971 as an effort to inject a first-class cultural institution into a neighborhood in need of one. Formerly a synagogue, the museum is a crucial part of the social history of the Bronx. In many ways the museum silently led the Bronx into its revival, namely in providing institutional stability amidst the poverty and violence that characterized the borough's 1960s and 70s.

In the same vein, the Bronx Museum has developed a reputation for being a pioneer institution. The late 1980s, for instance, saw the Bronx Museum become a computer headquarters Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5D7153DF936A15753C1A961948260|title=Art; Computer Reigns at Bronx Museum of Arts|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1987-10-25|author=Vivien Raynor|work=The New York Times] ; 2006 saw the BXMA develop an award-winning, state-of-the-art exhibition space. The "accordion" design is both a stunning and a welcoming site on the Grand Concourse, an architectural feat to which other geographically-relevant institutions look as a precedent.Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DB1030F937A35752C0A961948260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/B/Bronx%20Museum%20of%20the%20Arts|title=A Glance at Romare Bearden at the Bronx Museum of the Arts|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=1987-01-04|author=Vivien Raynor|work=The New York Times]

Art and Exhibitions

The museum's exhibitions have had a history of both emphasizing and capitulating the Bronx and its innovations and cultural relevance in the world, namely hip hop and graffiti art.

Credited with helping to bridge the gap between art and the audience, which has changed significantly during its existence,Cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/arts/design/06bron.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/V/Vinoly,%20Rafael&pagewanted=all|title=Art to the People, and Vice Versa, in the Bronx|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=2006-10-06|author=Nicolai Ouroussoff|work=The New York Times] the museum is taking advantage of its new space and the changing audience-artist relationship to establish partnerships with other borough institutions and improve the overall image of the Bronx.Cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/arts/21voge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all|title=Extensive Changes at a Bronx Museum|accessdate=2008-03-10|year=2006-07-21|author=Carol Vogel|work=The New York Times]

The museum's collection includes works from the 20th and 21st Century African, Asian, and Latin American art, as well as work from local artists.citation | title= Bronx Museum of the Arts: About | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2008 | url= http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/22050/8568/about/the-bronx-museum-of-the-arts-bronx/ | accessdate=2008-07-28 ]

Recent exhibitions (as of July 2008) include "Tropicalia," focusing on the Brazilian cultural revolution of the late 1960s also known as Tropicalismo and "Making it Together," chronicling the collaborative aspects of the American Feminist Movement of the 1970s. Also exhibited was photography by Harlem artist Jamel Shabazz selected by the museum's very own Teen Council. Starting in September 2008 is "Street Art, Street Life," examining the artist's relationship to the streets and urban life. Every year space is reserved to works by those in the museum's Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program, which provides a choice few New York area artists with seminars on successfully navigating the art market.

References

External links

* [http://www.bronxmuseum.org/ Bronx Museum of the Arts]