New wing opens at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has just opened its new wing dedicated to the Art of the Americas. It’s four floors, with 53 galleries, providing space for 5000 objects, more than twice the number of Americas material that was previously on display. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new installation is that it throws a wide net around the meaning of “the Americas”, so the works on display include not only Euro-American, but also Native American, Mesoamerican, and South American.
The collection is organized chronologically on the four floors, with pre-Columbian at the bottom and modern art at the top. Moving through the installations gives a historical perspective on cultural interchange and the development of different societies through the ages. Highlights include vintage ship models, 17th century Puritan domestic artifacts, embroidered samplers, the portraits of John Singleton Copley, and liturgical objects from multiethnic Central and South America. The experience of visiting these new galleries is an exciting adventure, both visual and intellectual.
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