Saturday, November 13, 2010

What is to become of the Whitney Museum Building?

Great discussion on today's NY Times article about the fate of the Marcel Breuer building on 75th Street now that the Whitney has plans to vacate the site for new digs downtown.

The "uptown bunker for difficult art" is how I have referred to the Whitney for years; my wife calls it the "Whip-me Museum". It is both beloved and beleaguered and not unlike the Museum of Art and Design which has inherited the scorn of many from the Huntington Hartford building.
People joke about Target becoming the new owner but it will be worse: another Hermes / Lacoste / Ralph Lauren corporate showcase for sure will seize this museum and erase all the wonderful history of the love/hate relationship to the city that we all lave/hate.