Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, established and incorporated in 1929. It is privately supported. Alfred H. Barr , Jr., was its first director. Operating at first in rented galleries, the museum specialized in loan shows of contemporary European and American art. A start toward its permanent collection was made with the Lillie P. Bliss bequest, which included nine Cézannes and the Daumier Washerwoman. Its present collection, which includes more than 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphics, photographs, videos, architectural drawings and models, and design objects, represents one of the finest groups of modern and contemporary art in the world. MoMA's merger (2000) with P.S. 1, a contemporary art space in Long Island City, Queens, gave the museum a greater connection to avant-garde art. MoMA also has outstanding departments of photography and architecture, an extensive reference library and archives, and a large film library.

A permanent building, boxy and in the International Style , designed by Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone was erected in midtown Manhattan in 1939. A new wing designed by Philip Johnson was added in 1964, and the building was renovated and expanded again in 1984 by Cesar Pelli and Associates, principally with the addition of a 52-story residential tower. MoMA Manhattan quarters were subsequently enlarged and redesigned (2002-4) by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi in a highly refined modernist style. Among the museum's new features are a central atrium, skylit and soaring to 110 ft (33.5 m), expanded galleries and office space, an enlarged sculpture garden, and an eight-story education and research building completed in 2006. In preparation for this work the collection was moved to Long Island City in 2002 and housed in a former factory building, dubbed MoMA QNS, that had been reconfigured by the architect Michael Maltzan. The Queens space is now used as a storage and study facility.

Bibliography: See catalog of paintings in the permanent collection by H. Frank (1973); R. Lynes, Good Old Modern: An Intimate Portrait of the Museum of Modern Art (1973); S. Hunter, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984, repr. 1997); G. D. Lowry, MOMA Highlights: 325 Works from The Museum of Modern Art (2002); J. Elderfield, ed., Modern Painting and Sculpture: 1880 to the Present from The Museum of Modern Art (2004).

Museum of Modern Art, New York. The world's pre-eminent collection of art from the late 19th century to the present day, privately founded in 1929 by a group of collectors. It operated first in rented premises, holding loan shows, but the nucleus of a permanent collection was established with the bequest of Lillie P. Bliss (one of the founders), who died in 1931. The present building, in 53rd Street, was opened in 1939 and it has subsequently expanded greatly in size in various stages (in 1966 it took over the adjacent premises when the Whitney Museum moved from them to its new home). Apart from its unrivalled holdings of painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts, the museum has collections of photographs, films, and architectural documentation, and a large library. Through its permanent collections, exhibitions, and many other activities it exercises a strong influence both on taste and on artistic production. The many publications it has produced include some of the standard texts on modern art, several of them written by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the first director of the museum.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. The world's pre-eminent collection of art from the late 19th century to the present day, privately founded in 1929 by a group of collectors. Among them were Lillie P. Bliss (1864–1931) and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874–1948), who became two of the museum's greatest benefactors. It operated first in rented premises, holding loan shows, but the nucleus of a permanent collection was established with the bequest of Miss Bliss at her death in 1931. The present building, in 53rd Street, was opened in 1939 and was inaugurated with a large exhibition entitled ‘Art in our Time’, celebrating the museum's tenth anniversary. The catalogue of the exhibition recorded that in its first decade the museum had held 112 exhibitions attended by about 1.5 million people. By this time the balance of its collections and activities had moved strongly from 19th-century to 20th-century art: in the words of the ‘Art in our Time’ catalogue, ‘our aim has been to present to the public the living art of our own time and its sources’. Subsequently the museum has expanded greatly in size in various stages (in 1966 it took over the adjacent premises when the Whitney Museum moved from them to its new home). Apart from its unrivalled holdings of painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts, it has collections of photographs, films, and architectural documentation, and a large library. Through its permanent collections, exhibitions, and many other activities it exercises a strong influence both on taste and on artistic production. The numerous publications it has produced include some of the standard texts on modern art, several of them written by Alfred H. Barr Jr., the first director of the museum.