Museum Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Move to East Side Townhouse
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2015 — (PRNewswire) — The Dahesh Museum of Art today announced that it has selected a townhouse at 178 East 64th Street as its new headquarters and exhibition space. This coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the Dahesh, America's only institution dedicated to collecting and exhibiting European and American academic art of the 19th and 20th centuries. The five-story townhouse has been selected for its convenient location and spacious gallery-like parlor. The Dahesh is currently consulting with architects, with an opening date to be announced later this year.The new home for the Dahesh Museum was built in 1899 and has a limestone and brownstone facade. The building is 20-feet wide, comprising of approximately 7,000 square feet of space. Original details include two fireplaces with imported French Louis XV marble mantles and a marble foyer. The new location also includes a beautiful finished outdoor space of Italian stone.
"There is no better way to celebrate our 20th anniversary than to announce our new location," said Amira Zahid, one of the DMA's founding Trustees. "For 20 years, the Dahesh Museum of Art has demonstrated that there is a receptive, appreciative and vocal audience for the great academic tradition of the 19th and early 20th century. Our new home will provide viewing space for our masterworks, as well as the location for our many events, lectures and academic symposia."
For the last seven years, the Dahesh has functioned as a museum-without-walls, developing traveling exhibitions within the United States and abroad, while lending important works from its collection to museums worldwide. The Dahesh has continued its program of acquisitions to build the collection, and just published Academic Splendor: 101 Masterpieces from the Dahesh Museum of Art. In 2012, the Museum opened its offices and a high-end Gift Shop in Hudson Square, where the institution also offered programs, special events, and hosted the Annual Graduate Student Symposium in 19th-Century Art. The Gift Shop at 145 Sixth Avenue will continue with scheduled events during renovations at the new location.
"When the Dahesh first opened 20 years ago," said J. David Farmer, Director of Exhibitions at the Dahesh, "We seemed a lone voice in the wilderness. Since that time, we have made the case through our scholarship, our collection and our audience that the academic tradition is vital, alluring and eminently worthy of study and appreciation. Many other major museums have since followed our lead by incorporating more 19th-century academic work into their collections, or mounting successful shows highlighting the era. With our new space, the Dahesh will resume its position as America's premiere institution dedicated to the academic tradition."
Updates on the renovation and ramp-up to the opening date will be available on the Museum's Web site at www.daheshmuseum.org, and on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dahesh-Museum-of-Art/342224319185739?ref=hl.
About the Dahesh Museum of Art
The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only institution in the United States devoted to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting works by Europe and America's academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Dahesh serves a diverse audience by placing these artists in the broader context of 19th-century visual culture, and by offering a fresh appraisal of the role academies played in reinvigorating the classical ideals of beauty, humanism, and skill. Visit the museum online at: www.daheshmuseum.org
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SOURCE Dahesh Museum of Art
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