Part I is here.
This continues my not-suitable-for-the-Wall Street Journal responses to the Philadelphia Museum’s new Perelman Building. (For the sober mainstream media treatment, go to my WSJ article here.)
Below is an awkward junction of the old Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance building (right), the new Richard Gluckman addition (left) and his outdoor café (bottom, with red chairs):
To mitigate neighbors’ concerns about the institutional intrusion, Gluckman attempted to embellish the new construction with some greenery. Below (on left, behind the red-and-white sign) is a wall with trellis intended to be covered, top to bottom, by vines. Like the rest of the Perelman, it’s still a work in progress:
So was the loading dock, unfinished when I visited:
But let’s go inside. Here’s the much vaunted “galleria”—more like a glorified corridor, bridging the old (right) and the new (left):
And here’s the Ray Perelman-loaned Maillol, in one of the niches for sculpture and other objects. But it’s hard to see these pieces in the round (unless you manage to squeeze behind):
The contemporary sculpture installation in the renovated old part of the building was a bit of a jumble:
But the relocated staffers are pleased with their new digs. Here’s costumes and textiles conservator Sara Reiter, making friends with her new equipment in her new lab:
CultureGrrl
Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary
an ArtsJournal blog