The Morgan Library and Museum has completed digitization on its expansive collection of Rembrandt etchings, which will be available online beginning May 22nd.  “Completion of our Rembrandt project is another important milestone in the Morgan’s ongoing commitment to make its collections available to an ever wider audience,” says Director William M. Griswold. “We are extraordinarily pleased to be able to share them with scholars, students, and anyone interested in his art.” (more…)

The Morgan Library has announced an ambitious plan to digitize its full collection of drawings and make them available online.  The project is expected to reach completion by October of next year, and will yield over 10,000 individual images by the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Dürer, for free access on the Morgan’s site.  The digitization “is critical to our institutional goal of promoting drawings scholarship and reaching out to an ever larger audience,”said William M. Griswold, the museum’s director. (more…)

Announced this week, the Getty Museum has launched the beginnings of the Open Content Program, a fully catalogued library of over 4,600 hi-resolution images from its personal collection, allowing site visitors to use, modify and publish these images in any capacity.  “Artists, students, teachers, writers, and countless others rely on artwork images to learn, tell stories, exchange ideas, and feed their own creativity. In its discussion of open content, the most recent Horizon Report, Museum Edition stated that ‘it is now the mark—and social responsibility—of world-class institutions to develop and share free cultural and educational resources.’ I agree wholeheartedly.”  Said J. Paul Getty trust President James Cuno on the Museum’s blog. (more…)

Renzo Piano, Model for New Whitney Museum (Installation View), via Alex Cosio for Art Observed

The Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, in collaboration with Fondazione Renzo Piano, is currently exhibiting a retrospective of work produced by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the architecture firm conceived and headed by Pritzker Prize laureate Renzo Piano. Piano, who was born into a family of contractors in Genoa, has emphasized the importance of hands-on experimentation as well as technological innovation throughout his career.  Particularly of note are Piano’s models and sketches regarding the design and construction of the Whitney Museum’s future home, tucked between the High Line and Hudson River in the Meatpacking District. (more…)

Henri Labrouste, Bibliothèque Sainte‐Geneviève, Paris, (1838‐1850) View of the reading room, Photograph Michel Nguyen © Bibliothèque Sainte‐Geneviève Michel Nguyen, courtesy of MoMA

Moving beyond mere architectural details, The Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibition, Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light,is not simply a survey of the French architect’s (1801-1875) work and influence, but also something of a meditation and retrospective on the library’s role in society.  As information continues its march from papers to servers, and books are routinely traded in digital form, Labrouste’s vision of the library as a central mechanism for the dissemination of knowledge offers an intriguing meditation on the significance, symbolism and vitality of the library today.  The show is also apropos here in New York as the city’s Central Public Library, in response to these changes, prepares for a potentially devastating renovation.

Henri Labrouste, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, (1838-1850) Southwest corner elevation and section (Late 1850), Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris

(more…)