Courtesy Charles G. Young, Interactive Design Architects

Renzo Piano, the Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing, 2009. North vertical view of facade (detail).

Photo by James Iska, courtesy the Art Institute of Chicago

Renzo Piano, facade of the Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing, 2009.

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I grew up in Chicago, and the Art Institute is my first museum. Configured with little regard for chronology or indeed any discernible logic, the collection was a jumbled but fascinating introduction to art: in that tangled maze of claustrophobic galleries I became enchanted by Joseph Cornell’s boxes, thrilled by cadavre exquis drawings, and captivated by a temporary exhibition of "degenerate" art from the 1930s that changed my life. And yes, I spent more than a few minutes listening to docents marvel at the millions of dots composing serene picnickers lounging on La Grande Jatte on a summer’s day, and was endlessly perplexed and fascinated by the lady who held a monkey by a leash, forever captured by Seurat’s painstaking pointillism. The museum was flawed, but full of treasures,and year after year the lions stood guard out front on Michigan Avenue, ensuring it would remain unchanged and steadfast.

Until now. Come May, the museum will be halfway through a major renovation, and will boast a new Modern Wing by Renzo Piano that is a worthy addition to the city’s storied architecture. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect is the museum world’s go-to guy for naturally lit, spacious galleries designed with maximum respect for the artworks they’re meant to showcase. But Piano (whose credits include the Menil Collection in Houston and the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, among many others) bestows each commission with a signature element or two that makes it unique. In Chicago, that includes the oft-mentioned "flying carpet," a sunscreen that hovers above the roof (such light-controlling devices are a Piano staple), and an ultracool 620-foot steel bridge connecting Millennium Park to a sculpture terrace that leads into a restaurant on the wing’s third floor. These two features will redefine the museum as an important destination for art and architecture enthusiasts everywhere.

The Piano building, which includes 65,000 square feet of new galleries for modern and contemporary art, design, and architecture, is clearly an improvement. But what about the major reinstallation currently under way? I’m generally a progressive thinker who welcomes change, but even I shuddered when I heard that Chagall’s landmark blue stained-glass window had been moved to storage "temporarily" while the museum underwent a renovation. And then I found out that the medieval armor, which had forever inhabited a long, dark, pleasantly creepy passageway, was being relocated elsewhere in the museum, and the hallway was being redesigned. Since 2004, when he took over from James Wood, who had competently helmed the Art Institute for 24 years (and was responsible for commissioning Piano to do the expansion), director James Cuno has beefed up the contemporary-art programming and helped raise the museum’s international profile. But did he really have to mess with Chagall?

Of course the answer is yes. Though it had its fans, many considered the Chagall heavy-handed kitsch, and its awkward location at the center of a key intersection often led to minor traffic jams as people piled up to take a look. Reconceiving the medieval-armor hallway, which figures so prominently in my childhood memories, also turns out to be a good idea. The hallway (officially known as the Alsdorf Galleries) is actually a bridge spanning the train yards, linking the original 1893 Beaux Art building to a newer expansion completed in 1977. In the original design, the bridge had windows, but these were bricked off (perhaps because steam engines blacked out the view with their smoke), and 16 feet of casework was added for storage, further encroaching an already narrow space. Piano ripped off the bricks and restored the gallery to its original width, creating an airy, open environment ideal for viewing the South Asian and Indian works now installed there. Plus, it’s refreshing to know where you are geographically, and the industrial train yards not only look cool, they remind you that, despite being surrounded by precious cultural objects, you’re still in the City of Big Shoulders. Which seems less a betrayal of the Art Institute’s ardent fans than an affirmation of its dedication to bringing invaluable art to Chicagoans and patrons the world over. 

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing will be open to the public on May 16. The reinstallation and renovation of the Art Institute’s existing galleries will be completed by 2010.

"Museum Memory" originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' April 2009 Table of Contents.