Scenes from the Work Site

Construction continues at the Addison and its new addition at a feverish pace, so much so that we are unable to cover everything on our website with our weekly image post. So, to bring our readers up to date, here are some additional "scenes" from the work site. Click the images to make them larger.

The tall, green fences surrounding the site have been removed and landscaping has begun in earnest. Old walkways are being reconnected (see above, left, and bottom), pavers are being laid at the base of the Addison's steps (see above, right), and new trees and shrubbery, chosen months ago, are being planted this week before winter freezes the ground. Vegetation for the green roof atop our loading dock is being placed as I write this, and we hope to have pictures of that soon.
Inside, millwork is being installed throughout all the work spaces. The display shelving in the Museum Learning Center is now in place (see above, left). Shelving and casework are almost finished in the art library (see above right). Soon, the entirety of the Addison's art book collection will be made accessible in one place for the first time. Walls are being raised and carpet put down in the staff office spaces and, finally, trucks are able to offload at our new loading dock.
And, lastly, new restrooms throughout the Addison and the addition are near completion, with tile work inspired by the 1930s era of the original building (see above, left). Each day brings another goal in the construction process to completion, and we, the staff, continue to keep our eyes on our calendars as we count the days down to our move back and our future reopening.

Posted by

James M. Sousa
Associate Registrar for Collections and Archives

The Addison in your neighborhood

The Addison may still be closed for renovation, and our touring exhibition Coming of Age may have concluded, but selections from the Addison's collection can still be seen hanging on the walls of various museums across the country as we continue to lend our objects to other institutions' exhibitions.

Two of our Winslow Homers, Shepherdess (see left) and Beach Scene, will be on view at the Syracuse University Lubin House in New York City from October 30th through December 6th. This is the second venue of Syracuse University Art Galleries' show Winslow Homer's Empire State: Houghton Farm and Beyond which focuses on Homer’s summer visits to Houghton Farm in Mountainville, New York, and includes watercolors, oil paintings and drawings.

Also in New York, two of our Robert Frank photographs from The Americans can be seen in the final venue of Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the final venue of a tour that started at the National Gallery in Washington, DC and travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before opening in New York, where it will be on view until January 3, 2010.

And, while you are at the Met, stop in at the American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915 exhibition, where our John Sloan, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair (see right) is on view from October 12th through January 24, 2010. The show features over one hundred American narrative paintings from a variety of lenders, and it will travel to LACMA where it will be open from February 28th through May 23, 2010.

At the Fenimore Art Museum, in Cooperstown, New York, our Washington Allston Italian Landscape is part of America's Rome: Artists in the Eternal City, 1800-1900, on view now until December 31st. And, again, in New York, you can see Black Lines and Wave, Night, two of our Georgia O'Keeffes, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction, up until January 15, 2010.

Overseas, we've lent our Sol Lewitt Wall Drawing #123, to Sol Lewitt "Seven Wall Drawings" at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konstall in Stockholm, Sweden. This was an easy loan for us to coordinate: we did not physically lend any artwork, just the right to implement the wall drawing, which was executed directly on the gallery's walls by the experts from Sol Lewitt's studio.

So until we open next year, see art from the Addison where you can!


Posted by:

James M. Sousa
Associate Registrar for Collections and Archives