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home > pressroom > press releases > mfa 2009 fact sheet
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7/17/2009
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
FACT SHEET
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Founded in 1870, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), opened the doors of its Copley Square building to the public on July 4, 1876, then moved to its present Huntington Avenue location on November 9, 1909. The MFA welcomes almost one million visitors each year—from neighboring communities to countries around the globe. As one of the great encyclopedic art museums in the world, its collections comprise more than 450,000 objects representing all periods and cultures, from treasures of ancient Egypt and Paul Revere silver to celebrated paintings by John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Jackson Pollock, and other renowned artists.
In addition to its commitment to preserving and building its vast holdings, the Museum develops a wide variety of exhibitions, educational programs, and community initiatives, as well as publishes research and books. The MFA also has embarked on a major building expansion and renovation designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Foster + Partners (London), which is expected to be completed in late 2010.
MISSION
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), houses and preserves preeminent collections and aspires to serve a wide variety of people through direct encounters with works of art.
FACTS AND FIGURES
• Malcolm Rogers became the Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA in September 1994.
• Almost one million people visit the MFA each year, and the Museum has more than 72,000 member households.
• More than 450,000 objects are in the Museum’s collection and approximately 350,000 of these can be viewed online.
• Thousands of visitors participate in the Museum’s educational, community, and public programs, including free open houses, an innovative school program for Boston public school students, artist lectures and demonstrations, Teen Arts Council activities, as well as gallery talks, films, and musical performances.
• The MFA is home to the renowned School of the Museum of Fine Arts, attended by such distinguished artists as Frank Benson, Jim Dine, Nan Goldin, and Ellsworth Kelly.
• To further artistic and cultural alliances between the US and Japan, and to share the Museum’s distinguished collections, the MFA forged a unique partnership with the Foundation for the Arts, Nagoya (FAN) by opening the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. The 10th anniversary of the partnership was celebrated in April 2009.
COLLECTION
The Museum’s encyclopedic collection comprises some of the most important and rare artistic treasures in the world. Each year, the MFA offers a wide range of exhibitions featuring both the Museum’s holdings as well as works of art on loan from around the world. The MFA is made up of eight curatorial areas:
Art of the Americas—Since the Museum’s founding in 1870, it has been committed to collecting American art, and its holdings rank among the most significant in the nation. The American collection ranges from Ancient American pottery to modernist painting. Highlights include John Singer Sargent’s famed murals in the Museum’s Rotunda, one of the most important collections of paintings by John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere’s Liberty Bowl, and the William H. Lane Collection, which includes significant works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur G. Dove, Charles Sheeler, and Stuart Davis.
Art of the Ancient World—This collection is recognized as one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world. It contains works of art ranging in date from about 6,000 BC to 600 AD and covering a geographical area stretching from Britain to Afghanistan and from the Balkans to Sudan. The ancient Egyptian, Nubian, Greek, and Roman collections are particularly strong, featuring works such as King Mycerinus and his queen (about 2532–2510 BC) and Head of Aphrodite (about 330–300 BC). The ancient Near Eastern, Aegean, Etruscan, and Byzantine collections are smaller but nevertheless choice. The Egyptian and Nubian collections were largely acquired through excavations conducted by the MFA and Harvard University in the early 20th century.
Art of Asia, Oceania and Africa—In 1890, the MFA paved the way for Japanese-American exchange by becoming the first US art museum to create a Japanese collection and appoint a specialist curator of Japanese art. Today, the MFA’s collection of Asian art—especially the art of Japan—is considered one of the finest in America and one of the most comprehensive in the world. It features everything from woodblock prints and paintings by Japanese ukiyo-e masters, to Chinese Buddhist stone sculpture. In recent years, the collections of art of Oceania and Africa have also been expanded to include masks, figural sculpture, and objects of daily use and personal adornment.
Art of Europe—Ranging in date from the 7th century to the late 20th century, this collection includes paintings, sculpture, and works of decorative art, such as furniture, ceramics, glass, and architectural elements. The European paintings collection holds masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century, from Rogier van der Weyden and Rosso Fiorentino, to Picasso and Matisse. The collection of approximately 1,600 paintings has particular depth in 19th-century French works by Barbizon, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist artists. The MFA holds one of the largest groups of paintings by Claude Monet outside of France, and the world’s most extensive collection of paintings and pastels by Jean-François Millet.
Contemporary Art— The MFA’s collection of contemporary art, defined as works made after 1955, includes more than 600 objects, such as The Rich Soil Down There (2002) by Kara Walker, and emphasizes painting, but also includes significant examples of sculpture, photography, and new media. Significant works by the following artists representing the 1960s to present are also included in the collection: David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Josiah McElheny, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol. In 2000, the department launched RSVPmfa, an invitational series in which artists are asked to consider the MFA’s extraordinary collections, architecture, and grounds as background for the installation of their works. To date, Jonathan Borofsky, Sarah Sze, and Jim Lambie have all participated in the program.
Musical Instruments—Musical instruments first became a part of the Museum’s collection in 1917. The collection includes instruments from around the world—such as rare, early keyboards, flutes and rattles, and many types of guitars—with exceptional examples dating from ancient civilizations to the late 20th century, from Europe, China, Japan, Africa, and the Middle East.
Prints, Drawings and Photographs—These collections encompass an extraordinary range of artists, time periods, and media—including prints, drawings, watercolors, photographs, and posters of American and European origin, dating from the mid-15th century to the present. Well-represented artists included Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya, Picasso, Munch, Kollwitz, and the German Expressionists, as well as the French Impressionists Pissarro, Cassatt, and Degas. The Museum possesses one of the earliest photography collections in the country, initiated in 1924 when Alfred Stieglitz donated 27 of his photographs. In 1967, a purchase program was inaugurated and today the collection spans the history of photography from its beginnings in the 1840s to present day, including works by Clarence White, Frederick Evans, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Weston, and Yousuf Karsh. In 1997, the MFA built and opened the Morse Study Room to further the public’s access to the extraordinary works on paper housed at the Museum. In 2008, the MFA opened the Herb Ritts Gallery, a dedicated space for photography.
Textile and Fashion Arts—The MFA was the first general art museum to characterize textiles and costumes as “fine art” when it established a department devoted to them in 1930. The collection features objects from the 16th century through today, and includes costumes, accessories, needlework, shoes, fans, rugs, quilts, and fashion books from all over the world. The departmental library, one of the largest of its type in the country, is an international study resource that includes rich holdings ranging from rare books of the 16th to early 20th centuries, to contemporary fashion publications.
MFA.ORG
The Museum’s website, mfa.org, provides general information about the MFA, its exhibitions, educational and community programs, special activities, and visitor amenities. In addition, the Museum’s electronic information resources were enhanced in 2000 when a searchable online database was made available on the website. The database now offers detailed information on approximately 350,000 objects from the MFA’s encyclopedic collection, including the provenance of specific works. The website also features special tours of the collection—from European decorative arts and sculpture, to textiles and fashion arts—as well as information on the Giza Archives project, a comprehensive and scholarly online resource detailing archeological expeditions to the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, jointly organized by the MFA and Harvard University.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The MFA is located at Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. For general visitor information, please visit the MFA website at mfa.org or call 617.267.9300.
Hours of Operation
The MFA is open seven days a week and has some of the most extensive viewing hours of any art institution in the country; the Museum’s hours are:
• Saturday through Tuesday 10 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
• Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m.–9:45 p.m.
The MFA is closed on Patriots’ Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission
• General admission includes a second visit within 10 days.
• Members are admitted free
• $17 for adults
• $15 for senior citizens and college students (University members admitted free)
• Youths 7–17 are free (except during school hours, when admittance is $8.50)
• No general admission fee is required on Wednesday nights at the MFA, although voluntary donations are welcome
• Gund Gallery exhibitions are ticketed events that require an additional fee
BEHIND THE SCENES
Dining
• Bravo
Lunch: Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Dinner: Wednesday through Friday, 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Galleria
Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.
• Courtyard Café
Monday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
mfafirstfridays
Offering the most elegant evening atmosphere in Boston, mfafirstfridays is held on the first Friday of every month from 5:30–9:30 p.m. For the price of general admission, guests can celebrate the week’s end at the Museum with lively music, a cash bar, and world-class art. In the summer, mfasummerfridays is held every Friday in July and August.
Shopping
The MFA Museum Bookstore & Shop features the largest selection of art books in New England, as well as classic sculpture, elegant jewelry, colorful scarves, handcrafted decorative arts, and educational children’s toys. Visit mfa.org, or call 617.369.3575
GETTING THERE
The MFA is accessible by taking the Green line E train to the MFA stop, the Orange line to Ruggles stop, or bus #39 to the MFA stop, or #8, 47, or CT2 buses to the Ruggles Street stop.
For driving directions, please go to mfa.org. Parking is available in the Museum garage to the left on Museum Road.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is recognized for the quality and scope of its encyclopedic collection, which includes an estimated 450,000 objects. The Museum’s collection is made up of: Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Contemporary Art; Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa; Art of the Ancient World; Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; Textile and Fashion Arts; and Musical Instruments. Open seven days a week, the MFA’s hours are Saturday through Tuesday, 10 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
General admission (which includes two visits in a 10-day period) is $17 for adults and $15 for seniors and students age 18 and older. Admission for students who are University Members is free, as is admission for children 17 years of age and younger during non-school hours. No general admission fee is required (after 4 p.m.) on Wednesday nights at the MFA, although voluntary donations are welcome. Gund Gallery exhibitions are ticketed events that require an additional fee. The Museum is closed on New Year’s Day, Patriots’ Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For general visitor information, visit the MFA website at mfa.org or call 617.267.9300.
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